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Installation

File Browser Next is a single binary and can be used as a standalone executable. It is also available as a Docker image. Installation is straightforward on any platform.

Quick Install (Automated)

The quickest and easiest way to install File Browser Next is to use our official installation script, which automatically detects your operating system and CPU architecture, downloads the latest binary, and installs it to your system PATH.

Linux & macOS

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FilebrowserNext/get/main/get.sh | bash

Or using wget:

wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FilebrowserNext/get/main/get.sh | bash

Once installed, launch File Browser Next with:

filebrowser -r /path/to/your/files

Windows (PowerShell)

Run PowerShell as Administrator:

iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FilebrowserNext/get/main/get.ps1 | iex

Once installed, launch File Browser Next in a new terminal:

filebrowser -r C:\path\to\your\files

Homebrew (macOS)

Install directly with one command:

brew install FilebrowserNext/tap/filebrowser

Or tap the repository first:

brew tap FilebrowserNext/tap
brew install filebrowser

Manual Binary Download

If you prefer downloading and extracting the binary manually, pre-compiled archives are available on our releases page.

Linux (amd64)

curl -L https://github.com/FilebrowserNext/filebrowserNEXT/releases/latest/download/filebrowser-linux-amd64.tar.gz | tar xz
chmod +x filebrowser
./filebrowser -r /path/to/your/files

Linux (arm64 / Raspberry Pi)

curl -L https://github.com/FilebrowserNext/filebrowserNEXT/releases/latest/download/filebrowser-linux-arm64.tar.gz | tar xz
chmod +x filebrowser
./filebrowser -r /path/to/your/files

macOS (Apple Silicon)

curl -L https://github.com/FilebrowserNext/filebrowserNEXT/releases/latest/download/filebrowser-darwin-arm64.tar.gz | tar xz
chmod +x filebrowser
./filebrowser -r /path/to/your/files

macOS (Intel)

curl -L https://github.com/FilebrowserNext/filebrowserNEXT/releases/latest/download/filebrowser-darwin-amd64.tar.gz | tar xz
chmod +x filebrowser
./filebrowser -r /path/to/your/files

Windows (amd64)

Download the archive and extract it:

https://github.com/FilebrowserNext/filebrowserNEXT/releases/latest/download/filebrowser-windows-amd64.zip

Then run:

.\filebrowser.exe -r C:\path\to\your\files

Running as a Background Service

Linux

Quick Background Run (Nohup)

Run File Browser Next detached from your terminal:

nohup filebrowser -r /path/to/your/files > filebrowser.log 2>&1 &

To stop it:

pkill filebrowser

Production Service (Systemd)

Create and enable a systemd service so File Browser Next starts automatically on boot:

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/filebrowser.service > /dev/null <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=File Browser Next
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/filebrowser -r /path/to/your/files
Restart=on-failure
User=nobody

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now filebrowser

To stop or view logs:

sudo systemctl status filebrowser
sudo systemctl stop filebrowser

macOS

Quick Background Run (Nohup)

nohup filebrowser -r /path/to/your/files > filebrowser.log 2>&1 &

To stop it:

pkill filebrowser

Launchd Agent (Auto-start on login)

Create ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.filebrowsernext.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.filebrowsernext</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/local/bin/filebrowser</string>
        <string>-r</string>
        <string>/Users/your-username/files</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Load the service:

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.filebrowsernext.plist

To stop it:

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.filebrowsernext.plist

Windows

Quick Background Run (PowerShell)

Launch File Browser Next silently without an open command window:

Start-Process filebrowser -ArgumentList "-r C:\path\to\your\files" -WindowStyle Hidden

To stop the background process:

Stop-Process -Name filebrowser

Windows Task Scheduler (Auto-start on boot)

Create a scheduled task to run File Browser Next automatically at logon:

schtasks /create /tn "FileBrowserNext" /tr "filebrowser.exe -r C:\path\to\your\files" /sc onlogon /rl highest

To start or delete the task:

schtasks /run /tn "FileBrowserNext"
schtasks /delete /tn "FileBrowserNext" /f

Docker

File Browser Next is designed to run seamlessly in Docker as a single, ultra-lightweight container (approx. 26 MB).

Docker Compose is the cleanest way to run and manage File Browser Next on a server, NAS, or homelab.

Create a docker-compose.yml file:

services:
  filebrowser:
    image: ghcr.io/filebrowsernext/filebrowsernext:latest
    container_name: filebrowser
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    volumes:
      - /path/to/your/files:/srv
      - /path/to/database:/database
      - /path/to/config:/config
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000

Start the container in the background:

docker compose up -d

Method 2: Docker Run (Single Command)

You can also launch File Browser Next with a single docker run command:

docker run -d \
  --name filebrowser \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 8080:80 \
  -v /path/to/your/files:/srv \
  -v /path/to/database:/database \
  -v /path/to/config:/config \
  ghcr.io/filebrowsernext/filebrowsernext:latest

Understanding Docker Volumes

Container Path Purpose Description
/srv Your Files The root directory of the files you want to manage. Mount any directory from your host here.
/database User Database Contains filebrowser.db (users, passwords, permissions). Persisting this volume ensures your accounts are preserved across container updates and restarts.
/config Settings (Optional) Contains optional custom settings.json. Automatically initialized if empty.

[!NOTE] Permissions: The container runs under non-root user UID 1000 / GID 1000. Ensure that your host directories mounted into /srv and /database are readable and writable by your user (chown -R 1000:1000 /path/to/database).

File Browser Next is now up and running. Read the “First Boot” section below for first login details.

First Boot

Your instance is now up and running. By default, the web interface is accessible in your browser at:

http://127.0.0.1:8080

If hosted on a remote server or VPS, replace 127.0.0.1 with your server’s public or local IP address (e.g. http://192.168.1.100:8080 or http://<your-server-ip>:8080).

File Browser Next automatically initializes its database upon startup. The default administrator credentials are admin / admin (or the randomly generated password printed to the console on first launch if configured with random credentials).

Although this is the fastest way to bootstrap an instance, we recommend you to take a look at other possible options, by checking config init and config set, to make the installation as safe and customized as it can be.

If your goal is to have a public-facing deployment, we recommend taking a look at the deployment page for more information on how you can secure your installation.