Sharing

Sharing in Memos has two layers: visibility, which decides who can reach a memo through the app, and share links, which create a standalone URL for a single memo.

Visibility levels

Every memo has one of three visibility levels, set from the editor before or after posting:

• PRIVATE: only you can read the memo
• PROTECTED: any signed-in user on the instance can read it
• PUBLIC: anonymous visitors can read it when the instance is in public mode

Public mode is enabled by setting MEMOS_INSTANCE_URL. In that mode, public memos also appear in the instance-wide Explore feed and on your public profile, so they are discoverable beyond the direct URL. When the instance URL is empty, the server runs in private mode and PUBLIC memos still require sign-in.

Share links

Open a memo's detail page and use the Share section in the sidebar to create a public link for that single memo:

• Open share panel — create, list, and revoke share links. Each link can be set to expire never, after 1 day, 7 days, or 30 days.
• A share link resolves without sign-in, even for memos that are not PUBLIC, and signs attachment URLs so images and files load for anonymous viewers.
• The token exposes only the selected memo, its attachments, and its reactions. It does not expose the surrounding parent memo, comments, or relation graph.
• Revoke a link at any time to immediately stop access.

Share-link management is available to the memo's owner (and admins), and only on top-level memos — not on comments.

Share as image

The same Share section offers Open image, which renders the memo as a self-contained image you can download and post anywhere — handy for chat apps or social media where a link would not render the content.

What viewers can and can't do

Anonymous public-mode viewers can follow the normal public memo page, including its readable discussion context. A share-token viewer receives the narrower standalone representation described above. Neither anonymous route allows editing, reacting, commenting, or managing shares.

Safe sharing habits

• choose visibility intentionally before posting, especially for operational or sensitive notes
• review attachments before publishing a memo openly or minting a share link
• prefer time-limited share links over PUBLIC when you only need to share temporarily
• disable public memos entirely (Admin → Instance Settings) if your instance is private