Hysen Labscopyparty
Portable file server with accelerated resumable uploads, dedup, WebDAV, SFTP, FTP, TFTP, zeroconf, media indexer, thumbnails++ all in one file
copyparty: a file server that lives in one file
A portable Python file server with resumable uploads, dedup, WebDAV, SFTP, FTP, TFTP, and media indexing, that runs on Python 2 or 3 with all dependencies optional.
One file, many protocols
The GitHub description reads like a spec sheet with a punchline at the end: a portable file server with accelerated resumable uploads, dedup, WebDAV, SFTP, FTP, TFTP, zeroconf, media indexer, and thumbnails, all in one file. The README says it turns almost any device into a file server with resumable uploads and downloads using any web browser. The single file constraint is the thing that makes it interesting for unusual hardware.
What you need to run it
The requirement list is unusually small. The server only needs Python 2 or 3, with all dependencies optional. The supported protocols span HTTP and HTTPS, WebDAV, SFTP, FTP and FTPS, TFTP, and SMB or CIFS. An Android app and iPhone shortcuts are mentioned as clients. That protocol spread, paired with a minimal runtime, is what lets one script serve as the file sharing layer for very different devices.
Ways to install it
Installation has several paths. The quickest is running the self extracting script, which unpacks an embedded archive into the temp directory, with a zipapp alternative. It is also installable through PyPI with a Python package manager, as a Windows executable, through package managers on Arch or Homebrew, on NixOS, or through Termux on Android. The range of install options matches the range of supported platforms.
The feature tour
The table of contents lists upload, dedup, thumbnails, search, zip download, and a markdown viewer. Screenshots cover the browser, upload, unpost, thumbnails, and search interfaces. There is even a comparison to similar software tucked into the features section, which is a helpful way to see where this project draws its boundaries.
Documentation and honest sections
The README is candid in an unusual way. It includes sections on testimonials, motivations, bugs, breaking changes, and an FAQ. Projects that put their known bugs and breaking changes in the top level README tend to earn more trust, because they are not hiding the rough edges behind a polished front page.
Community notes