Home File Server

A self-hosted web file server built with Flask that lets you browse, upload, download, stream, and manage files from any device on your network — or anywhere on the internet if you use Cloudflare Tunnel.

Features

• Login/Register available (user creation and management will be coming next)
• Upload, Download, Browse files.
• In-browser image, pdf, video and audio streaming available

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+
• MongoDB (local or remote)

Quick Start

1. Clone the repository

git clone <your-repo-url> home-file-server
cd home-file-server

2. Create a virtual environment and install dependencies

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate        # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Configure environment variables

cp .env.example .env

Generate a secure secret key and paste it into .env:

python3 -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_hex(32))"

Edit .env with your values (see Configuration).

4. Run the server

python run.py

The server starts on http://127.0.0.1:8080 by default.

Configuration

All settings are read from environment variables (.env file):

Variable	Default	Description
SECRET_KEY	dev-key-change-in-production	Flask session secret — always change in production
MONGODB_URI	(required)	MongoDB connection string (e.g. mongodb://localhost:27017/)
UPLOAD_FOLDER	~/Documents/FileServer	Directory where uploaded files are stored
FLASK_ENV	development	production disables debug mode and enables secure cookies
HOST	127.0.0.1	IP address to bind on (0.0.0.0 to expose on network)
PORT	8080	Port the server listens on
MAX_CONTENT_LENGTH	10737418240 (10 GB)	Maximum upload size in bytes

Relative paths in UPLOAD_FOLDER are resolved relative to the project root. ~ is expanded automatically.

Usage

Authentication

Visit the server URL and register an account. All routes require authentication.

Browsing Files

Go to /browse to navigate folders. From the browser you can:

Uploading Files

Go to /upload, then drag-and-drop files or click to select. You can optionally specify a sub-folder path to organise uploads. Progress is tracked per file.

Media Streaming

In-browser streaming is supported for video and audio files.

Network Access

By default the server binds to 127.0.0.1 (localhost only). To expose it on your local network:

# In .env
HOST=0.0.0.0

Then access from other devices using http://<YOUR_IP>:8080.

License

Open source. Feel free to modify and distribute as you wish.

Disclaimer

This project is created by AI and me.