A practical guide to setting up paperless-ngx, a self-hosted document management system, secured behind Tailscale so it's only accessible from your own devices. Covers three tiers of setup complexity (minimal, always-on, full home server), Docker container configuration using the ScaleTail template, document ingestion methods (scanner, email, mobile apps, consume folder), and optional local AI tagging via paperless-ai with Ollama or LM Studio. Also touches on backup strategies, Gotenberg/Tika for non-PDF formats, and advanced extensions like paperless-gpt and n8n workflows.
Table of contents
What we’re setting upWhy Tailscale belongs in whatever version you chooseSetting up the core Paperless stack (with ScaleTail)Getting paperless some paperOptional local AI with paperless-ai, and Ollama or LM StudioHow much less paper can you get?Sort: