Buckit Object Storage

Buckit is an open-source, S3-compatible object storage system you run on your own commodity servers. It gives your applications an Amazon S3-style API while keeping your data under your control, and it can scale from a small setup to hundreds of petabytes. Teams use Buckit when they want S3-like storage without sending all data to a public cloud or paying cloud storage bills at scale.

For quick guided installation, see the Getting Started video or read the documentation to learn more.

Note

Buckit is an independent project derived from the AGPLv3-licensed MinIO project. Buckit is not affiliated with or endorsed by MinIO, Inc.

What Buckit Provides

• S3-compatible object storage for existing S3 SDKs and tools.
• Standalone single-node mode for development and small deployments.
• Distributed erasure-coded mode for production clusters.
• Browser console for object and storage workflows.
• CLI tool for admin and object automation.
• Web-based cluster and node management.

Quickstart

Build and run a local Buckit server:

make build
mkdir -p /tmp/buckit-data
./buckit server /tmp/buckit-data --console-address :9001

The S3 API listens on http://127.0.0.1:9000. The console listens on http://127.0.0.1:9001.

Default development credentials are:

Access key: buckitadmin
Secret key: buckitadmin

For any non-throwaway deployment, set explicit root credentials before starting the server:

export MINIO_ROOT_USER=myadmin
export MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=mysecretpassword
./buckit server /data --console-address :9001

The root credential environment variable names remain MINIO_ROOT_USER and MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD for compatibility with the storage engine and existing deployment tooling.

Distributed Server Mode

For distributed deployments, run the same buckit server command on every participating node with a shared set of drive endpoints and identical root credentials.

Example pattern:

export MINIO_ROOT_USER=myadmin
export MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=mysecretpassword

buckit server \
  http://node{1...4}.example.com/data{1...4} \
  --console-address :9001

For new production clusters, prefer bm web so host discovery, disk selection, preflight checks, service setup, and generated credentials are handled by the manager instead of hand-written shell commands.

Install Buckit

For detailed installation instructions, see the Deployment Guide.

Linux Packages (recommended)

Linux release packages are available as .deb, .rpm, and .apk artifacts. The helper script downloads the package for the current system, verifies its SHA-256 checksum, and prints the package-manager command to run:

curl -fsSL https://buckit-io.github.io/buckit/install-linux.sh | sh

Build From Source

Buckit requires Go 1.25 or newer. If Go is not installed, download and install it from the official Go installation page: https://go.dev/doc/install.

git clone https://github.com/buckit-io/buckit.git
cd buckit
make build

The build writes ./buckit.

You can also install directly with Go:

go install github.com/buckit-io/buckit@latest

When building manually, include the kqueue build tag:

go build -tags kqueue -trimpath --ldflags "$(go run buildscripts/gen-ldflags.go)" -o buckit

Build Docker Image

Buckit publishes container images for normal Docker usage. To build a custom image, use the release workflow or adapt the root Dockerfile for your own artifact pipeline.

Run the published image:

docker run -p 9000:9000 -p 9001:9001 \
  -v "$HOME/buckit-data:/data" \
  ghcr.io/buckit-io/buckit:latest server /data --console-address :9001

Run with explicit credentials:

docker run -p 9000:9000 -p 9001:9001 \
  -e MINIO_ROOT_USER=myadmin \
  -e MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=mysecretpassword \
  -v "$HOME/buckit-data:/data" \
  ghcr.io/buckit-io/buckit:latest server /data --console-address :9001

Use Buckit With bm

bm is the Buckit Manager CLI for Buckit and S3-compatible object storage. It provides object commands such as ls, cp, cat, mirror, and rm, plus Buckit administration and cluster-management workflows.

See the bm GitHub repository.

Install bm on macOS or Linux:

curl -fsSL https://buckit-io.github.io/bm/install.sh | sh
bm --help

Install bm on Windows PowerShell:

irm https://buckit-io.github.io/bm/install.ps1 | iex
bm --help

Add an alias for a local Buckit server:

bm alias set local http://localhost:9000 buckitadmin buckitadmin
bm admin info local

Create a bucket and copy data:

bm mb local/mydata
bm cp --recursive ./mydata/ local/mydata/
bm ls local/mydata

Read, mirror, and remove objects:

bm cat local/mydata/object.txt
bm mirror ./mydata local/mydata
bm rm local/mydata/object.txt

Use --dry-run before large or recursive remove operations:

bm rm --recursive --dry-run local/mydata

Common bm commands:

Command	Purpose
bm alias set	Add or update a Buckit or S3-compatible endpoint alias.
bm admin info	Show deployment information and verify connectivity.
bm ls	List buckets, prefixes, objects, or local files.
bm mb	Create a bucket or local directory.
bm cp	Copy files or objects.
bm cat	Print file or object contents.
bm mirror	Synchronize local and object storage paths.
bm rm	Remove files or objects.
bm version	Manage bucket versioning.
bm retention	Manage object retention.
bm legalhold	Manage object legal holds.
bm tag	Manage object tags.
bm ilm	Manage lifecycle rules and tiers.
bm replicate	Manage bucket replication.
bm update	Update the bm binary.

Full bm CLI documentation: https://buckit.sh/docs/reference/bm-cli

Buckit Manager Web

bm also ships Buckit Manager Web, a local web UI for deploying and managing Buckit clusters.

Start it with:

bm web

By default, Buckit Manager opens at http://127.0.0.1:9443/.

Use Buckit Manager Web to:

• Prepare a local single-node Buckit deployment on macOS or Windows.
• Deploy a managed Buckit cluster on one or more Linux servers over SSH.
• Import an existing Buckit or MinIO cluster.
• Monitor cluster health, nodes, pools, and drives.
• Run supported cluster and node operations.

Buckit Manager documentation: https://buckit.sh/docs/administration/buckit-manager

How Buckit Works Internally

• Architecture
• Erasure Coding
• Availability and Resiliency

Development

Common repository commands:

make build
make install
make test
make lint
make verifiers
go generate ./...
make check-gen

Build and test commands must include the kqueue tag when run manually:

CGO_ENABLED=0 go test -v -tags kqueue,dev ./...

Generated files ending in _gen.go or _string.go must be regenerated and committed when their source types change.

License and Support

Buckit is licensed under the GNU AGPLv3.

All usage must comply with AGPLv3 obligations. The license provides no warranty, liability, or support obligation. Community support is available through GitHub and the Buckit Discord community.

See also:

• Contributor Guide
• License Compliance
• Buckit Manager CLI
• Buckit Discord