Deploy and Host Filestash on Railway

Filestash is the open-source, storage-agnostic file manager that puts a Dropbox-style web interface on top of any storage you already have — S3, SFTP, FTP, SMB, WebDAV, NFS, MinIO, Backblaze, Azure Blob, Google Drive, Dropbox, Git, and 20+ more protocols, all through one clean UI. Built-in viewers for 50+ file types (PDF, PSD, RAW, CAD, DICOM, 3D models), LDAP / SAML / OIDC SSO, RBAC, and gateways that re-expose any backend as SFTP, S3, or MCP.

Give non-technical users a familiar file browser on top of your existing S3 buckets or SFTP servers — no data migration, no new storage to pay for. Self-host on Railway for ~$5/month versus Dropbox Business at $15/user/month or a managed file gateway costing far more.

What This Template Deploys

Single-container architecture. No external database, no Redis. Filestash connects to your storage backends (S3, SFTP, etc.) — it doesn't store your files itself, it manages them in place.

About Hosting Filestash

Most teams already have storage — an S3 bucket, an SFTP server, a SMB share, a MinIO instance — but no friendly way for non-technical staff to browse and manage files in it. Filestash solves exactly that: it's a web front-end that connects to your existing storage and gives users a Dropbox-like experience without moving a single file or paying for new storage.

Running it in production means a persistent Go service, a config volume, SSO integration, and a public HTTPS endpoint. Railway provisions all of it — single container, persistent volume, automatic HTTPS, zero server administration.

Typical cost: ~$5/month on Railway's Hobby plan. Dropbox Business costs $15/user/month and locks you into Dropbox storage. Filestash on Railway is a flat compute cost regardless of user count, and it sits on top of storage you already own and control.

Deploy in Under 3 Minutes

1. Click Deploy on Railway — Filestash builds automatically (~2 minutes)
2. Open your Railway-assigned URL — the Filestash setup screen loads
3. Set your admin password on first launch (the /admin console)
4. In the admin console, configure a storage backend (S3 keys, SFTP credentials, etc.)
5. Share the URL with your team — they browse your storage through a clean web UI

No SSH. No storage migration. No per-user licensing.

Common Use Cases

• Dropbox-style web UI on top of your existing S3 bucket — give non-technical users a friendly file browser for S3, MinIO, or Backblaze without teaching them the AWS console or rclone
• Self-hosted alternative to Dropbox Business — flat ~$5/month instead of $15/user/month; your files stay on storage you own, not Dropbox's servers
• Web front-end for an SFTP or SMB server — let staff upload, browse, and share files on a legacy SFTP/SMB share through a modern browser interface with no FTP client required
• Client file portal with SSO and RBAC — connect LDAP, SAML, or OIDC and control who can access which folders; white-label the UI with your branding for a client-facing portal
• Universal file gateway for mixed storage — unify S3, SMB, NFS, and WebDAV behind one interface; re-expose any of them as SFTP or S3 via Filestash's gateway plugins
• Specialized file viewing — preview PSD, RAW, CAD (DWG/DXF), DICOM medical images, 3D models (STL/GLTF), and Parquet data files directly in the browser without downloading

Configuration

Most configuration happens in the /admin console after deploy, not via environment variables. Storage backends (S3 keys, SFTP credentials), authentication providers, and access rules are all configured through the admin UI and stored on the persistent volume.

Filestash vs. Alternatives

Dependencies for Filestash Hosting

• Railway account — Hobby plan (~$5/month) for the single-service deployment
• At least one storage backend to connect — an S3 bucket, SFTP server, SMB share, or any of the 20+ supported protocols
• Optional: an OnlyOffice server for in-browser document editing

Deployment Dependencies

• Filestash GitHub Repository — source and releases
• Filestash Website — feature overview and plugin inventory
• Filestash Documentation — setup and backend configuration
• Filestash Plugin Inventory — storage, auth, and viewer plugins
• Railway Volumes Documentation — persistent storage setup

Implementation Details

This template deploys Filestash from the official image with a Railway persistent volume for config, the SQLite admin database, and thumbnail cache. Filestash is a single Go binary — no external database or Redis required. It connects to your storage backends at runtime; your actual files never live inside the Filestash container, so the volume stays small.

Everything beyond the core is a plugin: storage backends, authentication (LDAP/SAML/OIDC), authorization (RBAC), search, and file viewers. Configure them through the /admin console after deploy. Set APPLICATION_URL to your Railway domain so share links and OAuth callbacks resolve correctly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Filestash store my files, or connect to existing storage? Filestash does not store your files — it's a web front-end that connects to storage you already have (S3, SFTP, SMB, NFS, etc.) and manages files in place. There's no migration: point Filestash at your existing bucket or server and your team gets a Dropbox-like UI on top of it.

How much does Filestash cost compared to Dropbox Business? Filestash on Railway runs at ~$5/month flat regardless of user count. Dropbox Business is $15/user/month and locks you into Dropbox's own storage. With Filestash you pay flat compute and keep your files on storage you already own and control.

Which storage backends does Filestash support? 20+ including S3, SFTP, FTP, FTPS, SMB, WebDAV, NFS, MinIO, Backblaze B2, Azure Blob, Google Drive, Dropbox, Git, GitHub, GitLab, LDAP, and MySQL. Each is a plugin configured through the admin console after deploy.

Can I give different users access to different folders? Yes. Filestash supports RBAC and integrates with LDAP, SAML, and OIDC for SSO. Control who can access which backends and folders, and white-label the interface with your own branding.

Do I lose my configuration if Railway redeploys? No. All configuration, storage backend credentials, authentication setup, and access rules are stored on the Railway persistent volume. Redeploys and updates don't affect your setup. Your actual files live on their respective backends, untouched.

Can applications access the storage too, not just the web UI? Yes. Filestash's gateway plugins re-expose any connected backend as SFTP, S3, or MCP. Your apps and users can access files through existing tools like FileZilla, rclone, or the AWS CLI without changing the underlying storage.

Why Deploy and Host Filestash on Railway?

Railway is a singular platform to deploy your infrastructure stack. Railway will host your infrastructure so you don't have to deal with configuration, while allowing you to vertically and horizontally scale it.

By deploying Filestash on Railway, you get a universal web file manager for 20+ storage backends — SSO, RBAC, 50+ file viewers, and SFTP/S3/MCP gateways — on a single container at ~$5/month flat, sitting on top of storage you already own with no migration and no per-user fees.