If you self-host your services and want a Hanzi writing tracker you can run in your own Docker container, the honest answer is that this barely exists. The self-hosted ecosystem for character-writing practice is nearly empty, and understanding why helps you find the closest thing that does meet your goals.

Why self-hosted character tools are scarce

Self-hosting appeals for good reasons: you own your data, nothing depends on a company’s servers or survival, and your practice history is yours. Those are legitimate priorities, especially if you already self-host other tools.

But building a self-hostable handwriting-practice app is a large, specialized effort aimed at a tiny audience, the intersection of self-hosters and Chinese-character learners. So almost no one has built one. This is the same individual-niche scarcity we describe for LMS integration and smartpen companions: the demand is real but small, and the work is large.

The closest open route

If data ownership is your core goal, the most practical open path is Anki with the open-source FSRS scheduler. The scheduling algorithm is a commodity and is genuinely open, see open-source spaced repetition for writing Hanzi, and Anki lets you own and sync your data, including self-hosting a sync server. The catch is the familiar one: Anki is recognition-focused, so unless you build writing cards and force yourself to produce characters rather than tracing, it does not train recall, see Anki grid-paper setups.

So you can get data ownership and open scheduling; you just have to supply the writing discipline yourself.

Separate the two goals

It helps to name what you actually want:

  • If self-hosting itself is the requirement (audit, control, no third-party servers), accept that character-writing practice will be a compromise built on general tools, not a polished dedicated app.
  • If privacy and offline use are the goal, an app that works offline and does not depend on the cloud may satisfy you without literally self-hosting.

These are different needs that get bundled under “self-hosted,” and separating them widens your options.

Where Hanzi Write Practice stands, honestly

Hanzi Write Practice is a closed iOS app, not self-hostable or open source, and we will not pretend otherwise. What it offers is offline, privacy-respecting practice, see offline Chinese writing practice, with the core loop, drawing characters from memory with feedback, running on your device. If “works offline and keeps practice on-device” meets your privacy goal, it may suit you. If running your own instance is non-negotiable, this is honestly not that tool.

Decide which part of self-hosting you need. For pure control, build on open tools and supply the writing yourself. For privacy and offline practice, a well-behaved offline app may be enough.

Join early access if offline, on-device practice meets your needs.