linshare is a free, open source collaboration & communication project written in Shell and released under AGPL-3.0. It has 581 GitHub stars, 89 forks and 119 open issues, and was last pushed 26 days ago. On this registry it ranks #57 of 62 tracked projects in Collaboration & Communication, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available. It gained 6 stars over the last 30 tracked days.

What is linshare?

LinShare is an AGPL-3.0 licensed, self-hosted file sharing platform for organizations that need to exchange documents with internal and external collaborators while keeping full control over privacy and traceability.

What it is

LinShare is an open-source file sharing platform distributed under the AGPL-3.0 licence, with a project website at https://linshare.app, a public demo instance at https://demo.linshare.org and a companion demo webmail at https://demo-webmail.linshare.org. It belongs to the self-hosted enterprise collaboration and file-sharing ecosystem: the software runs on infrastructure the organization controls, whether that is a single-machine Docker Compose stack or a production deployment on Debian 12 or CentOS 7. The platform is organized around a personal space for individual files, shared spaces for workgroups, upload requests that let external people send files into an expiring drop box, guest accounts with restricted and time-limited access, and contact lists for recurring recipients. An audit trail records every download, share and change, and a REST API exposes the same functionality to other tools. A separate MCP server, linshare-mcp, lets MCP-compatible AI assistants manage files, shares, guests and workgroups.

The concrete problem it solves is document exchange that would otherwise run through email attachments, USB sticks or consumer cloud drives, none of which the organization hosts or can trace. LinShare replaces those channels with a service the organization runs itself, so documents stay on its own infrastructure while internal and external collaborators still receive links and email notifications. Enterprise integration covers LDAP directories, LemonLDAP::NG, Microsoft Azure SSO over OpenID Connect and JWT, alongside antivirus scanning and file previews.

Key capabilities

  • Personal space: upload, version and organize files, then share them by link or email.
  • Shared spaces: workgroups with roles, nested folders and shared drives.
  • Upload requests: secure, expiring drop boxes that ask external people to send files in.
  • Guests: restricted, time-limited external accounts, which since LinShare 6.5.4 can share through contact lists, falling back to the public contact lists of their source domain when no list is assigned.
  • Contact lists: reusable groups of recipients for recurring shares.
  • Activity logs and audit: every download, share and change is traced.
  • Enterprise integration and automation: LDAP, LemonLDAP::NG, Azure SSO (OpenID Connect), JWT, antivirus scanning, file previews, a REST API and the linshare-mcp MCP server.

Who uses it and how

  • Organizations with an existing directory service connect LinShare to LDAP, LemonLDAP::NG or Microsoft Azure SSO so staff sign in with accounts they already have.
  • Teams that must hand documents to people outside the organization issue guest accounts or upload requests instead of attaching files to email.
  • Compliance and security functions rely on activity logs and audit records covering every download, share and change.
  • Developers and administrators automate provisioning and workflows through the REST API, or manage files, shares, guests and workgroups through an MCP-compatible assistant.
  • Evaluation can start on the public demo, which is reset and updated regularly, or on the local linshare-docker stack before any production commitment.

Getting started

The quickest path is the linshare-docker repository, which ships a docker-compose stack containing the server, both web interfaces, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, a sample LDAP directory, ClamAV, a thumbnail server and a test SMTP relay; clone it, run docker-compose up -d and open https://linshare.local. For production, check the compatibility matrix and follow the Debian 12 guide for LinShare 6.x or the CentOS 7 guide.

How it compares

The facts supplied here name no competing products, so LinShare stands alone in this registry rather than being measured against paid alternatives. What can be said is that it targets the channels it replaces — email attachments, USB sticks and consumer cloud drives — superseding them with infrastructure the organization owns. Its AGPL-3.0 licence and self-hosted model mean no per-seat licence fee and no third-party custody of documents, at the cost of operating the stack.

When to use it — and when not to

A self-hoster must operate PostgreSQL, MongoDB, a JVM application server on Tomcat behind Apache, and, judging by the Docker stack, ClamAV, a thumbnail server and an SMTP relay for notification email. Organizations that want a zero-operations SaaS product, or that cannot accept AGPL-3.0 copyleft terms, should look elsewhere. Documented production paths cover Debian 12 and CentOS 7 only, and the project carries 119 open issues, so operators on other distributions — or with little capacity for upgrades such as 6.5.3 to 6.5.4 — should weigh that overhead first.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

English · Français

Secure, traceable file sharing for organizations that care about privacy.

License: AGPL v3 Latest release Documentation Live demo

Last commit Contributors GitHub stars

Try it · Install · Documentation · Repositories · Contributing · Website


What is LinShare?

LinShare is an open-source file sharing platform built for organizations that need to exchange documents with internal and external collaborators while keeping full control over privacy and traceability. It replaces email attachments, USB sticks and consumer cloud drives with a self-hosted service you run on your own infrastructure.

Key features

  • Personal space – upload, version and organize your files, then share them by link or email.
  • Shared spaces – workgroups with roles, nested folders and shared drives for teams.
  • Upload requests – ask external people to send you files through a secure, expiring drop box.
  • Guests – invite external users with restricted, time-limited accounts.
  • Contact lists – reuse groups of recipients for recurring shares.
  • Activity logs and audit – every download, share and change is traced.
  • Enterprise integration – LDAP directories, LemonLDAP::NG and Microsoft Azure SSO (OpenID Connect), JWT, antivirus scanning, file previews.
  • REST API – automate everything from your own tools.
  • AI assistants – an MCP server lets any MCP-compatible assistant manage files, shares, guests and workgroups on your behalf.

What's new

LinShare 6.5.4 (July 2026):

  • Guest accounts can now share through contact lists. When no list is assigned to the guest, the public contact lists of its source domain become usable as recipients.
  • Fixed an anonymous share error when a restricted guest shares through a contact list.
  • Upgrading from 6.5.3: follow the upgrade guide.

Full release notes for every version, with per-component changelogs, are in CHANGELOG.md.

Try it

Live demo

A public instance running the latest LinShare release is available at https://demo.linshare.org/. It is reset and updated on a regular basis.

Demo accounts and webmail (click to expand)

Internal users (password: secret):

External recipients (email addresses without a LinShare account): external1@linshare.org to external5@linshare.org.

Guest candidates (external addresses you can turn into guest accounts): guest1@linshare.org to guest5@linshare.org.

Emails are only delivered to @linshare.org addresses. To read them, use the demo webmail at https://demo-webmail.linshare.org:

Account Password
*@linshare.org internal users secret
external1@linshare.org … external5@linshare.org password1 … password5
guest1@linshare.org … guest5@linshare.org password1 … password5

Run it locally with Docker

The linshare-docker repository ships a docker-compose stack with the server, both web interfaces, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, a sample LDAP directory, ClamAV, a thumbnail server and a test SMTP relay:

git clone https://github.com/linagora/linshare-docker.git
cd linshare-docker
docker-compose up -d

Then open https://linshare.local (see the repository README for the /etc/hosts entries).

Install

For a production deployment, start with the compatibility matrix and pick the guide for your distribution.

Step Guide
Check requirements (OS, JVM, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Tomcat, Apache) Compatibility matrix
Install on Debian 12 (LinShare 6.x) Debian 12 guide
Install on Debian (older releases) Debian guide
Install on CentOS 7 CentOS guide
Single sign-on LemonLDAP::NG (headers) · LemonLDAP::NG (OIDC) · Microsoft Azure (OIDC)
Upgrade an existing instance Upgrade guides

Release packages (WAR files, UI bundles, SQL scripts) are published at http://download.linshare.org/versions/. You can also fetch every component of a release with Maven from this repository:

mvn dependency:copy-dependencies -DoutputDirectory='linshare'

Documentation

All user-facing documentation lives in this repository under documentation/.

Guide English Français
Overview EN FR
Installation EN FR
Upgrade EN FR
User guide EN FR
Administration EN FR
Development EN EN
API EN FR

The French translation sometimes lags behind English. Contributions to the FR tree are welcome.

Components and repositories

LinShare is split into several components, each in its own repository. This repository is the meta repository: it holds the documentation, the EPIC and user-story specifications, and a Maven aggregator (pom.xml) that pins the version of every component for a release.

Architecture

%%{init: {'flowchart': {'nodeSpacing': 18, 'rankSpacing': 45, 'padding': 8}}}%%
flowchart LR
    subgraph clients [Clients]
        web[Web browser]
        mobile[Mobile app<br/>iOS · Android]
        mail[Thunderbird · Outlook<br/>plugins]
        ai[AI assistant<br/>MCP server]
    end
    front[Apache · nginx<br/>HTTPS 443<br/>ui-user · ui-admin · ui-upload-request]
    core[Tomcat · linshare-core<br/>REST API · HTTP 8080]
    subgraph data [Data]
        pg[(PostgreSQL)]
        mongo[(MongoDB)]
    end
    subgraph services [Services]
        ldap[LDAP · SSO]
        smtp[SMTP]
        thumb[Thumbnail server]
        av[ClamAV]
    end
    web --> front
    mobile --> front
    mail --> front
    ai --> front
    front --> core
    core --> pg
    core --> mongo
    core --> ldap
    core --> smtp
    core --> thumb
    core --> av

    classDef client stroke:#1E6FD9,stroke-width:2px
    classDef front stroke:#E08A00,stroke-width:2px
    classDef core stroke:#0AA3FF,stroke-width:3px,font-weight:bold
    classDef data stroke:#2E9E4F,stroke-width:2px
    classDef svc stroke:#7A7A8C,stroke-width:2px
    class web,mobile,mail,ai client
    class front front
    class core core
    class pg,mongo data
    class ldap,smtp,thumb,av svc
    style clients stroke:#1E6FD9,stroke-dasharray:4 3
    style data stroke:#2E9E4F,stroke-dasharray:4 3
    style services stroke:#7A7A8C,stroke-dasharray:4 3

Ports, daemons, configuration and log paths are detailed in the exploitation guide.

Components

Component Role Repository
linshare-core Backend server (Java WAR, REST API, SQL scripts) linagora/linshare-core
linshare-ui-user End-user web interface linagora/linshare-ui-user
linshare-ui-admin Administration web interface linagora/linshare-ui-admin
linshare-ui-upload-request Public upload request interface linagora/linshare-ui-upload-request
linshare-mobile-flutter-app Mobile application for iOS and Android linagora/linshare-mobile-flutter-app
linshare-mcp MCP server: lets AI assistants manage files, shares, guests and workgroups through the REST API linagora/linshare-mcp
thumbnail-server Generates file previews distributed with the release bundle
linshare-plugin-thunderbird Thunderbird extension to send attachments through LinShare linagora/linshare-plugin-thunderbird
linshare-plugin-outlook Outlook add-in to send attachments through LinShare private repository, not published
linshare-docker Docker Compose stack for tests and demos linagora/linshare-docker

Clone everything at once:

git clone https://github.com/linagora/linshare.git
git clone https://github.com/linagora/linshare-core.git
git clone https://github.com/linagora/linshare-ui-user.git
git clone https://github.com/linagora/linshare-ui-admin.git
git clone https://github.com/linagora/linshare-ui-upload-request.git
git clone https://github.com/linagora/linshare-mobile-flutter-app.git
git clone https://github.com/linagora/linshare-mcp.git
git clone https://github.com/linagora/linshare-plugin-thunderbird.git
git clone https://github.com/linagora/linshare-docker.git

Contributing

Contributions are welcome: bug reports, documentation fixes, translations, specifications and code.

  • Read CONTRIBUTING.md for where development happens (GitLab is the canonical upstream, GitHub is a mirror), how to report issues, how documentation and translations are organized, and how features are specified as EPICs and user stories before development.
  • Found a security issue? Please follow SECURITY.md instead of opening a public issue.
  • Setting up a development environment: see the developer guide.

Releases

Release notes for every version, with links to the per-component changelogs and to the matching upgrade guide, are in CHANGELOG.md. Packages are available at http://download.linshare.org/versions/.

License

LinShare is free software released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3. See LICENSE.md for the full text.

LinShare is developed by Linagora. More information at https://linshare.app/.

Frequently asked questions

Is linshare free to use?

linshare is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does linshare do?

LinShare - Secure File Sharing

What is linshare written in?

linshare is primarily written in Shell. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/linagora/linshare, and it has 581 GitHub stars.