When you need to get at a file on another machine, you want to browse, preview, and download it without setting up a VPN or remembering SSH paths — so you can just open a browser tab and find it.
Built with droid. Stack: Bun, Hono, React, Tailwind.
Cloud sync (Dropbox, iCloud): Requires you to have synced the file in advance. Doesn't cover servers, VPS, or NAS. Doesn't give you the full filesystem.
SSH + terminal: Works but you need to know the exact path, can't preview images or code in-place, and requires a terminal open for every machine you want to check.
VPN + file sharing: Heavy to set up, requires the remote machine to advertise shares, and it's still a separate app experience.
File Explorer is a single-process web server. Run it on each machine, point them at a hub, and all your machines appear in one browser tab. Browse, search, preview, download, upload, edit — all over HTTP, with token auth you set yourself.
Self-hosted: No cloud account, no sync, no data leaving your machines. The hub is just another instance you control.
Two connection modes: For machines you can reach over a network (VPS, NAS, home server on Tailscale), use URL mode — the hub proxies requests to the remote's HTTP server. For machines where you only have SSH access and don't want to run a server, SSH mode works without installing anything on the remote.
Combo views: Group any subset of your machines into a named view. "Work machines", "home servers", "all media" — one click to switch between them.
Full file operations: Browse, fuzzy-search, preview text/images/code, download, upload (drag-and-drop), create files/folders, rename, duplicate, delete, edit text files in-browser. All operations work the same whether the file is local or on a remote device.
Command palette: ⌘K to search across the current device (or all devices). Fuzzy-matched via Fuse.js.
- Bun (
curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash) - SSH key access to any remote machines you want to add via SSH mode
git clone https://github.com/<your-org-or-user>/file-explorer.git
cd file-explorer
bun install
bun run build
FILE_EXPLORER_ADMIN_TOKEN=<strong-token> bun run startOpen http://localhost:3456. The hub serves the UI and acts as a proxy for all remote devices.
To add a read-only token for shared access:
FILE_EXPLORER_ADMIN_TOKEN=<admin-token> \
FILE_EXPLORER_READ_TOKEN=<read-only-token> \
bun run startRead tokens can browse, search, preview, and download. Write operations (create, rename, delete, upload, edit) require the admin token.
Tokens are passed as Authorization: Bearer <token> — the UI prompts for one on first load.
Run file-explorer on the remote machine the same way:
# On the remote machine
git clone ...
bun install && bun run build
PORT=3456 FILE_EXPLORER_ADMIN_TOKEN=<remote-token> bun run startThen in the hub UI:
- Device switcher → Add a Machine → Device URL
- Paste the host or full URL. Host-only input auto-adds
http://and:3456. - If the remote has its own token, fill in Remote token.
Good URL examples:
my-host.your-tailnet.ts.nethttp://192.168.1.20:3456http://my-vps.example.com:3456
No server needed on the remote. The hub runs SSH commands directly.
- Device switcher → Add a Machine → SSH Host
- Enter the SSH host alias from your
~/.ssh/config. - Hub must be able to SSH non-interactively (key auth,
BatchMode=yes).
Quick check from the hub machine:
ssh my-host 'echo ok'SSH mode supports all the same operations: browse, search, preview, download, upload, create, rename, delete, save. Recent files tracking is not available over SSH.
For URL mode, deploy.sh handles the full remote setup in one command: installs Bun if needed, rsyncs the code, starts the server, and registers it with the hub.
HUB_TOKEN=<hub-admin-token> \
DEVICE_AUTH_TOKEN=<remote-token-or-empty> \
./deploy.sh <ssh-host> [hub-url] [device-url]Examples:
./deploy.sh vps-london
./deploy.sh mini http://hub.local:3456
./deploy.sh mini http://hub.local:3456 http://mini.your-tailnet.ts.net:3456The script auto-detects the remote's Tailscale DNS name, Tailscale IP, LAN IP, or public IP — in that order — to pick the best URL to register. Pass device-url explicitly if the detection is wrong.
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
FILE_EXPLORER_ADMIN_TOKEN |
Full read/write access |
FILE_EXPLORER_READ_TOKEN |
Read-only access (browse, search, preview, download) |
FILE_EXPLORER_ROOT |
Root directory to expose (default: $HOME) |
FILE_EXPLORER_DATA |
Where to store device registry and settings (default: ~/.file-explorer/) |
FILE_EXPLORER_ALLOW_NO_AUTH=true |
Disable auth — local/dev only |
FILE_EXPLORER_CORS_ORIGINS |
Comma-separated CORS allowlist |
PORT |
Server port (default: 3456) |
FILE_EXPLORER_API_TOKEN |
Legacy alias for admin token |
Auth is required by default. The server refuses to start without a token unless ALLOW_NO_AUTH=true is set.
Cannot reach ...: Remote not running, wrong host, wrong port, or no route from hub. Check: curl http://<remote>:3456/api/files?path=
Remote returned 401/403: Remote has token auth. Fill Remote token when adding a URL device.
SSH add fails: Validate from the hub shell: ssh <alias> 'echo ok'. The hub needs non-interactive key auth.
Server fails to start: Check auth env vars — the server throws if neither FILE_EXPLORER_ADMIN_TOKEN nor FILE_EXPLORER_ALLOW_NO_AUTH=true is set.
Addable via URL mode: macOS, Linux, VPS, NAS, home servers — anything that can run Bun and be reached over HTTP from the hub.
Addable via SSH mode: Any machine you can already SSH into non-interactively from the hub. No server install needed on the remote.
Not practical to add directly: iOS/Android (no Bun server or SSH daemon).
- Recent files tracking is per-device and in-memory only (restarts clear it)
- No directory download as zip — single file download only
- No folder upload (file-by-file only)
- Port 3456 is hardcoded as the default; URL-mode remotes are assumed to be on the same port unless you specify a full URL
- Device registry is stored as flat JSON (
~/.file-explorer/devices.json) — no migration tooling