Self-host BoxBox
v0.3.1Modern self-hosted file manager for homelab
- Stars
- 346
- RAM
- 128M reservation, 512M limit
- Port
- 8080 (HTTP server)
ghcr.io/jr4dh3y/boxbox
What is BoxBox?
BoxBox runs as a single Go binary with an embedded SvelteKit frontend, deployed via Docker Compose from a published GHCR image. It serves a browser UI for configured Linux mount points, supporting chunked resumable uploads that preserve folder structure, previews for images, audio, video, PDFs, and documents, and a Monaco-based code editor. Users can create expiring share links with four access levels, download folders as ZIP archives, and run copy, move, or delete operations as background jobs with live progress updates over WebSocket. The UI separates storage roots (Drives) from folder shortcuts (Places) and can auto-discover mounted drives. Configuration covers read-only mounts, user accounts with bcrypt passwords, rate limits, and WebSocket origin allow-lists. No external database or cache is required; persistent data lives in a container volume.
Should you self-host BoxBox?
BoxBox scores 48/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #21 of 34 in File Management. It has 346 GitHub stars.
It shipped 14 stable releases in the past year. The latest, v0.3.1, came out on 12 October 2026. New versions land roughly every 3 days.
Setup is moderate: expect some configuration beyond a single command. An official Docker image is available. It is MIT-licensed and written mostly in Go.
Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is AList (83/100, 50 365 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See BoxBox vs AList side by side.
Features
- Auto-discovery of drives
- Background file operations
- Chunked resumable uploads
- Code Editor
- Drive and Places navigation
- File and folder sharing
- File Previews
- Media streaming
- Multi-mount browsing
- Read-only mounts
- REST API
- Search
- Wallpaper customization
- Zip Downloads
BoxBox README
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