miraibytes/selfdrop repository overview

⁠SelfDrop

Share files already on your server — without uploading them anywhere.

SelfDrop is a self-hosted file sharing tool that lets you create share links directly from your server's filesystem. Point it at a directory, pick a file, and get a link. No third-party services, no re-uploading files you already have.

⁠Features

• Browse and share files directly from any directory on your server
• Password protection with one-time reveal on share creation
• Download limits and expiry dates on every share
• Masked filenames to hide real file names from recipients
• Multi-file shares with ZIP download
• File preview — images, audio, and video in-browser
• Dark mode
• Single Docker container — Nginx + Node.js + React, no external dependencies
• Designed for reverse proxies — Nginx, Traefik, and Caddy examples included

⁠Quickstart

1. Clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/MiraiBytesLabs/selfdrop.git
cd selfdrop

2. Edit docker-compose.yml

Set your file path and a secret key:

volumes:
  - /path/to/your/files:/data/files:ro

environment:
  SESSION_SECRET: replace-this-with-a-long-random-string

Generate a secret:

openssl rand -hex 32

3. Start

docker compose up -d

Open http://localhost:8080 and complete the one-time setup.

⁠docker-compose.yml

services:
  selfdrop:
    image: miraibytes/selfdrop:latest
    container_name: selfdrop
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    volumes:
      - /path/to/your/files:/data/files:ro
      - selfdrop-db:/data/db
    environment:
      SESSION_SECRET: change-me-to-a-long-random-string

volumes:
  selfdrop-db:

⁠Environment Variables

⁠Mounting Multiple Directories

You can mount several host directories under /data/files:

volumes:
  - /mnt/media/movies:/data/files/movies:ro
  - /mnt/media/music:/data/files/music:ro
  - /home/user/documents:/data/files/documents:ro
  - selfdrop-db:/data/db

Each subdirectory appears as a top-level folder in SelfDrop's file browser.

⁠Reverse Proxy Setup

⁠Nginx

Set PROXY_MODE=external and SENDFILE_MODE=x-accel-redirect (default). See docker/examples/nginx-external.conf⁠ for the full config.

⁠Traefik

Set PROXY_MODE=external and SENDFILE_MODE=stream. Traefik does not support X-Accel-Redirect — Node will stream files directly, which works fine for most use cases. See docker/examples/traefik-labels.yml⁠.

environment:
  PROXY_MODE: external
  SENDFILE_MODE: stream
  SESSION_SECRET: your-secret-here
labels:
  - "traefik.enable=true"
  - "traefik.http.routers.selfdrop.rule=Host(`files.yourdomain.com`)"
  - "traefik.http.routers.selfdrop.entrypoints=websecure"
  - "traefik.http.routers.selfdrop.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt"
  - "traefik.http.services.selfdrop.loadbalancer.server.port=3000"

⁠Caddy

Set PROXY_MODE=external and SENDFILE_MODE=stream. See docker/examples/caddy-snippet.txt⁠.

files.yourdomain.com {
  reverse_proxy localhost:3000
}

⁠Public URL

If SelfDrop is running behind a reverse proxy with a domain, set the Public URL in Settings so share links use your domain instead of the internal address:

Settings → Public URL → https://files.yourdomain.com

⁠Tech Stack

• Runtime: Node.js 24 (ESM)
• Backend: Express 5, better-sqlite3, bcrypt, archiver
• Frontend: React 18, Vite
• Proxy: Nginx (embedded)
• Database: SQLite

⁠Known Limitations

• Single admin account — multi-user support is not planned for 0.x
• Read-only file access — SelfDrop cannot upload files to your server; it only shares files that already exist
• No S3 / cloud storage — local filesystem only
• No link analytics — download counts are tracked per share but there is no detailed access log
• SQLite only — no support for PostgreSQL or MySQL

⁠Building from Source

# Frontend
cd frontend
npm install
npm run build

# Backend
cd backend
npm install
npm start

⁠Running Tests

cd backend
npm install
npm test

⁠Screenshots

⁠

⁠Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. Please open an issue first for significant changes.

⁠License

MIT — see LICENSE⁠.