KnowWE is a Semantic Wiki for the development of knowledge-based applications.

System Requirements#

Installation of KnowWE requires the Java SE Development Kit (JDK) in the version given on the Downloads page (JDK 25 for the nightly build, JDK 17 for the releases 2026.3.1 and 2026.4.1). A JRE is not sufficient since the release Watney. The distribution runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. Use a current web browser, e.g. Chrome, Firefox, Edge or Safari.

Installation#

There are different distribution packages available for KnowWE. Older releases just provided the semantic wiki part of the d3web-KnowWE project (the folder KnowWE-Tomcat also referenced below). Since the release Watney, we switched to a more comprehensive distribution package, which also contains the core libraries of d3web (to embed and run d3web knowledge bases in your own software or app) and documentation and sources for both. So the downloadable zip file now contains the following folders:

• d3web (Java libraries to embed and run d3web knowledge bases in your own software or app, also sources and documentation)
• KnowWE (The wiki to create and test d3web knowledge bases, also sources and documentation)
• Licenses

To install KnowWE, just extract the downloaded distribution zip file to any location and then navigate to the folder KnowWE inside it. There, extract the file KnowWE-Tomcat.zip to the destination you want to run KnowWE from (like your program or application directory). Basically it is an Apache Tomcat (http://tomcat.apache.org/) web server, pre-configured with the KnowWE webapp.

Additional Notes:

• Backup: If you are already using a previous version of KnowWE, move your old KnowWE folder to a different location first. Make sure that you are able to reuse the wiki articles you have created before.
• wikicontent (optional): If you have used KnowWE before, you may copy your wikicontent directory to the unpacked KnowWE-Tomcat/wikicontent directory of the new installation.
• Linux/Mac users: The zip file does not keep the execute permission of the start scripts. Set it once in the extracted folder with "chmod +x bin/*.sh".

Running#

1. Java: Make sure the environment variable JAVA_HOME points to the JDK in the required version.
2. Start Tomcat server: In the extracted directory, navigate to the directory bin and start the server from there by calling the script startup.bat (MS-Windows) or ./startup.sh (macOS/Linux). The wiki content folder is configured relative to the directory the server is started from (var.basedir = ../wikicontent), so start it from bin.
3. Surf: Open your web browser and enter the link http://localhost:8080/KnowWE/

Configuration#

JSPWiki (on which KnowWE is build) provides the configuration file jspwiki-custom.properties, which can be used to configure stuff like the folder of the wiki files, templates, application name, and more. See https://jspwiki-wiki.apache.org/Wiki.jsp?page=Configuration for more information.

Security#

To manage wiki user and group rights, edit the file jspwiki.policy. See https://jspwiki-wiki.apache.org/Wiki.jsp?page=Wiki.Admin.Security for more information.