One place for everything
Keep your photos, video, audio, and documents together. Upload from your browser, organize into folders, and find things later.
Self-hosted file & media management
Own your data.
Alcoves is a self-hosted application for managing your files, with strong support for media and collaboration. Keep everything in one place, share it with the people you choose, and connect it to your own tools.
Self-hosted
Runs on hardware you control.
Collaborative
Share libraries with the people you choose.
Organized
Browse and search by what is in your files.
Open
Connect it to your own tools and workflows.
What it does
One place for your files and media
Keep your files together, make sense of what is inside them, and share them with the people you choose.
Made to share
Group your files into libraries and invite the people you want — each with the access that fits, from full control to view-only. Sharing is always deliberate.
Understands your media
Alcoves looks at what is in your photos and videos, so you can find things by their contents — not just their file names.
Open to your tools
A built-in MCP server lets you connect Alcoves to AI assistants and build your own workflows around your library.
Runs on your hardware
Self-host on whatever you have — from a small home server to a larger setup — using storage you control.
How it works
From your files to a library you can use
Add your files and Alcoves takes care of the rest, so your library is easy to explore and easy to share.
1
Add your files
Upload photos, video, audio, and documents from your browser.
2
Let it organize
Alcoves sorts what you add and makes sense of what is inside it.
3
Find anything
Search and browse your library by what it actually contains.
4
Share it
Invite people to a library, or share a single item, on your terms.
5
Use your tools
Connect assistants and scripts through the MCP server to build your own workflows.
The heavy lifting happens in the background, so the app stays responsive while your library fills in.
FAQ
Questions, answered
What is Alcoves?
A self-hosted application for managing your files, with strong support for media and collaboration. It gives you one place to keep, organize, and share what matters to you, on hardware you control.
Who is it for?
Individuals and small, trusted groups — a person keeping their files, a family sharing memories, a small team working together. It is not a public, internet-scale service.
Is my data private?
Yes. Your files live on your own hardware, and the parts of Alcoves that read your media run there too. You can always get your files back out and take them elsewhere.
How do I run it?
With Docker and Docker Compose on a single machine, or the Helm chart on Kubernetes. It is designed to run comfortably on modest hardware.
Can I connect my own tools?
Yes. A built-in MCP server lets AI assistants and your own scripts work with your library, so you can automate tasks and build workflows that fit how you work.
Is it ready to use?
Alcoves is early and still evolving, so expect things to change as it grows. It is open and free to try today if you want to run your own instance.
Run your own Alcoves
Set it up on your own machine, create the first account, and start adding your files. Your library, your hardware.