🌐 Browserver

The inside-out web server. > Turn your browser tab into a file host.

Browserver is a "reverse" web server. Instead of hosting files on a cloud server, the server acts as a tunnel. The browser itself reads files from your local disk (via the File System Access API) and streams them to the public web in real-time.

✨ How it Works

1. The Hub: You run a lightweight FastAPI server (the "Tunnel").
2. The Admin: You visit the admin page and select a local folder using the native Directory Picker.
3. The Tunneling: The browser establishes a Server-Sent Events (SSE) connection to the Hub.
4. The Magic: When an outsider requests http://server/cool-slug/image.png:
   • The Hub pauses the request.
   • The Hub pings your Browser via SSE: "I need image.png".
   • Your Browser reads the file from disk and uploads it.
   • The Hub unpauses the request and serves the file.

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+
• uv

Installation & Running

1. Clone or create the project: Ensure your directory looks like this:

   browserver/
   ├── main.py          # The FastAPI Hub
   ├── pyproject.toml   # Dependencies
   └── client/
       └── index.html   # The "Server" Logic
   

2. Run with one command: Browserver uses uv to handle virtual environments and dependencies automatically.

   uv run uvicorn main:app --reload

3. Become the Server:

   • Open your browser to http://localhost:8000.
   • You will be redirected to a unique session (e.g., /admin/happy-otter).
   • Click "Select Directory to Host" and grant permission.

4. Test it:

   • Click the Public Link generated on the page.
   • Any file in your selected folder is now accessible via that URL!

📦 Dependencies

Defined in pyproject.toml:

• FastAPI: The web framework.
• Uvicorn: The ASGI server.
• SSE-Starlette: For real-time signaling to the browser.
• Coolname: For generating readable slugs (e.g., brave-lion).

⚠️ Limitations & Security

• HTTPS Required: The File System Access API is a powerful feature. Browsers only allow it on secure contexts (HTTPS) or localhost. If you deploy the main.py hub to a public server (like AWS or Heroku), you must use HTTPS (SSL), or the "Select Directory" button will do nothing.
• Tab Must Stay Open: Since the browser is the file server, closing the tab kills the site.
• Read-Only: This implementation allows the public web to read your files, but currently does not support writing back to your disk (though the API supports it).

📄 License

MIT. Go wild.