Free and Open Source Software Designed for Self-Hosting

SMB and local files, in your browser

Turn your storage into a modern workspace—no migration, syncing, or cloud required.

Deploy with Docker
No Lock-In

Use the storage you have

Connect to the Windows file servers, NAS devices, and local drives you already use. No syncing, re-indexing, or proprietary database.

Seamless Workflows

Edit in your apps

Open files in Word, Photoshop, and other installed apps. When you save, changes go straight back to the original share.

Security & Control

SSO: Your permissions

Use OIDC single sign-on while Sambee honors your existing Windows or Linux/POSIX permissions.

Screenshot of the Sambee main web interface
Why Sambee

Benefits

01 // OWNERSHIP

Self-hosted control

Keep file access in your own environment instead of routing everyday file handling through cloud storage.

02 // NAVIGATION

Better file handling

Browse large SMB directories with search, keyboard shortcuts, dual-pane navigation, and instant navigation to any directory.

03 // PREVIEW

Rich previews

View images, PDFs, and Markdown directly in the browser, including formats browsers do not handle well on their own.

04 // EDITING

Native editing

Open files in Word, Photoshop, LibreOffice, and other installed desktop apps through Sambee Companion.

05 // MOBILITY

Built for desktop & mobile

Use the same system from a workstation, tablet, or phone without giving up core functionality.

06 // INTEGRATION

Fits existing infrastructure

Deploy with Docker, place it behind your reverse proxy, and connect it to the SMB storage you already use.

What Sambee Does

Features

Access

One interface for the storage you already run.

  1. 01.
    SMB shares

    Connect to Windows file servers, NAS devices, Samba servers, and other SMB-compatible storage.

  2. 02.
    Local drives

    Connect to local drives (requires the optional Sambee Companion app).

Identity & permissions

Your identity provider. Your access rules.

  1. 03.
    OIDC single sign-on

    Connect Sambee to your OIDC identity provider, including Keycloak and Authelia.

  2. 04.
    Roles from your IdP

    Admit users and assign Administrator, Editor, or Viewer roles from identity-provider groups.

  3. 05.
    Easy, secure rollout

    Start with OIDC alongside local passwords, then switch to passwordless OIDC-only sign-in when ready.

Navigate

Move through large file trees without digging through folders.

  1. 06.
    Single-pane and dual-pane layouts

    Switch between focused browsing and side-by-side workflows depending on whether you are reviewing, comparing, or moving files.

  2. 07.
    Efficient keyboard navigation

    Move through large file trees faster with keyboard-first controls built for speed and efficiency.

  3. 08.
    Instant navigation to any directory

    Jump straight to your target folder instead of having to remember and navigate complex directory hierarchies.

Preview

Inspect many types of files directly in the browser.

  1. 09.
    Fast swiping through images

    Move quickly even through large image sets with a fast and responsive viewer.

  2. 10.
    Desktop and mobile-friendly viewing

    Viewing, browsing, and searching files feels natural on both desktop and mobile devices.

  3. 11.
    PDF search

    Search inside PDF documents to quickly find specific content.

Markdown

View, search, and edit Markdown files without opening another app.

  1. 12.
    First-class Markdown support

    Full Markdown support for rendering, searching, and editing without needing to switch into a separate editor.

  2. 13.
    View and edit

    View Markdown files with rich formatting, seamlessly switch to editing mode when needed.

  3. 14.
    WYSIWYG table editing

    Edit tables directly in the rendered view.

Text and code

View and edit text and code files in the embedded editor.

  1. 15.
    Professional editor

    Built on CodeMirror, a feature-rich, fast, and mature browser-based editor.

  2. 16.
    Syntax highlighting

    Support for many formats and file types.

File management

Handle the everyday file operations that normally force users back to desktop file managers.

  1. 17.
    Rename, delete, upload, and download

    Take care of common file and folder operations from one browser interface.

  2. 18.
    Copy and move across storage locations

    Move files and folders between local drives and SMB shares.

Edit in desktop apps

Open and edit any file in its installed desktop application directly from your browser.

  1. 19.
    Native editing via Sambee Companion

    Open files in Word, Photoshop, LibreOffice, and other installed desktop apps directly from Sambee.

  2. 20.
    Save back to source location

    Sambee collects edited files from the desktop app and saves them back to their source location.

  3. 21.
    Conflict handling and recovery

    Never lose work with built-in conflict handling.

UI themes

Choose between different themes or create your own to make the user interface your own.

  1. 22.
    Adjustable interface appearance

    Tune Sambee's UI to your preferences and environments with themes.

  2. 23.
    Included light and dark themes

    Choose between friendly light and dark themes, designed to be easy on the eyes.

Speed and efficiency

Support fast day-to-day browsing by keeping the underlying system efficient as well as the interface.

  1. 24.
    Optimized SMB protocol implementation

    Modern SMB protocol implementation optimized for high throughput and low latency.

  2. 25.
    Low resource requirements

    Sambee requires only a single Docker container and runs efficiently even on smaller machines.

  3. 26.
    On-the-fly format conversions

    Sambee converts files only when needed while previewing them in the browser.

Broad file type support

Viewers

Sambee supports in-browser previewing for a broad range of file types, including images, PDFs, and Markdown.

01 // Classic image formats

  • JPG JPEG interchange format
  • PNG Portable Network Graphics
  • GIF Graphics Interchange Format
  • SVG Scalable Vector Graphics
  • BMP Bitmap image format
  • ICO Windows icon resource

02 // Modern image formats

  • HEIC High Efficiency Image Container
  • JXL JPEG XL container
  • AVIF AV1 image file format
  • WEBP Google WebP image format

03 // Professional graphics

  • PSD Adobe Photoshop document
  • AI Adobe Illustrator artwork
  • EPS Encapsulated PostScript
  • TIFF Tagged Image File Format

04 // Documents

  • PDF Portable Document Format
  • MD CommonMark-compatible text

05 // Config & data files

  • YAML YAML Ain't Markup Language
  • INI Initialization file format
  • JSON JavaScript Object Notation
  • TOML Tom's Obvious Minimal Language
  • XML Extensible Markup Language

06 // Code files

  • JS/TS JavaScript / TypeScript
  • HTML Hypertext Markup Language
  • CSS Cascading Style Sheets
  • PY Python
  • SH Bash
See full viewer support →
Companion App

Extend Sambee to the local desktop

The companion app extends Sambee to the local desktop, connecting Sambee to local drives and enabling native desktop editing.

  • access local drives
  • open files in installed desktop applications
  • return edited files to the source location
Install Companion

Self-hosted and easy to fit

Sambee is designed for environments that care about control. Deploy it with Docker, run it behind your reverse proxy, and connect it to the SMB storage you already use.

The goal is to make the storage you already trust easier to access from the browser.

Single-Container Architecture
Designed for control

Built for your environment

Sambee is designed for environments that value control, inspectability, and infrastructure fit.

SOHO NAS devices & Samba servers
Protocol Support SMB2 & SMB3
Enterprise Windows file servers
Client Access Desktop & mobile browsers
Installation Self-hosted deployments
Governance Open-source codebase