Tiny Code Browser

A lightweight web-based file browser designed for reading code on any device. No installation required on client devices - just point your browser at the server.

I built this because I wanted to read code on my tablet without dealing with file transfers or finding apps that don't suck for code viewing. Specifically wanted to read jonesforth source code while lounging around, and copying files to the tablet + finding a decent text viewer was more annoying than just writing this.

Screenshots

Directory listing

File viewing

Features

• Clean, responsive web interface
• Dark/light theme toggle
• Adjustable font sizes
• Monospace font for code reading
• Directory browsing
• File size display

Running with Docker

Using Docker Compose

git clone <repository>
cd tiny-code-browser
mkdir files
# Copy your code files to ./files/
docker-compose up -d

Using Docker Directly

docker build -t file-browser .
docker run -p 8080:8080 -v /path/to/your/code:/srv file-browser

Open http://localhost:8080 in your browser.

Building from Source

Prerequisites

Just the Go compiler. Tested with v1.24.6. Should probably compile fine with older versions, just change the go.mod file as needed.

Build and Run

git clone <repository>
cd tiny-code-browser
go mod tidy
go build -o file-browser
./file-browser

Configuration

Configure via environment variables:

Variable	Default	Description
ROOT_DIR	./srv	Directory to serve files from
LISTEN_ADDR	0.0.0.0:8080	Address and port to listen on
APP_TITLE	Tiny Code Browser	Application title shown in browser

Examples

# Serve files from /home/user/code on port 3000
ROOT_DIR=/home/user/code LISTEN_ADDR=0.0.0.0:3000 ./file-browser

# Custom title
APP_TITLE="My Code Library" ./file-browser

Docker Configuration

docker-compose.yml

version: '3.8'
services:
  file-browser:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    volumes:
      - ./files:/srv
    environment:
      - APP_TITLE=My Code Browser
    restart: unless-stopped

Docker Run Examples

# Basic usage
docker run -p 8080:8080 -v /path/to/code:/srv file-browser

# Custom configuration
docker run -p 3000:3000 \
  -v /home/user/projects:/srv \
  -e APP_TITLE="Project Browser" \
  -e LISTEN_ADDR=0.0.0.0:3000 \
  file-browser

Security Notes

• The application serves files read-only
• Path traversal protection prevents access outside the configured root directory
• No authentication is built-in - use a reverse proxy if you need access control

License

MIT License