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Getting StartedCore Concepts

Last Updated: 3/9/2026

Core Concepts

Understanding how LinkAce organizes and manages your bookmarks will help you get the most out of the application. This guide covers the fundamental building blocks: Links, Lists, Tags, Users, and Visibility.

Links are the heart of LinkAce. A “link” is any URI you want to save—from web pages to FTP servers to custom protocol handlers.

Supported Protocols

LinkAce can store any URI, but certain features are only available for HTTP(S) links:

FeatureHTTP(S)Other URIs
Store in LinkAce✅✅
Automatic title/description✅❌
Wayback Machine archiving✅❌
Automated health checks✅❌

Examples of supported URIs:

  • https://example.com/article
  • ftp://files.example.com/document.pdf
  • ms-excel:ofv|u|https://sharepoint.com/file.xlsx
  • ssh://user@server.com

Each link can have:

  • Title: Auto-generated from the page’s <title> tag or set manually
  • Description: Auto-generated from meta tags or set manually
  • URL: The actual URI
  • Lists: Broader categories the link belongs to
  • Tags: Flexible labels for multi-dimensional organization
  • Notes: Personal annotations (can be private or shared)
  • Visibility: Public, Internal, or Private (see below)

Automatic Features

When you save an HTTP(S) link, LinkAce automatically:

  1. Fetches metadata: Pulls the title and description from the page
  2. Suggests tags: Extracts keywords from the page’s meta tags
  3. Archives to Wayback Machine: Sends the URL to archive.org for preservation
  4. Schedules health checks: Adds the link to the monitoring queue

Lists

Lists are broad, curated collections of related links. Think of them as folders or playlists.

When to Use Lists

  • Topical collections: “Web Development Tools”, “Favorite Recipes”, “Travel Inspiration”
  • Projects: “2024 Conference Research”, “Home Renovation Ideas”
  • Shared resources: “Team Onboarding”, “Company Policies”
  • Time-based groups: “Read Later”, “Archive - 2023”

List Characteristics

  • A link can belong to multiple lists
  • Lists can be Public, Internal, or Private
  • Lists have RSS feeds for subscribing to updates
  • You can open all links in a list in new browser tabs (requires allowing popups)

Example Structure

Web Development Tools
├─ https://github.com
├─ https://stackoverflow.com
└─ https://developer.mozilla.org

Recipes
├─ https://example.com/pasta-carbonara
└─ https://example.com/chocolate-cake

Tags

Tags are flexible, multi-dimensional labels that describe different aspects of a link. Unlike lists (one-to-many), tags create a many-to-many relationship.

When to Use Tags

  • Topics: javascript, cooking, travel, science
  • Content type: tutorial, documentation, video, article
  • Status: to-read, favorite, reference
  • Context: work, personal, school
  • Keywords: react, authentication, vegan, budget-friendly

Tag Characteristics

  • A link can have unlimited tags
  • Tags can be Public, Internal, or Private
  • Tags have RSS feeds for subscribing to updates
  • You can search by multiple tags simultaneously
  • Tags can be bulk-edited across many links

Lists vs. Tags: When to Use Which?

Use CaseListsTags
Curated collections✅❌
Multi-dimensional categorization❌✅
Hierarchical organization✅❌
Flexible filtering❌✅
Sharing a specific group✅✅

Example: A link to a React tutorial might be in the list “Web Development Tools” and tagged with javascript, react, tutorial, frontend.

Users & Multi-User Support

LinkAce v2 supports multiple users with individual accounts and permissions.

User Roles

  • Administrator: Full system access, can invite users, configure system settings, manage all content
  • Regular User: Can create and manage their own links, lists, and tags; can view shared content

User Features

  • Individual accounts: Each user has their own login, API tokens, and preferences
  • Personal content: Users can create Private links, lists, and tags visible only to themselves
  • Shared content: Users can create Internal or Public content visible to others
  • Single Sign-On: OAuth/OIDC support for Google, GitHub, Keycloak, and more
  • Notifications: Per-user alerts for broken links they own

Content Ownership

Each link, list, and tag has an owner (the user who created it). Ownership determines:

  • Who can edit or delete the item
  • Who receives notifications about it (e.g., broken link alerts)
  • Whether it appears in personal vs. shared views

Visibility Levels

Every link, list, and tag has a visibility setting that controls who can see it.

Public

  • Visible to everyone with access to your LinkAce instance
  • Visible to Guests if Guest Mode is enabled
  • Included in public RSS feeds
  • Use case: Sharing resources with the internet or allowing discovery

Internal

  • Visible only to logged-in users
  • Not visible to Guests, even if Guest Mode is enabled
  • Included in authenticated RSS feeds
  • Use case: Team resources, company bookmarks, family collections

Private

  • Visible only to the owner
  • Not visible to other users, even admins
  • Not included in RSS feeds (except personal authenticated feeds)
  • Use case: Personal bookmarks, sensitive links, private research

Visibility Examples

ScenarioRecommended Visibility
Public blog post you want to sharePublic
Company internal wikiInternal
Your personal tax documentsPrivate
Team project resourcesInternal
Open-source tool you recommendPublic

Notes on Visibility

  • Lists and Tags inherit visibility: If a list is Private, only the owner sees it, even if it contains Public links
  • Guests see only Public content: Enable Guest Mode in System Settings to allow unauthenticated browsing
  • Admins respect privacy: Even administrators cannot see another user’s Private content (by design)

Wayback Machine Integration

LinkAce automatically sends your HTTP(S) links to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine  for archiving.

How It Works

  1. You save a link in LinkAce
  2. LinkAce notifies the Wayback Machine about the URL
  3. The Wayback Machine crawls and archives the page (may take minutes to hours)
  4. If the original link goes offline, you can access the archived version

Important Notes

  • Not all sites allow archiving: Some websites block the Wayback Machine via robots.txt
  • Archiving is not instant: It may take time for the first snapshot to appear
  • Requires cron setup: The cron job must be configured

LinkAce regularly checks if your links are still accessible and notifies you of issues.

How It Works

  1. The cron job runs scheduled link checks (configurable frequency)
  2. LinkAce sends HTTP requests to each link
  3. If a link returns an error (404, 500, timeout), it’s marked as broken
  4. The link owner receives a notification (email or in-app)

Check Status

  • OK: Link is accessible
  • Moved: Link redirected (301/302)
  • Broken: Link returned an error or timed out

Disabling Checks

You can disable health checks for individual links (useful for sites with captchas or rate limiting).

Requires: Cron job must be configured.

API & Integrations

LinkAce provides a full REST API for automation and integrations.

API Features

  • Create, read, update, delete links, lists, and tags
  • Bulk operations
  • Search and filter
  • User and system-wide API tokens

API Tokens

  • User API Tokens: Act on behalf of a specific user, respect their permissions
  • System API Tokens: Admin-level access, can manage all content

See the API Documentation  for full details.

Integrations

  • Bookmarklet: Save links from any browser with one click
  • Zapier: Connect LinkAce to 2500+ apps (zapier.com/apps/linkace )
  • Import/Export: HTML bookmark files from Chrome, Firefox, Safari

Next Steps

Now that you understand the core concepts:

  1. Install LinkAce: Installation with Docker or Quick Start
  2. Configure automation: Post-Installation guide
  3. Start organizing: Managing Links, Organizing with Lists, Organizing with Tags
  4. Set up multi-user: User Management and Single Sign-On
Quick StartInstallation With Docker