A simple file server that lets you easily share many big files like photos and videos with friends (or between your devices) over a local network without requiring an internet connection. It starts an HTTP server that lists all files and directories in the directory where it is started from. Then anyone can then connect to the server and download files or automatically generated ZIP of whole directories, kind of like a self hosted Google Drive. The client can also upload files to the server via their browser, and clipboard card be shared both ways. A QR code is generated for convenience.

Features

• Local two-way transfers without going through the internet
• Send full quality photos and videos to others without needing a fast internet connection
• Handles really big files and directories
• Handles a LOT of files
• Auto ZIPs directories on-the-fly
• Two-way sharing of clipboard
• The web client works on all major platforms, including iOS and Android (however the server must run on a Mac/Windows/Linux computer)
• Video/image playback and slideshows

Install (with Node.js / npm)

• Install Node.js and open a terminal:

npm install -g @ezshare/cli

🐳 Docker Deployment

You can run ezshare easily using Docker. This ensures all dependencies like ffmpeg and xvfb are pre-installed and configured correctly.

Prerequisites

• Docker Desktop or Docker Engine installed.

Option 1: Using Docker Compose (Recommended)

The easiest way to run the application is with Docker Compose. This handles the build, port mapping, and volume creation automatically.

1. Start the application:

   docker compose up --build

2. Access the app: Open your browser to http://localhost:3003.

3. Shared Files: Place files in the ./my-shared-data folder (created automatically in your project root). These will appear in the application under /shared.

Option 2: Manual Docker CLI

If you prefer to run the Dockerfile manually without Compose:

1. Build the image:

   docker build -t ezshare .

2. Run the container: You must map port 3003 and mount a volume to /shared for the application to function properly.

   docker run -p 3003:3003 -v $(pwd)/my-shared-data:/shared ezshare

Configuration Details

• Port: The application listens on port 3003 by default.
• Data Volume: The application expects a volume mounted at /shared to store and retrieve files.
• Environment: The container uses node:20-slim and includes necessary runtime tools like ffmpeg for media processing.

Volume Permissions (Important)

Since the container now runs as UID 1000 (node), the host directory mounted to /shared (defined in docker-compose.yml as ./my-shared-data) must be writable by UID 1000.

If you encounter Permission Denied errors on Linux/Mac, run the following on the host machine to fix local folder permissions:

mkdir -p ./my-shared-data
chown -R 1000:1000 ./my-shared-data

Install (standalone)

If you don't want to install Node.js, you can download Electron based executable of ezshare from Releases.

Migrate from v1 to v2

npm uninstall -g ezshare
npm i -g @ezshare/cli

Usage

• Open a terminal and run:
• cd /path/to/your/shared/folder
• ezshare
• Open the browser in the other end to the printed URL
• Start to upload or download files to/from this folder!
• Note that the two devices need to be on the same WiFi (or possibly personal hotspot)

Alternatively you can pass it the path you want to share:

ezshare /your/shared/folder

For more info run ezshare --help

Supported platforms

• The web client with all operating systems that have a modern browser. iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, ++
• The command line application works on all major desktop OS (Mac, Windows, Linux)

Share over internet without NAT

If you want to share a file over internet, you can use a service like Ngrok or Cloudflare tunnels.

Ngrok:

ngrok http http://ip.of.ezshare:8080/

Cloudflare tunnel:

cloudflared tunnel --url http://ip.of.ezshare:8080/ --no-autoupdate

Then just share the URL you are given from one of these services.

More alternatives:

• https://github.com/anderspitman/awesome-tunneling

Development

Running CLI locally

yarn dev:cli

Running Electron locally

yarn dev:electron

Package locally

yarn build && yarn workspace @ezshare/electron package

Release

First push and wait for green GitHub Actions.

Version whichever packages are changed:

yarn workspace @ezshare/web version patch
yarn workspace @ezshare/lib version patch
yarn workspace @ezshare/cli version patch
yarn workspace @ezshare/electron version patch

git add packages/*/package.json
git commit -m Release

Now build and publish to npm:

yarn build
yarn workspace @ezshare/web npm publish
yarn workspace @ezshare/lib npm publish
yarn workspace @ezshare/cli npm publish

• git push
• Now trigger workflow dispatch to build the Electron version.
• Wait for GitHub Actions run
• Edit draft to add release notes, and check that artifacts got added.

Credits

• Icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com

See also

• https://github.com/claudiodangelis/qr-filetransfer
• https://github.com/shivensinha4/qr-fileshare

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