this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2025
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Imagine if you could set up an entire file server in two steps, on any device. Just download a 1Mb file, and then run it.

I know folks have mentioned it here before, but I've been running CopyParty for a month or so, and I'm extremely impressed. After setting up multiple Docker services on my home server, I almost couldn't believe how simple this was to set up and use. I had to install Python, but after that, it's just two steps. Download the file, and then run it.

It's not exactly the prettiest interface in the world, but it will turn any device that can run Python into a complete file server. The web interface will run on basically any device you can think of. It's not fancy, but it's pretty intuitive once you learn how to use it, and extremely responsive.

I've seen some discussion recently about different file servers and file syncing like Syncthing, NextCloud, etc. I'm not sure if many people know about CopyParty and use it.

It has a lot of customizable features, and can operate on all sorts of configurations. I have it set up as a remote drive on my phone and office computer. I use the web interface to preview audio files and text files. I use it to manage downloads into the designated folders I need to put them in.

It is at least as fast as any other upload or download service I've used on my home server. Usually it's even faster. It can quickly search files, including the contents of files, and automatically detect duplicates.

If I knew self-hosting could be this easy, I probably would have started even sooner. I might have even started testing on an unused cell phone I have lying around.

There are a couple gaps that have prevented me from diving all in. There's no file versioning built in. So if a file is corrupted or overridden by mistake, it can't be rolled back using copyparty. There are no dedicated apps, so things like built-in file search and indexing depend on the capabilities of the OS (you can always access the indexed search through the web interface, but that's not always the most convenient). Some of the features, like the blazing fast upload, are only available through the browser.

Like any software, it's not perfect, but it is extremely impressive and very good at what it does. Which is a lot.

CopyParty on github

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[–] calamityjanitor@lemmy.world 12 points 15 hours ago

I fucking love copyparty. It starts simple enough but then the millions of options and configs let you twist it into exactly what you need.

As someone that runs a server OS that doesn't support docker, it is very refreshing to see a single binary project. It has a focus on being administrator friendly thats really fallen out of fashion these days.

[–] SuperRecording@lemmy.ml 25 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

I was so hoping it was really on something called 'gitgub'

[–] mkhopper@lemmy.world 9 points 16 hours ago
[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 8 points 16 hours ago

LOL well at least you know I'm not an AI. Fixing now.

[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Isn’t HFS still a thing people use? Literally one file, no need for python, no install, just run it and you’ve got an http interface available on your local network to upload/download files to.

[–] tripflag@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago

hfs v2 (the old banger of an exe) is no longer being maintained and has some known unfixed vulnerabilities, however there is now a rewrite (hfs v3) which is shaping up really nicely.

should also mention that copyparty is also available as a windows exe which will run without python or any other dependencies

[–] PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Copyparty was mentioned here just the other day, and I started using it this weekend. There were comments about security risks though, based on being a small project with a LOT of integrations. Hit sure how safe I feel.

Docker path mapping is needed to let Copyparty show the files I want to access. I run my containers on a server next to my NAS that hosts my files; that's a little complicated.

[–] tripflag@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

There were comments about security risks though, based on being a small project with a LOT of integrations.

time will show, but the only thing i actively regret adding was the support for discord embeds (the "og" option); opengraph is an awfully designed concept and, unrelatedly, it has been a source of a handful of bugs in how it was implemented in copyparty (that one's on me). Keeping that disabled avoids a lot of edgecases, most of which are decreed by the opengraph spec.

That said, there's no features keeping me up at night; i think for the most part things are fine -- just don't enable the smb server 😁

[–] gndagreborn@lemmy.world 7 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I had to ditch nextcloud after it started corrupting all of my files' time stamp meta data. I really miss it though. Syncthing is what I've been using.

[–] _cryptagion@anarchist.nexus 7 points 15 hours ago

Syncthing is nice, but it fills a different niche than copyparty. I run both, and copyparty is more useful for things you might want other people to use. For example, I have one that’s filled with anarchist memes that the dbzer0 folks on matrix can access. They can also upload memes to the meme stash.

[–] SiblingNoah@piefed.social 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Had to choose a file server setup recently. Ended up with Filebrowser Quantum.

Copyparty is awesome, but it seems happiest on bare metal instead of Docker. The Docker setup and documentation, especially when adding reverse proxies and authentication (like Authentik) is just not there yet.

I’m looking forward to giving it another look in a year.

[–] clmbmb@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 13 hours ago

What is the problem with their docker implementation? I use it for more than one year and had no issues yet.

[–] thagoat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 17 hours ago

I do like copyparty, not sure about gitgub, though.