seaweedfs

SeaweedFS is a distributed storage system built around O(1) disk access, covering object storage with S3, file systems, and Iceberg tables.

SeaweedFS is a distributed storage system for object storage with S3, file systems, and Iceberg tables. The README leans on two technical claims: O(1) disk access and effortless horizontal scaling, with a design goal of handling billions of files. It describes itself as an independent Apache licensed open source project with development made possible by backers. The O(1) access pattern is the part that separates it from object stores that read in a file, then seek.

The quick start is built around the weed mini command. It starts a ready to use S3 object store with credentials and a pre created bucket, with the S3 endpoint at a local address. Environment variables can be dropped to skip parts, in which case S3 runs in an unauthenticated mode for development without AWS keys. The intent is to go from nothing to a working object store in one command.

The same command starts everything else, according to the README. That includes the S3 endpoint, master UI, volume server, filer UI, WebDAV, and admin UI, each at a local address. Running the full stack from one command makes it suitable for development, testing, and single node deployments. Environment variables control the S3 configuration, so the same command can scale from a dev box to a real cluster by changing what you pass.

Scaling out is described as adding more volume servers. A weed volume command can run locally, on another machine, or on thousands of machines. That is the horizontal scaling story in its plainest form. The README also thanks backers for making ongoing development possible and invites sponsorship on Patreon to help the project grow stronger. The community supported framing is honest about where the project's resources come from.

• Source 1 · Project repository
• Source 2 · README