S3 Browser: A Fast, Self-Hosted UI for All Your Object Storage

by | Apr 29, 2026 | DevOps, Docker | 0 comments

If you’ve worked with S3-compatible storage for any length of time, you already know the trade-off:

Powerful APIs… but frustrating user interfaces.

Switching between dashboards for AWS, Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2, or MinIO is slow, inconsistent, and honestly—unnecessary.

rustrating user interfaces for S3 browsers

So we built something to fix that.

🚀 Introducing S3 Browser

S3 Browser is a lightweight, self-hosted web UI that lets you connect to any S3-compatible provider and manage your storage from a single interface.

No vendor lock-in.
No bloated dashboards.
Just a clean, fast UI that does exactly what you need.

⚡ Why This Exists

Most object storage tools are designed for:

  • APIs
  • Automation
  • SDKs

Not humans.

That becomes a problem when you need to:

  • Browse buckets quickly
  • Upload files (especially large ones)
  • Share access with clients or teammates
  • Verify data without writing scripts

S3 Browser fills that gap.

🧠 Key Features

View S3 buckets, create buckets, upload and delete all in one S3 Browser interface.

🔌 Multi-Provider Support

Works with:

  • AWS S3
  • Wasabi
  • Backblaze B2
  • Cloudflare R2
  • MinIO
  • Any S3-compatible backend

Switch between providers instantly from the UI.

📂 Clean Bucket Navigation

  • Browse buckets and folders
  • Breadcrumb navigation
  • Search within folders
  • Fast and responsive

📤 High-Performance Uploads

  • Drag-and-drop uploads
  • Multipart upload support
  • Upload queue with concurrency (3 uploads at once)
  • Real-time progress tracking

No more guessing if your upload worked.

🔐 Secure Downloads

  • Files are served via presigned URLs
  • Links expire automatically (5 minutes)
  • No credential exposure

🔒 Built with Security in Mind

  • Credentials stored only in session (not disk)
  • Login-protected UI
  • Session expiry (24 hours)

Designed to run safely behind a reverse proxy with HTTPS.

🐳 Quick Start

If you’re running Docker (you probably are):

docker compose up -d

Then open:

http://localhost:5000

Set a proper password:

APP_PASSWORD=yourpassword docker compose up -d

🧩 Where This Fits

S3 Browser works perfectly as:

  • A DevOps utility tool
  • A client upload portal
  • A multi-cloud storage manager
  • A homelab UI for MinIO
  • A lightweight alternative to cloud dashboards

Think of it as:

💡 Final Thoughts

The infrastructure behind object storage is incredibly powerful—but the UX hasn’t kept up.

S3 Browser fixes that with:

  • Speed
  • Simplicity
  • Compatibility

No fluff. Just a tool that works.

🔗 Get It

👉 https://github.com/zenworksza/S3Browser

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