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self-host

Run tapeshelf on your own server

tapeshelf is open source under the AGPL-3.0. The app that runs tapeshelf.com can run on your own server too, with your storage and your rules.

One Docker Compose stack

Everything runs from one compose file on one server.

Caddy
The web server. It gets HTTPS certificates from Let's Encrypt on its own, serves the app and passes requests to the API.
API
The backend: accounts, shelves, an access check on every request, trades, links, chat and notifications.
Worker with ffmpeg
Converts uploads to encrypted HLS for streaming, strips metadata from new files, renders edits from the video editor, makes covers and previews, and sends email.
PostgreSQL
The database.
Redis
Queues and live updates.
S3-compatible storage
RustFS next to the app, or an external service such as Hetzner Object Storage or AWS S3. Browsers upload to it and stream from it directly.

What you need

  • A Linux server with Docker and Docker Compose. 2 vCPUs and 4 GB of RAM are enough to start. Converting videos is what keeps the processor busy.
  • A domain name pointing at the server, with ports 80 and 443 open. Caddy gets the certificate by itself.
  • Disk space for the videos, unless they live in external storage, plus room for the worker's temporary files: about two and a half times the size of the largest video being converted.
  • An SMTP account for email: address confirmation, password resets, notifications and one-time codes for temporary links.
  • Optional: keys for Google sign-in and for the Cloudflare Turnstile captcha.

How it differs from tapeshelf.com

  • There are no plans and no payments, so no Free or Pro, no checkout and no upgrade offers.
  • The video editor, the hidden page, passwords on temporary links and anonymous links to your shelf, which are Pro on tapeshelf.com, are there for everyone.
  • Videos and shelves have no size limit until you set one. You can set one limit on file size and one on shelf size, the same for everyone.
  • Downloads start right away, at full speed, with no monthly count.
  • Deleted videos can be restored for 90 days by default.
  • You set the site name and the contact address and publish your own terms and privacy policy. The app shows them at `/terms` and `/privacy`.
  • The rest is the same app: shelves and stacks, videos private by default, encrypted streaming, requests and trades, exchanges with guests, temporary links, friends and chat, notifications, reports, the admin panel, two-step sign-in and short links.

A self-hosted server is a world of its own. Accounts on it share and trade with each other, not with accounts on tapeshelf.com.

The licence

The code is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0. You may use, study, change and run it free of charge. If you let people use a modified version over a network, the licence requires you to offer them its source code too.

The licence doesn't cover the tapeshelf name and logo. You can say your server runs tapeshelf. You can't present it as the official tapeshelf.com.

Without a server of your own

tapeshelf.com runs the same app, and we look after the server. Start on Free and add Pro when you need more.

See pricing