Filestash — Web File Manager for Any Storage Backend

Introduction

Filestash turns any storage backend into a Dropbox-like experience in the browser. Rather than replacing your existing infrastructure, it sits on top of whatever you already use and provides a unified web interface for managing files.

What Filestash Does

• Connects to FTP, SFTP, S3, WebDAV, SMB, Git, LDAP, and cloud providers through a single UI
• Provides in-browser file previews for images, videos, documents, and code
• Includes a built-in text and code editor with syntax highlighting
• Supports link-based file sharing with access controls
• Offers full-text search across connected storage backends

Architecture Overview

Filestash is a Go server that compiles to a single binary with an embedded frontend. Each storage protocol is implemented as a backend plugin, and file operations are dispatched through a common interface. The server streams data between client and backend without buffering entire files in memory, keeping resource usage low even for large transfers. Plugin hooks allow adding custom authentication, middleware, and storage adapters.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Deploy via Docker with a single command or build from source with Go
• Add storage backends through the admin panel at /admin without editing config files
• Configure authentication to gate access with your existing LDAP, SAML, or OAuth provider
• Set up automatic HTTPS with Let's Encrypt or place behind a reverse proxy
• Tune image transcoding, cache TTL, and search indexing through the admin interface

Key Features

• Responsive UI that works on desktops, tablets, and phones
• Image gallery view with thumbnail generation and EXIF display
• Video and audio streaming directly in the browser
• Office document rendering through integrated LibreOffice conversion
• Plugin architecture for adding custom backends and middleware

Comparison with Similar Tools

• File Browser — manages a single local directory; Filestash connects to dozens of remote protocols
• Nextcloud — full collaboration suite requiring its own storage layer; Filestash layers on top of existing infrastructure
• Cloudreve — user-oriented cloud drive with quotas; Filestash focuses on being a universal file management UI
• Seafile — sync-focused with native desktop clients; Filestash is browser-only and protocol-agnostic
• MinIO Console — S3-specific management UI; Filestash is backend-agnostic

FAQ

Q: Does Filestash store files on its own server? A: No. Filestash is a proxy that connects to your existing storage. Files are streamed through the server without permanent local storage.

Q: Can I restrict which backends users can access? A: Yes. The admin panel lets you define which backends are available and configure per-backend authentication requirements.

Q: Is there a mobile app? A: There is no native app, but the web UI is fully responsive and works well on mobile browsers.

Q: How does search work across backends? A: Filestash builds a search index by crawling connected backends in the background. Results include filename matches and, for supported formats, full-text content matches.

Sources

• https://github.com/mickael-kerjean/filestash
• https://www.filestash.app/