Show HN: Filemat – an open-source web-based file manager • Hacker News Board

Show HN: Filemat – an open-source web-based file manager

#1

Post by bingud » Wed, May 27, 2026, 2:36 PM UTC

Hello HN,

I would like to share Filemat, a web-based file manager that I built because I wanted something with a simple setup and file permissions that work across the filesystem (as opposed to permissions only for a folder managed by the app).

It's self-hosted and open-source (currently in beta).

I'd be happy to hear your feedback

Repo: https://github.com/bingud/filemat

Show HN: Filemat – an open-source web-based file manager
github.com

Re: Show HN: Filemat – an open-source web-based file manager

#2

Post by baal80spam » Wed, May 27, 2026, 4:37 PM UTC

Web based file manager. I think I've seen everything now.

Anyhow - good luck, I bet there are people who want this.

Re: Show HN: Filemat – an open-source web-based file manager

#3

Post by dvh » Wed, May 27, 2026, 4:44 PM UTC

Does it conform to Orthodox file manager specs? http://www.softpanorama.org/OFM/

Re: Show HN: Filemat – an open-source web-based file manager

#4

Post by PokemonNoGo » Wed, May 27, 2026, 4:44 PM UTC

>I wanted something with a simple setup and file permissions that work across the filesystem (as opposed to permissions only for a folder managed by the app).

Sorry I don't understand this. What filesystem are you using?

Re: Show HN: Filemat – an open-source web-based file manager

#5

Post by escapecharacter » Wed, May 27, 2026, 4:50 PM UTC

baal80spam wrote: post #2

Web based file manager. I think I've seen everything now. Anyhow - good luck, I bet there are people who want this.

I mean, I've been shopping for a GUI file manager for a bucket, so I can collab with some non-technical people.

Re: Show HN: Filemat – an open-source web-based file manager

#6

Post by yjftsjthsd-h » Wed, May 27, 2026, 4:51 PM UTC

I'd personally just use copyparty, but this does seem to have a different feature set that probably makes it a better fit for some uses

Re: Show HN: Filemat – an open-source web-based file manager

#7

Post by hod6654 » Wed, May 27, 2026, 5:40 PM UTC

Copyparty!

Re: Show HN: Filemat – an open-source web-based file manager

#8

Post by bingud » Wed, May 27, 2026, 5:46 PM UTC

PokemonNoGo wrote: post #4

>I wanted something with a simple setup and file permissions that work across the filesystem (as opposed to permissions only for a folder managed by the app). Sorry I don't understand this. What filesystem are you using?

Sorry, I didn't explain that properly. I meant app-level permissions rather than actual filesystem permissions.

There are some file managers that offer permissions, but only for their own internal data folder, so they don't work for files elsewhere on the filesystem.

As for filesystem support, it currently only runs on Linux, although I want to remove this limitation in the future.

Re: Show HN: Filemat – an open-source web-based file manager

#9

Post by bingud » Wed, May 27, 2026, 5:58 PM UTC

baal80spam wrote: post #2

Web based file manager. I think I've seen everything now. Anyhow - good luck, I bet there are people who want this.

Thanks, I guess a more conventional way to call it would be something along the lines of self-hosted cloud storage. I'd say it's about halfway between Google Drive and Windows Explorer.

Re: Show HN: Filemat – an open-source web-based file manager

#10

Post by bingud » Wed, May 27, 2026, 6:05 PM UTC

escapecharacter wrote: post #5

baal80spam wrote: post #2

Web based file manager. I think I've seen everything now. Anyhow - good luck, I bet there are people who want this.

I mean, I've been shopping for a GUI file manager for a bucket, so I can collab with some non-technical people.

That's one of the use-cases I had in mind when making this. The permissions are right in the sidebar, so that it's easy to set which people can (or can't) see or edit a given file.