Local Content Share

 
 

Screenshots • Install & Use • Tips & Notes • Acknowledgements

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A simple & elegant self-hosted app for storing/sharing text snippets and files in your local network with no setup on client devices. Think of this as an all-in-one alternative to airdrop, local-pastebin, and a scratchpad. The primary features are:

• Make plain text snippets available to view/share on any device in the local network
• Upload files and make them available to view/download on any device in the local network
• Built-in Notepad with both Markdown and Rich Text editing capabilities
• Rename text snippets and files uploaded to easily find them in the UI
• Edit text snippets to modify their content as needed
• Multi-file drag-n-drop (drop into the text area) support for uploading files
• Configurable expiration (or TTL, i.e., time to live) per file/snippet for Never, 1 hour, 4 hours, 1 day, or Custom
• Use of SSE to automatically inform all clients of new/deleted/edited files
• Completely local assets, so the app works in your network even without internet
• Multi-arch (x86-64 and ARM64) Docker image for homelab deployments
• Frontend available over browsers and as a PWA (progressive web apps)
• Clean, modern interface with automatic light/dark UI that looks good on mobile too

Make sure to look into Tips & Notes if you have questions about individual functionalities.

Note

This application is meant to be deployed within your homelab only. There is no authentication mechanism implemented. If you are exposing to the public, ensure there is authentication fronting it and non-destructive users using it.

Screenshots

	Desktop View	Mobile View
Light
Dark

Expand for more screenshots

Desktop View	Mobile View

Installation and Usage

Using Docker (Recommended for Self-Hosting)

Use docker CLI one liner and setup a persistence directory (so a container failure does not delete your data):

mkdir $HOME/.localcontentshare

docker run --name local-content-share \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -v $HOME/.localcontentshare:/app/data \
  tanq16/local-content-share:main

The application will be available at http://localhost:8080 (or your server IP).

You can also use the following compose file with container managers like Portainer and Dockge (remember to change the mounted volume):

services:
  contentshare:
    image: tanq16/local-content-share:main
    container_name: local-content-share
    volumes:
      - /home/tanq/lcshare:/app/data # Change as needed
    ports:
      - 8080:8080

Using Binary

Download the appropriate binary for your system from the latest release.

Make the binary executable (for Linux/macOS) with chmod +x local-content-share-* and then run the binary with ./local-content-share-*. The application will be available at http://localhost:8080.

Local development

With Go 1.23+ installed, run the following to download the binary to your GOBIN:

go install github.com/tanq16/local-content-share@latest

Or, you can build from source like so:

git clone https://github.com/tanq16/local-content-share.git && \
cd local-content-share && \
go build .

Tips and Notes

• To share text content:
  • Type or paste your text in the text area (the upload button will change to a submit button)
  • (OPTIONAL) type the name of the snippet (otherwise it will name it as a time string)
  • Click the submit button (looks like the telegram arrow) to upload the snippet
• To rename files or text snippets:
  • Click the cursor (i-beam) icon and provide the new name
  • It will automatically prepend 4 random digits if the name isn't unique
• To edit existing snippets:
  • Click the pen icon and it will populate the expandable text area with the content
  • Write the new content and click accept or deny (check or cross) in the same text area
  • On accepting, it will edit the content; on denying, it will refresh the page
• To share files:
  • Click the upload button and select your file
  • OR drag and drop your file (even multiple files) to the text area
  • It will automatically append 4 random digits if filename isn't unique
• To view content, click the eye icon:
  • For text content, it shows the raw text, which can be copied with a button on top
  • For files, it shows raw text, images, PDFs, etc. (basically whatever the browser will do)
• To download files, click the download icon
• To delete content, click the trash icon
• To set expiration for a file or snippet
  • Click the clock icon with the "Never" text (signifying no expiry) to cycle between times
  • For a non-"Never" expiration, the file will automatically be removed after the specified period
  • Set the cycling button to 1 hour, 4 hours, 1 day, or Custom before adding a snippet or file
    • The Custom option will prompt to ask for the expiry after you click submit/upload
    • The value for custom expiration can be of the format NT (eg. 34m, 3w, 2M, 11d)
    • N is the number and T is the time denomination (m=minute, h=hour, d=day, w=week, M=month, y=year)
  • Use the DEFAULT_EXPIRY environment variable to set a default expiration (follows format of Custom specified above)
    • This value will be set as default on the home page instead of Never
    • The other options will still be available by cycling if needed
• The Notepad is for writing something quickly and getting back to it from any device
  • It supports both markdown and richtext modes
  • Content is automatically saved upon inactivity in the backend and will load as is on any device

A Note on Reverse Proxies

Reverse proxies are fairly common in homelab settings to assign SSL certificates and use domains. The reason for this note is that some reverse proxy settings may interfere with the functioning of this app. Primarily, there are 2 features that could be affected:

• File Size: reverse proxy software may impose a limit on file sizes, but Local Content Share does not
• Upload Progress: file upload progress for large files may not be visible until the file has been uploaded because of buffering setups on rever proxy software

Following is a sample fix for Nginx Proxy Manager, please look into equivalent settings for other reverse proxy setups like Caddy.

For the associated proxy host in NPM, click Edit and visit the Advanced tab. There, paste the following custom configuration:

client_max_body_size 5G;
proxy_request_buffering off;

This configuration will set the maximum accept size for file transfer through NPM as 5 GB and will also disable buffering so interaction will take place directly with Local Content Share.

Backend Data Structure

The application creates a data directory to store all uploaded files, uploaded text snippets, notepad notes (in files, text, and notepad subfolders respectively). File expirations are saved in an expiration.json file in the data directory. Make sure the application has write permissions for the directory where it runs.

Acknowledgements

The following people have contributed to the project:

• TheArktect - Added CLI argument for listen address.
• A lot of other users who created feature requests via GitHub issues.