---
title: "Deploy Copyparty"
description: "File server with a web browser UI, resumable uploads and WebDAV"
category: "Storage"
url: https://railway.com/deploy/copyparty-server
---

# Deploy Copyparty

File server with a web browser UI, resumable uploads and WebDAV

**[Deploy Copyparty on Railway](https://railway.com/template/copyparty-server)**

Machine-readable deploy manifest (JSON, validated by TemplateCI): https://railway.com/deploy/copyparty-server/manifest.json

- **Creator:** A3A
- **Category:** Storage

## Template content

### copyparty https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/homarr-labs/dashboard-icons/svg/copyparty.svg

- **Source:** https://github.com/gridalpha/copyparty-railway
- **Health check:** /healthz/ok
- **Public domain:** Yes

## Documentation

# Deploy and Host copyparty on Railway

copyparty is an open-source file server that fits in a single Python file and still does the work of a small cloud drive: a web file browser with image and video thumbnails, chunked uploads that resume after a dropped connection, expiring share links, a searchable media index, and a WebDAV endpoint you can mount as a network drive. It is MIT-licensed, from [github.com/9001/copyparty](https://github.com/9001/copyparty), and people reach for it when Nextcloud is more platform than they wanted.

Self-host copyparty on Railway and you get one service, `copyparty`, built from the `copyparty/ac` image and backed by a persistent volume at `/data`. Everything the server keeps — files, the search index, thumbnails, share records and sessions — lives there, so redeploys leave your data and your links intact. Deploy copyparty with a username and password and the account is created at first boot; nothing is readable without signing in.

![Diagram of the single copyparty service and its Railway volume](https://res.cloudinary.com/rroe4rtk/image/upload/v1788520920/copyparty-architecture.png)

## Getting Started with copyparty on Railway

Open the generated public URL and you land on the sign-in page. There are no default credentials to change: the account comes from the `CP_USERNAME` and `CP_PASSWORD` variables on the `copyparty` service, so open the Variables tab, copy the generated password and sign in. `CP_USERNAME` defaults to `admin`, with full read, write, move, delete and admin rights.

Inside is the shared folder, which starts empty. Make a folder with the 📂 button, then drag files onto the page — the uploader hashes each file in the browser, sends it in chunks, and resumes where it stopped if the tab closes mid-transfer. Images and video get thumbnails within seconds, and 田 switches to grid view. To confirm the deployment works end to end, upload a file and reload: if it is still listed, the volume is mounted and writable.

The feature most people came for is the 📨 **share** button, which turns the folder you are in into a link with its own expiry, optional password and permissions — send someone a folder without giving them an account. To use copyparty as a network drive instead, point a WebDAV client at the same URL with your credentials; Finder, Windows Explorer, `rclone` and `davfs2` connect unconfigured.

![copyparty grid view showing six landscape images as thumbnails](https://res.cloudinary.com/rroe4rtk/image/upload/v1788520922/copyparty-photo-grid.png)
![copyparty upload panel reporting one finished file beside a rendered README](https://res.cloudinary.com/rroe4rtk/image/upload/v1788520923/copyparty-upload-done.png)
![Read-only copyparty share link opened without signing in](https://res.cloudinary.com/rroe4rtk/image/upload/v1788520924/copyparty-share-link.png)

## About Hosting copyparty

copyparty solves the problem of moving files between people and machines when a shared drive is too much and email attachments are too little. Everything is served from an ordinary directory tree, so what you upload in the browser is what a WebDAV client sees, and a backup of the volume is a plain folder of files, not an opaque blob store.

Key features:

- **Resumable chunked uploads**, with duplicate detection so a file uploaded twice costs the space of one
- **Thumbnails and a media player** for images, video and audio, from the FFmpeg and Pillow in the `ac` image
- **Search** by filename, path, size, date or extracted media tags such as resolution and codec
- **Expiring share links** with their own password and permissions, created from the browser
- **WebDAV** on the same URL, so the server doubles as a mountable network drive
- **Per-folder accounts and permissions**, including a get-only mode that serves files by name without exposing listings

The deployment is deliberately one service: copyparty is a single multi-threaded process serving a filesystem, and its search index is a SQLite file beside your data, so there is no database, cache or worker tier to run alongside it.

## Why Deploy copyparty on Railway

Railway removes the setup work that usually sits between you and a working file server.

- Persistent volume attached and mounted before the first boot
- HTTPS and a public domain issued automatically, no certificate to renew
- Account created from two variables, no first-run wizard to race
- Client IP forwarding pre-configured, so brute-force protection works
- Thumbnail and indexing pools sized to the container, not the host

## Common Use Cases

- **A drop box for clients or contractors** — hand out a password-protected share link with a fixed expiry instead of creating an account for someone you will work with once
- **Media staging for a home lab or studio** — upload footage from anywhere, browse it as a thumbnail grid, pull originals down over WebDAV
- **A durable archive that is just files** — artefacts, scans or exports in a folder tree any tool can read, searchable by name, date and tag
- **Moving large files between machines** — resumable uploads survive a flaky connection

## Dependencies for copyparty

- **copyparty** — `copyparty/ac:latest` ([Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com/r/copyparty/ac)), the recommended edition: copyparty plus Pillow and FFmpeg, which is what makes thumbnails, audio transcoding and media-tag indexing work.
- **A 5 GB Railway volume** at `/data`, holding the shared folder, index, thumbnails, share records and sessions. Resize it from the service's Settings tab.

### Environment Variables Reference

| Variable | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| `CP_PASSWORD` | generated | Password for the primary account. The container refuses to start if it is blank |
| `CP_USERNAME` | `admin` | Primary account name; holds admin rights on the shared folder |
| `CP_EXTRA_USERS` | unset | Extra accounts as space-separated `user:pass` pairs, e.g. `alice:s3cret bob:hunter2`; read, write, move and delete but not admin |
| `CP_SERVER_NAME` | `copyparty` | Name shown top-left in the web UI |
| `CP_DF` | `256m` | Stop accepting uploads once the volume has less than this free |
| `PORT` | `3923` | Port the server listens on |

### Deployment Dependencies

- Source repository: [github.com/gridalpha/copyparty-railway](https://github.com/gridalpha/copyparty-railway)
- Upstream project and docs: [github.com/9001/copyparty](https://github.com/9001/copyparty)
- Container image: [hub.docker.com/r/copyparty/ac](https://hub.docker.com/r/copyparty/ac)
- Runtime: Python 3.14 on Alpine, with FFmpeg and Pillow

## Hardware Requirements for Self-Hosting copyparty

| Resource | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 0.5 vCPU | 2 vCPU (thumbnailing is the heavy job) |
| RAM | 256 MB | 1 GB |
| Storage | 1 GB | Size it to your files; index and thumbnails add 1–2% |
| Runtime | Python 3.9+ | Python 3.12+ with FFmpeg and Pillow |

copyparty is unusually light — it idles in tens of megabytes, and what you need is driven by how many files are hashed or thumbnailed at once.

## Self-Hosting copyparty with Docker

The quickest way to run copyparty outside Railway is the image this template builds on:

```
docker run --rm -it -p 3923:3923 \
  -v /srv/files:/w \
  -v /srv/copyparty-cfg:/cfg \
  copyparty/ac
```

Configuration goes in any `*.conf` file inside `/cfg`. This one creates one account with full rights and leaves anonymous visitors with nothing:

```
[global]
  e2dsa
  e2ts

[accounts]
  admin: change-me

[/]
  /w
  accs:
    A: admin
```

Without Docker, copyparty runs from one file: download `copyparty-sfx.py` from the GitHub releases page and run `python3 copyparty-sfx.py`. That is the whole install.

## How Much Does copyparty Cost to Self-Host?

copyparty is free and open source under the MIT licence, with no paid tier, no seat limits and no hosted edition to upsell you. The only cost is Railway infrastructure: compute for a small always-on container plus the volume you provision. A personal instance with a few gigabytes of files is one of the cheaper things you can leave running.

## FAQ

**What is copyparty?**

An open-source file server, distributed as a single Python file, giving a directory on disk a browser UI, resumable uploads, a media index with thumbnails, share links and WebDAV.

**What does this Railway template deploy?**

One service running the `copyparty/ac` image with a persistent volume at `/data`. Your files live in `/data/files`, with the search index, thumbnails, share records and sessions alongside them, so nothing is lost when the container restarts.

**Why does the template need a volume?**

copyparty serves a real filesystem rather than object storage. Without a volume, uploads would sit in the container's temporary layer and vanish on the next deploy, along with the index and every share link.

**Is anything public before I log in?**

No. The shared folder is closed to anonymous visitors and an unauthenticated request for a file is rejected. The only path that answers without credentials is a small health-check file Railway uses to confirm the container is alive. Share links you create are the deliberate exception, each with its own expiry.

**How do I add more users to self-hosted copyparty?**

Set `CP_EXTRA_USERS` to a space-separated list of `user:pass` pairs and redeploy. Those accounts can read, write, move and delete in the shared folder, but cannot see uploader IPs or reload the config.

**Can I mount copyparty as a network drive?**

Yes — the public URL is also a WebDAV endpoint, so Finder, Windows Explorer, `rclone` and `davfs2` connect with your copyparty credentials. copyparty also speaks FTP, SFTP and SMB, but this template does not expose them: they need port ranges Railway's HTTP edge does not route.


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Open this page in a browser: https://railway.com/deploy/copyparty-server