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Capsule

Self-Hosting

Self-hosting Capsule is straightforward. The server is a single Rust binary backed by SQLite and a local uploads directory.

Build and run

Section titled “Build and run”

From the Server directory:

Terminal window
cargo build --release
./target/release/capsule-server

On first run, the server creates:

  • capsule.db for file metadata
  • uploads/temp/ for uploaded files

By default it listens on 0.0.0.0:9001.

Operational behavior

Section titled “Operational behavior”

The current server behavior is fixed in code:

  • max upload size: 256 MB
  • file expiry window: 1 hour
  • cleanup pass: every 60 seconds
  • SQLite in WAL mode

Reverse proxy

Section titled “Reverse proxy”

In practice you will usually place Capsule behind Caddy, nginx, or another reverse proxy and expose it over HTTPS. Point the proxy at the Capsule process on port 9001.

The simplest method is to run a Cloudflare Tunnel. Note that this will cap file sizes at 100 MB.

Point clients at your server

Section titled “Point clients at your server”

For the CLI:

Terminal window
capsule server set https://your-server.example.com

The Android app also supports a custom server in its setup flow and settings page, and it can ping that server to validate the address before you rely on it. If set up correctly, the ping should result in a { "message", "pong" } response.

Customizing behavior

Section titled “Customizing behavior”

If you want different CORS origins, upload limits, or expiry rules, those are currently code changes rather than runtime config. The server would have to be recompiled and restarted.