PlikShare is a self-hosted file sharing platform that treats storage as a choice rather than a vendor decision: one installation can front a local disk, an AWS S3 bucket, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Storage, DigitalOcean Spaces or any S3-compatible server such as MinIO, Garage or Ceph. It is written in C#, ships as a multi-arch Docker image, and is licensed AGPL-3.0. Where most sharing tools stop at links and passwords, PlikShare adds per-storage encryption modes, a workspace structure for teams, and embeddable upload widgets.

Boxes: sharing as an object you control

The sharing model is built around what the project calls boxes. A box connects a folder in a workspace to the outside world and carries its own rules: who is invited as a collaborator, which anonymous links exist, and what each link is allowed to do. Read-only boxes let people browse and download without touching the contents; upload-only boxes accept files from people who cannot see what is already stored. Box widgets can be embedded on another website, so an external collection point does not require the sender to visit a PlikShare page at all. Because the permission lives on the box rather than on a generated URL, revoking access is a single action instead of a hunt through old links.

Three encryption modes, chosen per storage

Encryption is configured when a storage is created, and different storages in the same installation can use different modes. With no encryption, files are written as plaintext. Managed encryption protects file contents with AES-256-GCM using keys held server-side and wrapped by a master password supplied to the container; a 24-word BIP-39 recovery code is issued so the data can still be recovered if the database or master password is lost. Full encryption goes further: file contents, file and folder names, and sensitive audit-log fields are encrypted with keys derived from each user’s own encryption password, using an X25519 keypair and an Argon2id-derived key. The project documents the limits honestly, including that a process with live access to the server’s memory while data is being decrypted is outside the threat model.

Storage, uploads and downloads

Any number of users can be created without a licence count, and each workspace records which storage backend holds it. Bulk upload is handled by zipping files first, and downloads use an explorer-style tree view where you select the files and folders you want and receive them as one archive. Setup needs two things beyond the container: an email client for notifications and account confirmation, and at least one configured storage.

Teams, SSO and administration

Single sign-on runs over OIDC and can be pointed at Google, GitHub, Keycloak or any compliant provider, several at once, and password login can be disabled entirely to enforce SSO. Administrative rights are granular, so the people who manage storage or invitations do not have to be full administrators, and the audit log records who did what with which box.

PlikShare is the right shape for an organisation that wants the collaboration features of a commercial file service while keeping the bytes on infrastructure it controls. Compare it with SkySend for zero-knowledge single links or Sharry for a smaller two-direction sharing tool; the full directory is at all tools.