GNO vs AnythingLLM
Verdict: Both have MCP support. AnythingLLM is GUI-first with workspaces, agents, and multi-user for teams. GNO is CLI-first, lightweight, and privacy-focused for developers.
AnythingLLM is a full-stack RAG application with workspace isolation, no-code agent builder, and team collaboration. GNO is a local knowledge engine focused on search quality, CLI workflows, and AI agent integration.
Get Started
# 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 |
| 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, Cursor, Zed, Windsurf, Codex, and 5+ more targets. Skills for Claude Code.
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
# 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
# Team deployment
docker pull mintplexlabs/anythingllm
docker run -d -p 3001:3001 mintplexlabs/anythingllm
# Configure workspaces, users, LLM providers in web UI