# GNO vs AnythingLLM

**Verdict**: AnythingLLM is a GUI-first multi-user RAG app. GNO is a local knowledge workspace for developers and agent-heavy teams that want stronger retrieval, safer local workflows, and first-class CLI/API/agent access.

AnythingLLM is a full-stack RAG application with workspace isolation, no-code agent builder, and team collaboration. GNO is a local knowledge engine and workspace focused on retrieval quality, local-first operation, CLI workflows, web/desktop browsing, and AI agent integration.

## At a Glance

- Choose **AnythingLLM** if you want a collaborative, GUI-heavy RAG application with broad provider and vector-store choice.
- Choose **GNO** if you want stronger search quality, simpler local setup, and developer/agent workflows built into the product surface.

## Get Started

```bash
# GNO
bun install -g @gmickel/gno
gno init ~/notes --name notes && gno index

# AnythingLLM
# Download desktop app from https://anythingllm.com
# Or run via Docker:
docker pull mintplexlabs/anythingllm
```

## Quick Summary

| Aspect              | GNO                                | AnythingLLM                           |
| ------------------- | ---------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- |
| **Best for**        | Developers, AI agents              | Teams, no-code users                  |
| **Unique strength** | CLI + lightweight + search quality | Workspaces, multi-user, agent builder |
| **MCP Support**     | ✓                                  | ✓                                     |

## Feature Comparison

| Feature                  | GNO                             | AnythingLLM                                                                     |
| ------------------------ | ------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Interface**            | CLI + Web UI                    | Desktop app, Docker                                                             |
| **File Formats**         | MD, PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, TXT  | PDF, TXT, DOCX, etc.                                                            |
| **AI Answers (RAG)**     | ✓                               | ✓                                                                               |
| **MCP Support**          | ✓ 10+ targets                   | ✓                                                                               |
| **Multi-user**           | ✗                               | ✓ (Docker)                                                                      |
| **Workspaces**           | Collections                     | ✓ Isolated contexts                                                             |
| **Agent Builder**        | ✗                               | ✓ No-code                                                                       |
| **Database**             | SQLite (embedded)               | LanceDB (default) + 8 others                                                    |
| **Vector Store Options** | SQLite-vec only                 | LanceDB, Pinecone, Chroma, Weaviate, Qdrant, Milvus, PGVector, Astra DB, Zilliz |
| **LLM Providers**        | Local only (llama.cpp)          | 30+ (OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama, Azure, AWS, etc.)                               |
| **Search Quality**       | Hybrid (BM25 + vector + rerank) | Vector similarity                                                               |
| **Setup**                | npm/bun install                 | Desktop download or Docker                                                      |
| **Headless Daemon**      | ✓ `gno daemon`                  | ✓ Docker/server mode                                                            |
| **Embedding Widget**     | ✗                               | ✓ (Docker)                                                                      |
| **Browser Extension**    | ✗                               | ✓                                                                               |
| **REST API**             | ✓                               | ✓                                                                               |
| **License**              | MIT                             | MIT                                                                             |

## GNO Advantages

**Search quality**: Hybrid retrieval with BM25, vector search, RRF fusion, and cross-encoder reranking. AnythingLLM uses vector similarity only.

**Lightweight**: Single CLI binary, ~500MB RAM. No Docker, no server processes.

**CLI-first**: Script searches, pipe output, integrate with shell workflows.

**Privacy**: 100% local, no network calls, no cloud dependencies. AnythingLLM can use cloud LLMs.

**AI agent integration**: Native MCP server for Claude Desktop, Cursor, Zed, Windsurf, Amp, Raycast, and more (11 targets). Skills for Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, OpenClaw.

**Headless indexing**: Keep the same watch/sync/embed loop hot for shells, agents, and automations without opening the workspace UI.

```bash
gno daemon
```

**Incremental indexing**: SHA-256 change detection, only re-indexes modified files.

**Multilingual**: 30+ languages with cross-lingual search via bge-m3.

## AnythingLLM Advantages

**Workspaces**: Isolated document contexts for different projects or topics. Context stays clean per workspace.

**Multi-user**: Role-based permissions, team collaboration (Docker version).

**No-code agent builder**: Create custom AI agents without programming.

**LLM flexibility**: 30+ providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure, AWS Bedrock, Ollama, Groq. GNO is local-only.

**Vector DB choice**: Swap between LanceDB, Pinecone, Chroma, Weaviate, Qdrant, Milvus, and more.

**Embeddable widget**: Drop chat into any website (Docker).

**Browser extension**: Capture content directly from web pages.

**Multimodal**: Image input support across LLM providers.

**Audio features**: Transcription, text-to-speech, speech-to-text.

## When to Choose GNO

- Developer workflows with CLI, scripts, and automation
- AI coding assistants (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex) need your docs
- Privacy is non-negotiable, everything must stay local
- You want best-in-class search quality over vector-only similarity
- Lightweight install without Docker or server management
- Solo use or small team with shared folder

```bash
# Developer workflow
gno mcp install --target cursor
gno query "how does our auth work" --json | jq

# AI agent access
gno skill install --scope user
# Now Claude Code can search your notes
```

## When to Choose AnythingLLM

- Teams need multi-user access with permissions
- Non-technical users want GUI-only experience
- You need workspace isolation between projects
- Cloud LLMs (GPT-4, Claude) are preferred over local models
- Building custom agents without code
- Embedding chat widget into your website
- Need multimodal or audio features

```bash
# Team deployment
docker pull mintplexlabs/anythingllm
docker run -d -p 3001:3001 mintplexlabs/anythingllm
# Configure workspaces, users, LLM providers in web UI
```
