Documentation for FileGator v8

You have built or unpacked FileGator and started it. This page is the shortest path from a running binary to something you would let other people use. Every step is in the browser; no configuration file needs editing.

1. Sign in

Open http://127.0.0.1:8080 and sign in as admin with the password admin123.

If you started the server with FILEGATOR_ADMIN_PASSWORD set, use that password instead and skip step 2 — see Installation. It only applies until the password is changed, so the variable can stay in your compose file.

A banner across the top of the screen says the administrator still uses the default password. That is expected; the next step removes it.

2. Change the password

Click Change password in the banner (or the account button in the header). Enter admin123 as the current password and choose a new one.

The current password is required on purpose: someone who finds an open session on an unlocked machine cannot take the account over.

The banner disappears once the password is different from the default, and the startup warning stops appearing in the log.

3. Point it at a folder

Out of the box the files live in repository/ next to the binary. To manage an existing folder instead:

  1. Click Setup in the header.
  2. Open Repository.
  3. Pick the folder in the picker — it browses the whole server, not just repository/.

The change applies immediately, with no restart, and is saved to the configuration file. If the folder cannot be read, the old one stays active and the reason is shown.

The folder is managed in place: FileGator writes no index, no metadata and no hidden files into it, so your other tools keep seeing ordinary files.

4. Create a user

  1. Setup → Users → New user.
  2. Choose a username and a role. For a normal account, leave the role on user.
  3. Set the home folder — start typing, or pick a folder in the tree. The user sees only this folder and nothing above it.
  4. Tick the permissions. For everyday use: read, write, upload, download, batchdownload, zip.
  5. Enter a password and save.

The home folder is created if it does not exist, so you do not have to make the folder first.

A user is confined to their home folder. An administrator always sees the whole storage root, whatever home folder is set — that is deliberate, so a mistyped path cannot lock the only account that could repair it.

5. Decide about anonymous access

Two things are off by default, and both mean "anyone on the network can read your files":

Leave both alone if only you will use the instance.

6. Put it behind HTTPS

FileGator does not serve TLS itself. Run it on loopback and let a reverse proxy terminate HTTPS, then:

  1. Setup → Security → tick Secure cookies (HTTPS only) and save.
  2. Set Trusted IP header to the header your proxy sets (X-Real-IP, X-Forwarded-For, CF-Connecting-IP), so the login lockout and the IP lists see real addresses rather than the proxy's.
  3. Restart the process: the cookie flags are read at startup, unlike most other settings.

The nginx and Caddy snippets are in Installation and Running under a subpath.

Keep a way back in

Two things prevent the commonest lockout — a forgotten administrator password and no other way in:

  1. Create a second administrator in Setup → Users. Either one can reset the other's password.
  2. Keep a copy of private/users.json. It holds every account, and it is small.

If you do get locked out with shell access to the server:

./bin/filegator -reset-admin-password admin

See Forgotten admin password for the details.

Where to go next