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Cypher Server

A self-hosted file server with an animated web interface and a real download manager.

WindowsmacOSLinuxSource on GitHub
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What Cypher Server is

A self-hosted file server with a web interface that does not look like it was built in 2004. Start it, choose the folder to serve and a port, and any browser on your network can browse it, preview PDFs, video, audio and images in place, and download single files or a whole batch as one archive, through a download manager that tracks speed and resumes broken transfers. Four themes, a Three.js background, live folder updates and offline caching.

Cypher Server features

What it actually does.

Browse the folder

A sidebar and breadcrumbs, updated live as files appear and disappear on disk.

Preview before you download

A PDF viewer with page navigation, a video player, an audio player with a scrub bar, and a full-size image gallery.

A real download manager

Progress, speed and time left for every download, resume for interrupted ones, and a history you can clear.

Batch as one archive

Pick several files and download them as a single compressed archive, built on the fly.

Four themes

Dark, Light, Kuromi and Cyberpunk, remembered between visits, over an animated Three.js background you can switch off on slow machines.

Offline-first

A service worker caches the interface, so it stays quick on a poor connection and repeat visits load from the cache.

How to use Cypher Server

From a fresh install to the thing working.

1 Serve a folder

  1. Install Node.js 16 or newer.
  2. In the project folder run npm install, then npm start.
  3. Enter the folder to serve and a port (3000 unless you choose another).
  4. Open http://localhost:3000, or this machine’s address from another device on the network.

2 Find and preview files

  1. Click folders in the sidebar, or use the breadcrumbs to go back up.
  2. Open a PDF, video, audio file or image to preview it in place.
  3. New files appear on their own; Refresh re-reads the current folder if you want to be sure.

3 Download

  1. Download a single file from its row.
  2. Select several and choose batch download to get one compressed archive.
  3. Open the download panel from the top bar to watch progress, resume a broken download, or clear the finished ones.

4 Keep it safe

  1. There is no built-in login, so use it on a network you trust.
  2. For access from outside, put it behind a reverse proxy with authentication. Never expose it to the internet directly.
  3. It serves only the chosen folder and the folders inside it.

Built with

Node.js 16+ Express Archiver mime-types Three.js PDF.js Tailwind CSS Service Worker + Cache API

Licence

Made by Kencypher. Not open source.

Cypher Server was written by Kencypher. The source is not published and is not licensed for reuse. You have permission to run it — that is the whole of it.

You may

  • Run it on as many of your own machines as you like
  • Use it for anything, including commercial work
  • Pass an unmodified copy to a friend, free

You may not, without asking

  • Sell it or charge for access
  • Re-upload or mirror it anywhere
  • Rebrand it or publish it as your own
  • Decompile it or lift its assets

This is enforced. Re-uploading it, repackaging it, stripping the author's name off it or passing it off as your own is copyright infringement — protected without registration under the Berne Convention — and is pursued with DMCA takedowns to the host, CDN, app store and search engine, platform reports for impersonation, and legal proceedings where the infringement is commercial, repeated, or involves falsely claiming authorship.

Asking first is free, and the answer is usually yes — kencypher56@gmail.com. The only official source is this store; a copy from anywhere else is not one Kencypher published.

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