PicoShare

Minimal self-hosted app that turns any uploaded file into a direct download link, with no size limits, re-encoding, ads or sign-ups.

3.1k stars, 229 forks Go On GitHub since February 2022

View on GitHub How to run it

PicoShare at a glance

Open sourceYes, AGPL-3.0No paid parts in the repository
Health62 of 100Actively developed
Self-hostingDocker, LinuxOne-click in Unraid
AppsLinux, including ARMBuilds in GitHub releases
InterfaceEnglish onlyNo translation files found
Issue repliesWithin ~5 hoursMedian first reply; 89% of recent issues answered

What is PicoShare?

PicoShare is a small web app for handing out files from your own server. The admin signs in with a shared passphrase, uploads a file of any type, and gets a direct link that recipients can open or download without creating an account. Images, video and audio are stored exactly as uploaded, never resized or re-encoded, so the link works the moment the upload finishes. Everything, file contents included, sits in one SQLite database. The Docker image can replicate that database to cloud storage through Litestream and restore it when a fresh container starts. A third-party iOS client called picaroa is also available.

Good fit if

  • You want to stop relying on imgur, Vimeo or SoundCloud links for files you could host yourself.
  • You are the only person uploading and want a tiny service whose data is one database file.
  • You deploy to a cloud host such as fly.io and want the data kept safe in object storage.

Look elsewhere if

  • Several people need their own accounts, quotas and ShareX uploads: Zipline.
  • You want to share files anonymously over Tor: OnionShare.

Before you adopt it

PicoShare is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and the repository has no paid parts. Code contributions require signing a CLA first. Michael Lynch maintains it alone as a hobby project, wrote 98 percent of the recent commits, and keeps the scope to features he uses, so some proposals get turned down. It runs from Docker or from source, with Linux builds published. Only one container may use a given Litestream location, since writes cannot be synced across instances. Deleted files keep their space reserved inside the database until you stop the app and run SQLite's VACUUM.

Drafted with AI from the project's README and repository data, then checked against that data on 7 November 2026. Report a correction

How to run PicoShare yourself

One-click install

  • Unraid

Not listed in Umbrel, YunoHost, TrueNAS, CasaOS, Runtipi, Proxmox VE Helper-Scripts and Coolify. Checked against each panel’s app catalog on 12 November 2026.

Ways to install

Docker files
Dockerfile or compose file in the repository
Docker image
mtlynch/picoshare: 1.4M pulls · x86-64, ARMv7, ARM64 · 20 MB download
Compose file
None in the repository
Setup effort
Not rated: no compose file to judge from
Kubernetes
No Helm chart in the repository
Desktop and mobile
Builds for Linux, including ARM in GitHub releases
Interface languages
English only

Install instructions: the README on GitHub. Docker images and packages are checked weekly.

PicoShare health: is it still maintained?

62 of 100, actively developed

Release rhythmEvery ~17 days3 releases in 12 months; latest v1.5.4
Issue repliesWithin ~5 hoursMedian first reply; 89% of recent issues answered
Bus factorHigh riskThe most active of 2 authors wrote 98% of recent commits
  • Activity
    66 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 11 November 2026.
    22 / 30
  • Contributors
    2 people wrote the 66 commits of the last 90 days; the most active wrote 98% of them.
    4 / 20
  • Releases
    3 releases in the last 12 months; the latest, v1.5.4, on 26 May 2026.
    12 / 20
  • Replies to issues
    Maintainers answered 89% of recent issues, with a median first reply after 5 hours.
    19 / 20
  • Security practices
    No OpenSSF Scorecard for this repository yet, so this part gets a neutral score.
    5 / 10

Read from GitHub on 12 November 2026. How the score works

PicoShare security

Security advisories are the vulnerabilities the maintainers disclosed on GitHub, with the versions that fix them; many advisories can mean careful disclosure as much as weak code.

Security advisories2 published1 list a fixed version

Latest advisories

Advisories read from GitHub on 12 November 2026.

PicoShare license: is it open source?

PicoShare uses AGPL-3.0, an open-source license approved by the OSI. Contributors sign a contributor license agreement, which lets the owner relicense their work later.

  1. February 2022First published on GitHub.
  2. TodayAGPL-3.0. A contributor license agreement is required.

PicoShare for developers

Written in

  • Go 59%
  • HTML 16%
  • TypeScript 14%
  • Shell 4%
  • JavaScript 3%
  • Other 4%

Getting involved

Help wanted1Open, labelled “help wanted”Contributing guideYesCONTRIBUTING.mdOpen issues25On GitHub
Authors, 90 days2Of 66 commits

Language shares are GitHub’s count of the code in the repository.

Alternatives to PicoShare

  • DashBeamShare files nearby and beyond. 77 health · AGPL-3.0 · 10.3k stars
  • slskdA modern client-server application for the Soulseek file sharing network. 72 health · AGPL-3.0 · 4.3k stars
  • OnionShareSecurely and anonymously share files, host websites, and chat with friends using the Tor network 69 health · GPL-3.0 · 7.2k stars
  • transfer.shEasy and fast file sharing from the command-line. 49 health · MIT · 15.9k stars
  • qBittorrentqBittorrent BitTorrent client 91 health · GPL-3.0 · 41.5k stars

All 14 projects in File sharing

Questions about PicoShare

Is PicoShare open source?

Yes. PicoShare is published under AGPL-3.0, an OSI-approved open-source license.

Is PicoShare still maintained?

Its health score is 62 of 100 (actively developed). It had 66 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 11 November 2026, and its latest release came out on 26 May 2026.

How do I run PicoShare?

You can run it with the Docker image mtlynch/picoshare, as an app for Linux, including ARM and in one click from Unraid. The README on GitHub has the exact steps.

What is PicoShare written in?

PicoShare is written mainly in Go (59% of the code), with HTML (16%) and TypeScript (14%), by GitHub’s count of the repository.

What are the alternatives to PicoShare?

Close alternatives in the File sharing category include DashBeam, slskd, OnionShare.