File Browser

A web file browser served by a single Go binary with an embedded React app. Anyone can browse, upload, and download. Optional accounts add file management: create, rename, move, delete, and private folders. Account data lives in a SQLite database; files stay on the plain filesystem.

A live demo is available at filebrowser.demo.albert.lol.

Quick start

Docker Compose (recommended)

services:
  filebrowser:
    image: ghcr.io/skidoodle/filebrowser:latest
    container_name: filebrowser
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data
      - ./db:/db

docker compose up -d

Then open http://localhost:8080. The first visit offers to create an admin account.

Custom UID/GID

By default the container runs as 1000:1000. If your host volumes are owned by a different user, set PUID and PGID:

services:
  filebrowser:
    image: ghcr.io/skidoodle/filebrowser:latest
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    environment:
      - PUID=1001
      - PGID=1001
    volumes:
      - /mnt/nas/files:/data
      - ./db:/db

The entrypoint automatically fixes ownership of /data, /cache, and /db before dropping privileges. This also works when bind-mounting multiple filesystems under /data:

    volumes:
      - /mnt/ssd/documents:/data/documents
      - /mnt/hdd/media:/data/media
      - ./db:/db

Note

If you use user: "1001:1001" in compose instead of PUID/PGID, the entrypoint skips the ownership fix and execs directly. Make sure your volumes are already writable by that UID.

Build from source

Requires Go 1.26+ and Bun:

just build
FILEBROWSER_ROOT=./data ./bin/filebrowser

Configuration

All settings come from environment variables.

Variable	Default	Meaning
PUID	1000	user ID the process runs as (Docker only)
PGID	1000	group ID the process runs as (Docker only)
FILEBROWSER_ROOT	./data	directory served to visitors
FILEBROWSER_DATABASE	./filebrowser.db	path to SQLite database
FILEBROWSER_ADDRESS	0.0.0.0:8080	listen address
FILEBROWSER_BASEURL	empty	subpath the app is mounted under
FILEBROWSER_ACCESS_POLICY	public	public lets anonymous visitors upload, readonly limits them to browsing, private requires sign-in for everything
FILEBROWSER_MAXUPLOAD	10GiB	maximum size of a single upload
FILEBROWSER_CACHEDIR	system temp	directory for thumbnails and other disposable data
FILEBROWSER_MAXTEXTSIZE	10MiB	cutoff for text type detection
FILEBROWSER_GUARD	true	toggle the abuse-protection chain
FILEBROWSER_TRUSTEDPROXIES	empty	comma-separated proxy CIDRs for X-Forwarded-For
FILEBROWSER_REQUESTRATE	60	per-IP API requests per second
FILEBROWSER_DOWNLOADRATE	200MiB	per-IP download bytes per second
FILEBROWSER_POWDIFFICULTY	4	proof-of-work difficulty, 0 disables it
FILEBROWSER_SECRET	empty	capability signing key; defaults to a key persisted in the cache dir
FILEBROWSER_INSECURE	false	disable authentication, give every visitor full access
FILEBROWSER_ADMIN_PASSWORD	empty	seed or reset the admin password
FILEBROWSER_DEFAULT_THEME	system	fallback UI theme (system, light, dark)
FILEBROWSER_DEFAULT_VIEW_MODE	mosaic	fallback browsing layout (mosaic, list, gallery)
FILEBROWSER_DEFAULT_LIGHTBOX_ANIMATION	true	toggle image viewer transitions by default
FILEBROWSER_DEBUG	false	verbose logging

Development

just dev      # API on :8080 and Vite dev server on :5173
just test     # Go tests with the race detector
just lint     # golangci-lint
just fmt      # gofmt and go vet
just build    # production binary with the embedded SPA

Run just --list for the rest. The backend is Go 1.26+ on the standard library. The frontend is React 19, TypeScript, Vite, and Tailwind CSS, built with Bun.

License

BSD 3-Clause. See LICENSE.