This article, written by the creator of FileRise, draws on their personal experiences that led to the project.

If you’ve ever wanted “just the file manager part” of a self-hosted cloud suite, you’re not alone.

A lot of people start with something heavy because it does everything. Then reality sets in: you mostly want to browse files, upload, share links, manage permissions, maybe edit a doc or two, and mount it as a drive. You don’t want a pile of extra services you didn’t ask for.

That’s the space FileRise lives in.

FileRise is a self-hosted web file manager that runs on PHP (or Docker), doesn’t require an external database, and focuses on the parts that matter for day-to-day file work: per-folder ACLs, sharing, WebDAV, solid UI/UX, and optional extras like OnlyOffice and folder-level encryption at rest.

It also collects no telemetry, does no tracking, and has no phone-home behavior.

What’s new: dual-pane mode + keyboard shortcuts

One of the most requested features since the early days was a “commander-style” dual-pane workflow. I finally shipped it.

Dual-pane mode lets you keep two folders open at once and move fast:

• Drag and drop between panes
• Compare folders side-by-side
• Collapse the folder tree into the header to free up space
• Use keyboard shortcuts instead of hunting through menus

Shortcuts include:

• F2 rename
• Ctrl+Shift+N new folder
• F3 preview, F4 edit
• F5 copy, F6 move
• F7 new folder, Del delete
• / focus searchThere’s also a built-in shortcut overlay so you don’t have to memorize everything.

The core idea: permissions you can trust

The feature that drives a lot of FileRise’s design is per-folder ACLs.

You can grant permissions like view (all vs own), upload, create, edit, rename, move, copy, delete, extract, share, and more. The important part is that these rules are enforced consistently across:

• the web UI
• the API
• WebDAV

So you don’t end up with “the UI hides it but WebDAV still allows it” situations. If a user can’t do something, they can’t do it anywhere.

WebDAV that actually respects your rules

WebDAV is a big deal for a lot of self-hosters because it turns a web file manager into something you can mount as a drive on macOS, Windows, Linux, and common tools like Cyberduck and WinSCP.

FileRise supports WebDAV with ACL-awareness, meaning listings, uploads, overwrites, deletes, and folder operations follow the same permission model as the web app.

If “mount it like a drive” is a requirement for your setup, this is where FileRise tends to feel more complete than many simple browser-only file explorers.

Optional: folder-level encryption at rest

FileRise also supports optional folder-level encryption at rest.

This is opt-in per folder and inherited by subfolders, so you can protect specific paths without encrypting your whole instance. When enabled, files are stored encrypted on disk and transparently decrypted on download.

Because encryption changes what’s safe to do, FileRise intentionally disables incompatible features for encrypted folders (things like WebDAV, sharing, ZIP operations, and OnlyOffice) rather than pretending everything still works.

That “fail safe” behavior is a big part of making encryption practical in real deployments.

FileRise includes the features people actually use daily:

• Chunked resumable uploads (pause/resume + progress)
• Hover “peek” previews for images/video + metadata
• Tags with color labels
• Search (name/tags/uploader/content) and trash with retention
• Inline previews (PDFs view inline, office docs via OnlyOffice if you run a Document Server)
• Dark/light mode, responsive layout, and a built-in editor (CodeMirror)

It’s also been tested with 100k+ folders in the sidebar tree without choking the UI, which matters if you have real-world NAS dumps or deep media libraries.

No external database, no telemetry, no surprises

This is usually the point where self-hosters ask the practical questions, so here are direct answers:

• No external database required.
• No telemetry, no tracking, no phone-home.
• Runs as a single PHP app with persistent data stored in mounted folders.
• Designed to work cleanly behind reverse proxies and subpaths (Nginx, Traefik, Caddy, Apache), including https://example.com/files setups.

Core vs Pro (simple explanation)

FileRise Core is MIT-licensed and fully usable without paying. Pro exists for the heavier “admin and multi-user” features that take significant time to build and maintain.

A clean way to think about it:

Core: file manager + sharing + WebDAV + ACLs + previews + tags/search/trash + optional encryption + optional OnlyOffice

Pro: advanced admin features (user groups, client upload portals, ACL-aware global search across the instance, storage explorer tools, audit logs)

If your use case is “I want a solid file manager I can self-host,” Core covers it. If you’re running it for a team, clients, or compliance-style tracking, Pro is where those extras live.

Quick start (Docker)

The easiest way to run FileRise is Docker. Map a dedicated uploads folder, plus users/metadata for persistence:

docker run -d \
--name filerise \
-p 8080:80 \
-e TIMEZONE="America/New_York" \
-e TOTAL_UPLOAD_SIZE="10G" \
-e SECURE="false" \
-e PERSISTENT_TOKENS_KEY="change_me_super_secret" \
-e SCAN_ON_START="true" \
-e CHOWN_ON_START="true" \
-v ./uploads:/var/www/uploads \
-v ./users:/var/www/users \
-v ./metadata:/var/www/metadata \
error311/filerise-docker:latest

Then open:

http://your-server-ip:8080

On first launch you’ll create the initial admin user.

Tip: After first run, set CHOWN_ON_START=false if permissions are already correct.

FileRise – self-hosted file manager (official site)Run your own modern file portal with FileRise. Self-hosted file manager with drag-and-drop uploads, WebDAV, OnlyOffice, and optional Pro features for teams and clients.FileRise logoGitHub - error311/FileRise: 🗂️ FileRise – lightweight, self-hosted file manager with granular ACLs, shared uploads, encrypted folders, WebDAV & SSO. Fully Docker / Unraid compatible.🗂️ FileRise – lightweight, self-hosted file manager with granular ACLs, shared uploads, encrypted folders, WebDAV & SSO. Fully Docker / Unraid compatible. - error311/FileRiseGitHuberror311