ignacionelson
d1acf18d67
Step 1 told everybody to run `npm run build`. On a release zip there is nothing to run it with: the zip ships its assets already compiled and deliberately without the toolchain that compiled them, so there is no package.json. A customer migrating a Debian install got that far, found the file missing, and asked whether to wait for a fix. There was nothing to wait for — they were finished and could not tell. The larger thing that step was hiding is that `/system/migrate` does not exist on a zip install either. A package's screens enter the frontend bundle when that bundle is built, and app.tsx globs them at build time — for a zip that is when the release was built, necessarily before the package was installed. So the guide led with a screen that reader can never open, and called the commands an alternative. For a zip install the commands are not an alternative, they are the interface, and they do everything the screen does. Step 1 now splits by how ProjectSend got onto the machine, says so plainly, and points a zip reader straight at Step 2 rather than leaving them to work out that the missing screen is expected. Three later steps assumed the screen too. Choosing Direct, choosing Bundle, and downloading the export script all now read for both, and the export script is named at its path in vendor/ — which is where it lives on every install, and where a reader without the screen would otherwise have to guess it was. Not addressed here: the official Docker image ships neither Composer nor npm, and its application directory is not a volume, so the tool cannot be installed there at all. That is a gap in the product rather than in the guide, and it needs its own answer. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
ProjectSend
Share files with your clients, from your own server.
ProjectSend is a self-hosted application for getting files to the people you work with. You upload what you want to send, choose exactly who can see it, and each client signs in to their own private page to download it.
No public link passed around by email, no third-party service holding your clients' documents, no per-seat pricing. It runs on your server, and the files stay there.
What it does
For the people you send to
- A private area per client, showing only what has been shared with them
- Sign in with an email address, with optional two-factor authentication
- Search, filter and sort their files; download one, several as a zip, or a whole folder
- Optional comments on a file, so questions live next to the thing they are about
- Email notifications when something new arrives, in their own language
For you
- Resumable uploads that survive a dropped connection, so large files actually arrive
- Organise with folders, categories and client groups
- Share with one client, a whole group, or publicly — and set an expiry date or a download limit
- Thumbnails and previews for images and documents
- Storage quotas per client, and custom fields for the details you need to keep on them
- A full activity log and download history: who got what, and when
For the installation
- Roles and permissions for your own team, so an uploader is not an administrator
- Sign-in the way you already work: LDAP, social sign-in, or plain email and password
- Themes for the client-facing pages and for outgoing email
- 16 languages
- A REST API with scoped tokens and generated OpenAPI docs
- Privacy controls, including GDPR-grade account erasure with a grace period
- Local disk or S3-compatible storage
Screenshots
The dashboard — what is in the installation, and what has been happening in it.
Your library — folders, categories, and who each file is shared with.
What your client sees — only their files, nothing else.
Getting started
With Docker — the quickest path, and the one we recommend.
git clone https://github.com/projectsend/projectsend.git
cd projectsend
cp .env.example .env # set PROJECTSEND_EDITION=community
docker compose up -d
The app is at http://localhost:8090, and the first thing it shows you is a setup screen that
creates your administrator account.
Before you put real files in it, read DOCKER.md — where your database and uploads actually live, how to move them onto paths you chose, and how to back them up so an upgrade can't take them with it.
Without Docker — for servers where it isn't an option, install from a release zip.
INSTALL.md covers requirements, .env, nginx, the background worker and cron,
updating and troubleshooting. You do not need Composer or npm on the server; the zip ships ready to
run.
Already running it? UPDATE.md is how you move to a new version — one command on Docker, a short sequence on your own server, and what to check afterwards either way.
Coming from ProjectSend Legacy?
The previous generation of ProjectSend lives on at projectsend/legacy. This is a rebuild rather than an upgrade, so moving across is an import rather than an update — install fresh, then bring your old site into it with the migration tool: accounts, clients, groups, categories, folders, files and history.
It never writes to your old install, and any run can be undone with a single command. MIGRATING-FROM-V1.md explains what comes across, the two routes (same machine, or a portable export from a server you can't reach), and the one change your clients will notice: they sign in with their email address now, using the same password.
Contributing
Bug reports, translations and pull requests are all welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md for how to set up a development copy, what the checks are, and the contributor agreement.
Found a security issue? Please report it privately through GitHub's security advisories rather than opening a public issue.
License
Free software under the GNU General Public License v2, or (at your option) any later version — see LICENSE. Use it, study it, change it, share it.
Commercial licenses are available for organizations that cannot work under copyleft terms; LICENSING.md explains both options. Contributions require signing a CLA, for reasons set out in CONTRIBUTING.md.