Perplexica is now Vane: what changed, what to use

The answer first

Perplexica has been renamed Vane. The old official repository redirects to ItzCrazyKns/Vane. The old name remains useful for finding historical issues and tutorials; it is not a separate alternative to count twice.

The old repository URL remaining reachable does not guarantee that every old container tag, configuration file or API example still works. Use the current Vane guide for new installations.

Current core features

The current project focuses on model-backed web answers with citations, SearXNG retrieval, provider selection and persistent local data. Its standard Docker image includes SearXNG. That is a meaningful difference from older multi-container tutorials.

Hardware and model requirements

The rename does not remove model requirements. You need a working supported chat provider, embedding configuration and enough memory for all local services. Use the same Vane application budget and model estimates shown on the homepage; there is no second “Perplexica” hardware profile.

A five-minute fresh-install path

This example creates a new Vane volume. It is not a data migration procedure. Downloads and provider setup can take longer than five minutes.

services:
  vane:
    image: itzcrazykns1337/vane:latest
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - vane-data:/home/vane/data
    extra_hosts:
      - "host.docker.internal:host-gateway"
    restart: unless-stopped
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "node", "-e", "fetch('http://127.0.0.1:3000').then(r=>process.exit(r.ok?0:1)).catch(()=>process.exit(1))"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      start_period: 60s
      retries: 5
volumes:
  vane-data:

Start it with docker compose up -d, open http://localhost:3000, and configure providers in the setup screen. Download the Compose file.

Migrating an existing installation

1. Record the old application version, container image digest and all mounted paths with docker inspect YOUR_CONTAINER. Replace the container name with your existing name.
2. Stop the old container before making a consistent backup of its database, uploaded files, configuration and volumes. Keep that backup and the old image.
3. Review release notes between your old version and the current version. A renamed repository alone does not establish data-format compatibility.
4. Try the new image with a new volume and a different host port, such as 127.0.0.1:3001:3000. Do not attach an unverified new image to your only existing data copy.
5. Recreate the provider setup, check a search, a citation and a file workflow. Migrate old data only with instructions appropriate to those exact versions.

For source checkouts, inspect git remote -v first. If it is the official project, the current upstream can be set with:

git remote set-url origin https://github.com/ItzCrazyKns/Vane.git
git remote -v

Changing a Git remote does not migrate Docker volumes or application settings.

Strengths and limitations of following the new name

Benefit: current code, issues and setup instructions are in one place. Limitation: older guides can describe obsolete image names, separate frontend/backend services or TOML settings. The current source stores configuration in a data-backed JSON file. Review environment variables before copying old settings.

Compared with Perplexity

The hosted-service versus self-hosted trade-off remains the same after the rename. Vane gives you provider and infrastructure choices; Perplexity manages its own hosted experience. A name change is not evidence of feature or quality parity.