MediaWiki: Open-Source Wiki Software for Knowledge Base and Documentation

What is MediaWiki?

MediaWiki is the powerful open-source wiki engine that powers Wikipedia and enables millions of wikis worldwide for collaborative knowledge management and documentation. Built with PHP and designed for large-scale collaborative content creation, MediaWiki provides the foundation for Wikipedia, Wikimedia projects, and countless corporate knowledge bases and documentation sites. Over 50,000 wikis globally use MediaWiki to centralize knowledge, manage documentation, and enable collaborative content creation.

Unlike Confluence ($5-6/user/month) where wiki content is stored on Atlassian servers with per-user licensing, or Notion ($5-10/user/month) with proprietary architecture, MediaWiki provides complete wiki functionality on your own infrastructure. Organizations maintain complete data ownership, privacy control, and no per-user licensing fees with self-hosted deployment.

MediaWiki serves as the enterprise wiki and knowledge management platform. Documentation teams create comprehensive guides and procedures. Teams share best practices and institutional knowledge. New employees access documentation for self-service onboarding. Customers access knowledge bases for self-support.

Key Features and Capabilities

Wiki Management and Organization

Unlimited Pages: Create unlimited wiki pages without storage limitations
Categories and Hierarchy: Organize pages into categories and hierarchical structures
Page Templates: Create reusable templates for consistent formatting and structure
Page Redirects: Create redirects for old page names and maintain URLs during reorganization
Automatic Table of Contents: Automatic TOC generation from page headings
Interwiki Links: Link between different wiki instances and external wikis
Subpages: Create hierarchical page structures with subpages

Collaboration and Content Management

WYSIWYG Editor: Visual editor for easy editing without markup knowledge
Wikitext Markup: Powerful wiki markup syntax for advanced formatting
Revision History: Complete history of all edits and changes with timestamps
Diff View: Compare page versions to see exactly what changed
Edit Conflicts: Handle concurrent edits gracefully with conflict resolution
Talk Pages: Dedicated discussion pages for content collaboration and decisions
User Pages: Personal pages for user profiles and preferences
Watch Lists: Monitor specific pages for changes and get notifications

Access Control and Security

User Roles: Sysop (admin), bureaucrat, moderator, and user roles with granular permissions
Page Protection: Protect important pages from editing or deletion
Namespace Protection: Control access to specific namespaces by role
Upload Permissions: Control who can upload files and manage media
IP Blocking: Block specific IP addresses or ranges from editing
User Banning: Ban problematic users from editing
Vandalism Prevention: Tools to detect and revert vandalism quickly

Content Organization and Discovery

Full-Text Search: Powerful full-text search across all wiki content
Special Pages: Automatically generated pages with statistics and lists
Recent Changes: Track recent edits and monitor activity
Page Statistics: View pages by edit count and last modified date
Wanted Pages: Identify links to non-existent pages
Orphaned Pages: Find pages with no incoming links

System Requirements and Technical Specifications

Server Requirements

Operating System: Linux (Ubuntu 18.04+, Debian 9+, CentOS 7+) or Windows Server
Web Server: Apache 2.4+ with mod_rewrite or Nginx 1.14+
PHP: 7.2+ with required extensions (xml, intl, curl, mysqli/pgsql)
Database: MySQL 5.7+, MariaDB 10.1+, or PostgreSQL 9.2+
RAM: 512MB minimum for testing, 2GB+ recommended for production
Storage: 5GB+ initial allocation for wiki content and uploads
CPU: Single-core minimum, dual-core recommended for 100+ concurrent users
PHP Memory Limit: 128MB minimum, 256MB recommended

Client Requirements

Modern web browser: Chrome 60+, Firefox 55+, Safari 11+, Edge 79+
JavaScript enabled for editor and interactive features
Minimum 1024×768 resolution for comfortable editing

Installation and Deployment

Docker Installation

# Run MediaWiki with Docker
docker run -d 
  --name mediawiki 
  -p 8080:80 
  -e MEDIAWIKI_SITE_NAME="My Wiki" 
  -e MEDIAWIKI_SITE_LANG=en 
  -v mediawiki_images:/var/www/html/images 
  -v mediawiki_config:/var/www/html/w 
  mediawiki:latest

# Access at http://localhost:8080
# Complete installation wizard

Linux Manual Installation

# Install dependencies
sudo apt-get install php7.4 php7.4-mysql php7.4-xml composer

# Download MediaWiki
wget https://releases.wikimedia.org/mediawiki/1.38/mediawiki-1.38.0.tar.gz
tar xzf mediawiki-1.38.0.tar.gz
sudo mv mediawiki-1.38.0 /var/www/html/wiki

# Set permissions
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/wiki
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/html/wiki

# Run installation wizard
# Navigate to http://your-domain/wiki/mw-config/index.php

Production Configuration

# Configure PostgreSQL or MySQL for production reliability
# Set up Nginx or Apache reverse proxy with SSL/TLS

# Enable image thumbnail generation with ImageMagick
# Configure file uploads and storage

# Set up automated backups of wiki database and files
# Configure wiki extensions for additional functionality

Use Cases and Real-World Applications

Corporate Knowledge Bases

Large organizations use MediaWiki for comprehensive internal knowledge bases. Standard operating procedures (SOPs), policies, and processes are documented centrally. Employees access documentation for training and reference, reducing support requests. Wiki structure enables cross-functional knowledge sharing.

Technical Documentation Sites

Software projects use MediaWiki for technical documentation. API documentation, architecture guides, and developer guides are maintained. Community contributors improve documentation collaboratively. Search ensures developers find information quickly.

Project Management and Documentation

Project teams use MediaWiki for project documentation. Requirements, designs, and technical decisions are recorded. Meeting notes and action items are tracked. Project history is preserved for future reference and learning.

Educational Institutions

Universities and schools use MediaWiki for course materials and research documentation. Collaborative learning is enabled through shared wikis. Student research and projects are documented and shared.

Advantages of MediaWiki

Battle-Tested: Proven reliability powering Wikipedia with millions of daily users
Scalable: Scales to millions of pages with high performance
Lightweight: Minimal server resource requirements
Customizable: Full source code and extension system enable customization
Free and Open Source: No licensing costs or per-user fees
Collaborative: Built for team collaboration and knowledge sharing
Data Ownership: All content remains on your infrastructure
Rich Formatting: Wikitext markup supports complex formatting
Extension System: Thousands of extensions add functionality
Community Support: Large active community providing help and extensions