Filamama: the home media server for your photos and videos

Fast, easy, beautiful. And free.

Filamama is a free home media server. No subscription, no account with us, no device to buy. It runs on the computer you already have, and everyone at home opens their photos and videos in a browser.

Filamama web app, a close crop of the mosaic grid: beach photos at golden hour with dates on each tile

Fast

Thumbnails and the timeline come from your own machine over your own Wi-Fi. Nothing waits on the internet.

Filamama, the Pair a phone dialog with a QR code, a short pairing code and a safety code

Easy

Install one program. Pair a phone with a QR code. Open the library in any browser at home.

Free

Download it, run it, keep it. There is nothing to pay and no account to create with us.

How it compares

How it stacks up against other photo servers.

Filamama next to the self-hosted photo products people run at home, from each product's own docs. Where others are ahead, it says so.

YesNoPlanned— Not checked

Feature	Filamama	Immich	Nextcloud Memories	PhotoPrism	Synology Photos	Umbrel Photos
Price	Free	Free	Free	Free + paid tiers	With a Synology NAS	Free
Install	Native, no Docker	Docker Compose	Nextcloud + app	Docker or tar.gz	Synology NAS only	Its own OS
Phone backup app	Android	Android, iPhone	Android, iPhone	Third-party apps	Android, iPhone	iPhone beta
Resumes broken uploads	To the byte	Not yet	By chunk	Not checked	Not checked	No
Outbound calls by default	None	Version check, maps	Update check	Maps, geocoding	Not checked	Update checks
Faces and smart search	Planned	Yes	With Recognize	Yes	Some models	Search, no faces

See the full comparison

No new device

Runs on the box you already own.

One program and one database, next to everything else on the machine. No special hardware, no new operating system. The computer on your desk becomes the family's home media server.

A silver Mac mini next to a monitor on a walnut desk at night, the monitor showing the Filamama Trips folder in mosaic view

A silver Mac Studio next to a monitor on a walnut desk at night, the monitor showing the Filamama Trips folder in mosaic view

Install guides for each platform

The library

A library worth opening.

One timeline for every photo and video the phones back up. Switch to the mosaic, zoom the grid, open a photo and see where it came from. Videos play right in the browser.

Filamama web app, All photos in mosaic view: the Italian coast in August, a picnic and a camping trip in July, and a mountain lake, grouped by day

Filamama photo view: a mother holding a child at a sunset beach, with an info panel showing date taken, size, camera, file name and the Trips album

Open a photo, see everything.

Date taken, size, camera, file name and the folders it belongs to, in a panel beside the photo.

Filamama web app, the Trips folder merged across two devices, grouped by day

Folders merged by name.

Camera on the phone and Camera on the tablet show as one Camera folder. Each device still lists its own.

Filamama web app in the light theme: the same timeline on a white background

Light, if you prefer.

The same library in a light theme, for the people at home who like their screens bright.

Filamama web app on a phone screen: All photos grouped by day in two columns

On a phone browser too.

The web library fits a phone screen, so anyone at home can browse without installing anything.

Filamama web app with the grid zoomed out to a dense view of small tiles

Zoom the grid.

Slide between big tiles and a dense grid. Dates and counts stay in view.

Agent friendly

Agents can run it.

Filamama has an MCP server. An AI assistant on your home network, such as Claude Desktop, Cursor or Claude Code, can find, count and look at the photos in one person's library, with a token an administrator makes under Settings › Agents.

Terminal

$ claude mcp add filamama \
    -e FILAMAMA_TOKEN=dms_agent_… \
    -- node ~/filamama-mcp.mjs \
    --server https://192.168.1.20:5400 \
    --pin 9f2c…
# then ask Claude: "What's in my photo library?"
 
$ dmsp backup ~/Pictures/Trips
{
  "files": 6, "known": 0, "linked": 6,
  "sent": 0, "failed": [], "bytesSent": 0
}

An MCP server
Assistants connect through the filamama-mcp bridge, pinned to your server's key. It works with Claude Desktop, Cursor and Claude Code.
Read-only by default
Each token is for one account. Writing (favourite, trash, restore) is switched on per token. Calls are rate-limited and logged for 90 days.
The dmsp command line
For scripts: pair, back up, report deletions and check the server, with JSON answers.

A phone on a wooden stand on a lamp-lit bookshelf, beside a small silver computer. The phone shows Piktures: backed up to Home, Mac mini in the living room

Sync included

The phone backs itself up.

Piktures, our Android app, backs up new photos and videos to your Filamama server on its own. Open it and see what is home already.

Automatic, in the background
Resumes exactly where it stopped
Nothing the server already has is sent again
Android now. iPhone later.

How sync works

Built for households

One server, every member.

Each person at home has their own account and their own library: timeline, folders, favourites, trash, settings. An administrator creates accounts and can set a storage limit.

Filamama settings, Accounts: a form to create a new account with an administrator checkbox, and a table listing florent, administrator with 44 MB and 2 devices, and camille with a temporary password

Own libraryTimeline, folders, favourites and trash, per person.

Own devicesEach phone is paired to one account. Deleting on the phone can move to the trash.

Admin accountsCreate accounts, set limits in GB, disable one when needed.

The details.

What happens when the Wi-Fi drops, and what never leaves the house.

Interrupted uploads resume.

Wi-Fi drops, the app gets killed, the phone restarts. The upload picks up at the exact byte where it stopped.

VID_20260812_180312.mp4100%

Uploading over Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi dropped at 98%
Resumed at 98%
Done. Nothing sent twice.

No duplicates sent.

A file the server already has is linked, not uploaded again. Checked before any bytes move.

Real run. A second device backed up 6 photos the server already had.

6files

6linked

0sent

0bytes

Pair with a QR code.

Scan the code in Piktures, or type the short code and check that the safety code matches. TLS everywhere, with the server key pinned on the phone.

Filamama, Pair a phone dialog: a QR code, a short pairing code, the server address and a safety code

LAN only. Zero outbound calls.

The server talks to your devices on your network and to nothing else.

0telemetry
0CDNs
0update checks

Not yet.

Filamama is young, and it is a home media server for photos and videos. These are not in it today, and we would rather say so here.

SharingNot yet
SearchNot yet
People and facesNot yet
MapNot yet
iOS appAndroid only for now
Movies, TV shows, musicNot in Filamama
Access away from homeHome only, by design
Synology, UmbrelNot yet

Questions.

Is Filamama a media server like Plex or Jellyfin?

Yes, it's a home media server, but for the photos and videos your family takes. It doesn't organise movies, TV shows or music. See how it compares.

How is Filamama different from Immich or PhotoPrism?

All three are photo servers you run at home. Filamama installs natively without Docker, resumes interrupted uploads at the exact byte, checks for duplicates before sending and makes no outbound calls. Immich and PhotoPrism recognise faces and share albums today; Filamama has those only as planned features. See the full comparison.

Is Filamama really free?

Yes. Free to download and use, with no subscription, no paid tier and no account to create with us. Filamama will be source-available; the licence comes with the first public release.

When can I download it?

The public download is coming soon. Until then, the install guides show what it takes on each platform.

All questions

The home media server, beautifully done.