Host Your Own File Sharing Service with Gokapi

Remember Firefox Send? It was a great, privacy-focused tool for sharing files with built-in expiration and download limits. When Mozilla shut it down, it left a gap for developers who wanted a simple, self-hosted alternative. That's where Gokapi comes in.

It's a lightweight, self-hosted file server that replicates that familiar, secure sharing workflow. You get a web interface to upload files, set expiration dates, and generate shareable links—all under your own control.

What It Does

Gokapi is a Go-based application that provides a personal or internal file sharing service. You run it on your server, upload files through its web UI or API, and it gives you links to share. Each link can be configured to expire after a certain time or number of downloads, and files are encrypted at rest. Once the limits are hit, the files are automatically deleted from the server.

Why It's Cool

The beauty of Gokapi is in its straightforward, single-binary deployment and its focus on doing one thing well. You don't need a complex stack—just the binary and a place to run it. It handles encryption, enforces your set limits, and cleans up after itself. It's perfect for sharing sensitive documents internally, sending large files to clients without relying on a third-party's cloud, or just having a personal "Send" instance that you fully own. It feels like a direct, modern successor to the spirit of Firefox Send, but in a package you can deploy with a couple of commands.

How to Try It

Getting started is straightforward. The project provides pre-compiled binaries for Linux, Windows, and macOS on the Gokapi GitHub releases page.

1. Download the appropriate binary for your system.
2. The first run will generate a config.json file. You'll need to edit this to set up your authentication, configure storage paths, and set an encryption key.
3. Run the binary again, and Gokapi will start its web server (defaults to localhost:53842).
4. Log in with the credentials you set, and you're ready to start uploading and sharing files.

For a more permanent setup, check the repo for documentation on running it as a service or with Docker.

Final Thoughts

Gokapi hits a sweet spot for developers. It's not over-engineered; it solves a specific problem cleanly and leaves the infrastructure choices to you. If you've ever wanted to ditch WeTransfer for large sends or needed a secure, auditable way to share files for a project, spinning up an instance of Gokapi is a weekend project that pays off. It's a great example of a focused tool that gives you back control over your data.

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