Platforms
Cancel the subscription. Keep the service.
Photos, files and media on a server you own — installed complete, with the database, the storage layout, the upload path and the certificate already right. The software has been good for years; the six hours of configuration between a container and something your family can use is the part we removed.
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Five platforms, grouped by what they replace. Each one deploys onto any active server with a block volume.
Automatic phone backup, timeline, albums, face and object recognition, search. The closest thing to Google Photos you can run yourself.
Indexes a library of originals in place, with AI tagging and powerful search. Good when the files are already organised the way you want.
Files, sync clients for every platform, share links with passwords and expiry, versioning, calendars and contacts over CalDAV and CardDAV.
A web file manager with share links and no database. The right answer when Nextcloud is more product than you need.
Stream the films, series and music you own to phones, tablets, browsers and TV apps. Free, open source, no vendor account.
What "installed whole" means
The difference between running the container and running the product.
The database comes with it
PostgreSQL for Immich and Nextcloud, MariaDB for PhotoPrism, none at all for Jellyfin and File Browser. A multi-container deploy with startup ordering and health gates — you are never handed a database to wire up.
A proxy built for uploads
No request body limit, buffering off, hour-long timeouts and WebSocket upgrades. The defaults that cap uploads at 1 MB and kill a transfer after 60 seconds are what make most self-hosted photo libraries unusable.
Library on block storage
Your photos and files sit on a volume at a uniform path, so rebuilding or replacing the server does not touch them. Removing the platform keeps the library; deleting it is a separate, explicit action.
It refuses to install badly
Every card shows its RAM floor before you click, and the deploy checks the target server’s memory and free disk. If the machine cannot carry it, the install is refused with the reason instead of being OOM-killed mid-upload.
Credentials in your vault
Admin passwords are generated platform-side into your secrets vault and revealed on demand — never printed into a log. If your account runs OpenBao, they are sealed under your own key.
One page for all of it
Every instance across every server you own, with its domain, certificate state, container status and library size. The question is “where are my photos”, not “what is installed on machine four”.
Getting there
- 1
Order a server for the job
Choose the Media server use case and the form sizes it: 4 GB minimum, 8 GB recommended, a 500 GB volume preset. Adjust any of it before you confirm.
- 2
Open Platforms and pick one
The catalogue is grouped by what you are replacing — photos and video backup, files and sync, streaming. Each card names its RAM floor up front.
- 3
Name a domain
Point a domain or subdomain at the server. The containers, database, storage layout, vhost, certificate and admin account are configured for you.
- 4
Move your data in
Google Takeout for photos, SFTP over port 22 for a media library, or the sync client for files. Nothing is deleted at the source until you decide it should be.
Before you order
What we have not built yet
Better you read it here than discover it afterwards.
- Hardware transcoding for Jellyfin. No GPU passthrough, so heavy 4K transcoding is CPU-bound. Store your library in formats your devices play directly and the transcoder is rarely asked to do anything.
- Reinstalling onto an existing library. Each install mints a new instance; a retained library is not adopted automatically.
- Library backup to object storage. The library is on a block volume, which survives a server rebuild — that is redundancy against one failure, not a backup. Keep a copy elsewhere for anything irreplaceable.
Platform FAQ
What is the difference between an app and a platform?
An app is something you supply — code you push to a Git remote, an image you built, or a CMS you administer on a database you own. A platform is a complete product we curate and install whole: you pick it and name a domain, and everything else is ours to get right.
How much disk do I need?
Take the size of your current library and roughly double it — indexing, thumbnails and transcoding all need headroom. The Media server use case presets a 500 GB volume, which you can raise or lower at order time and grow later independently of the machine.
Can I move off Google Photos or Drive?
Yes. Google Takeout exports your originals and Immich can import them; Nextcloud has desktop and mobile sync clients for files. Both are copies — nothing is removed on the Google side until you remove it.
What happens to my data if I remove a platform?
The library stays. It is on your block volume, removal keeps it, and deleting it is a separate action you have to ask for. You can also copy it off over SFTP at any time.
Is a block volume a backup?
No. It survives a server rebuild, which is the common failure, but it does not protect against deletion or corruption. Run scheduled backups as well, and keep a copy somewhere else for anything irreplaceable.
Will Jellyfin handle 4K transcoding?
Direct play — where the client can play the file as it is — is fine, and that is what happens most of the time on modern apps. We do not currently pass a GPU through to the container, so transcoding falls to the CPU: one 1080p stream is usually comfortable, several simultaneous 4K HDR transcodes are not what this is for.
Can I reinstall onto an existing library?
Not yet. Each install creates a new instance rather than adopting a retained library, so this is worth knowing before you plan a rebuild around it.
Do I need to know Docker?
No. The install is a form: pick the platform, pick the server, name a domain. The compose file, database, vhost and certificate are generated for you — and full SSH access is still there if you want it.
Related reading
Own your library
One price per server, every feature included. No charge per photo, per file or per seat.
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