ass is a self-hosted ShareX upload server written in Node.js. I initially started this project purely out of spite. ass aims to be as unopinionated as possible, giving users & hosts alike the ability to modify nearly everything.

By default, ass comes with a resource viewing page, which includes metadata about the resource as well as a download button & inline viewers for images, videos, & audio. It does not have a user dashboard or registration system: this is intentional! Developers are free to create their own frontends using the languages & tools they are most comfortable with. Writing & using these frontends is fully documented below, in the wiki, & in the source code.

Developers ❤

ass was designed with developers in mind. If you are a developer & want something changed to better suit you, let me know & we'll see what we can do!

Code quality

CodeQL	DeepSource

Features

For users

• Upload images, gifs, videos, audio, & files
• Token-based authentication
• Download & delete resources
• GPS data automatically removed
• Fully customizable Discord embeds
• Built-in web viewer with video & audio player
• Embed images, gifs, & videos directly in Discord
• Personal upload log using customizable Discord Webhooks
• macOS/Linux support with alternative clients such as Flameshot (script for ass) & MagicCap
• Multiple URL styles
  • ZWS
  • Mixed-case alphanumeric
  • Gfycat
  • Original

For hosts & developers

• Usage metrics
• Thumbnail support
• Mimetype blocking
• Themeable viewer page
• Basic multi-user support
• Configurable global upload size limit (per-user coming soon)
• Custom pluggable frontends using Git Submodules
• Run locally or in a Docker container
• Multiple file storage methods
  • Local file system
  • Amazon S3, including DigitalOcean Spaces
  • Skynet (free decentralized storage on the Sia blockchain)
• Multiple data storage methods using data engines
  • File
    • JSON (default, papito)
    • YAML (soon)
  • Database
    • PostgreSQL (ass-psql)
    • MongoDB (ass-mongoose)
    • MySQL (soon)

Access types

Type	What is it?
Zero-width spaces	When pasted elsewhere, the URL appears to be just your domain name. Some browsers or sites may not recognize these URLs (Discord does support these)
Mixed-case alphanumeric	The "safe" mode. URL's are browser safe as the character set is just letters & numbers.
Gfycat	Gfycat-style ID's (for example: https://example.com/unsung-discrete-grub). Thanks to Gfycat for the wordlists
Original	The "basic" mode. URL matches the same filename as when the file was uploaded. This may be prone to conflicts with files of the same name.

Installation

ass supports two installation methods: Docker (recommended) & local (manual).

Docker

# Check the usage metrics
docker compose exec ass npm run metrics

# Run the setup script
docker compose exec ass npm run setup && docker compose restart

# Run npm on the host to run the setup script (also works for metrics)
# (You will have to meet the Node.js & npm requirements on your host for this to work properly)
npm run setup && docker compose restart

# Pull the latest version of ass & rebuild the image
git pull && docker compose build --no-cache && docker compose up -d

Local

Using HTTPS

For HTTPS support, you must configure a reverse proxy. I recommend Caddy but any reverse proxy should work (such as Apache or Nginx). I also have a tutorial on easily setting up Caddy as a reverse proxy server.

Generating new tokens

If you need to generate a new token at any time, run npm run new-token <username>. This will automatically load the new token so there is no need to restart ass. Username field is optional; if left blank, a random username will be created.

Cloudflare users

In your Cloudflare DNS dashboard, set your domain/subdomain to DNS Only if you experience issues with Proxied.

Configure ShareX

1. Add a new Custom Uploader in ShareX by going to Destinations > Custom uploader settings...
2. Under Uploaders, click New & name it whatever you like.
3. Set Destination type to Image, Text, & File
4. Request tab:
   • Method: POST
   • URL: https://your.domain.name.here/
   • Body: Form data (multipart/form-data)
   • File from name: file (literally put "file" in the field)
   • Headers:
     • Name: Authorization
     • Value: (the value provided by npm start on first run)
5. Response tab:
   • URL: {json:.resource}
   • Thumbnail: {json:.thumbnail}
   • Deletion URL: {json:.delete}
   • Error message: {response}
   • MagicCap users: do not include the . in the above & replace {} with $ (i.e. $json:resource$)
6. The file sample_config.sxcu can also be modified & imported to suit your needs

Header overrides

If you need to override a specific part of the config to be different from the global config, you may do so via "X" HTTP headers:

Fancy embeds

If you primarily share media on Discord, you can add these additional (optional) headers to build embeds:

Embed placeholders

You can insert certain metadata into your embeds with these placeholders:

Webhooks

You may use Discord webhooks as an easy way to keep track of your uploads. The first step is to create a new Webhook. You only need to follow the first section, Making a Webhook. Once you are done that, click Copy Webhook URL. Finally, add these headers to your custom uploader:

Webhooks will show the filename, mimetype, size, upload timestamp, thumbail, & a link to delete the file. To disable webhooks, simply remove the headers from your config.

Customizing the viewer

If you want to customize the font or colours of the viewer page, create a file in the share/ directory called theme.json. Available options are:

Custom index

By default, ass directs the index route / to this README. Follow these steps to use a custom index:

1. Create a file in the share/ directory called index.html or index.js.
   • ass will treat index.html as an HTML file and will send it to the client.
   • ass will treat index.js as a Node.js file that exports a function representing Express middleware. ass will pass all handling of the index to this function. The function should take three arguments: (req, res, next). Some code samples for common use cases are provided below.
   • If both index.html and index.js are present, the index.html file will be served first.
2. Add whatever you want to the file.
3. Restart ass. The startup info logs should mention which file is being used as the index.

Custom index code samples

Redirect to a custom frontend registration page

module.exports = (req, res, next) => res.redirect('/register');

File storage

ass supports three methods of file storage: local, S3, or Skynet.

Local

Local storage is the simplest option, but relies on you having a lot of disk space to store files, which can be costly.

S3

Any existing object storage server that's compatible with Amazon S3 can be used with ass. I personally host my files using Digital Ocean Spaces, which implements S3.

S3 servers are generally very fast & have very good uptime, though this will depend on the hosting provider & plan you choose.

Skynet

As of August 12, 2022, Skynet Labs is shut down. Skynet will continue to work, as such is the nature of decentralized services.

Skynet is a decentralized CDN created by Skynet Labs. It utilizes the Sia blockchain, the leading decentralized cloud storage platform, which boasts "no signups, no servers, no trusted third parties". For hosts who are looking for a reliable, always available storage solution with lots of capacity & no costs, Skynet may be your best option. However, uploads tend to be on the slower side (though speeds will improve as the Sia network grows).

Custom frontends - OUTDATED

Please be aware that this section is outdated (marked as of 2022-04-15). It will be updated when I overhaul the frontend system.

ass is intended to provide a strong backend for developers to build their own frontends around. Git Submodules make it easy to create custom frontends. Submodules are their own projects, which means you are free to build the router however you wish, as long as it exports the required items. A custom frontend is really just an Express.js router.

For a detailed walkthrough on developing your first frontend, consult the wiki.

Data Engines

Papito data engines are responsible for managing your data. "Data" has two parts: an identifier & the actual data itself. With ass, the data is a JSON object representing the uploaded resource. The identifier is the unique ID in the URL returned to the user on upload. Update August 2022: I plan to overhaul Papito and how all this works eventually. If this comment is still here in a year, kick message me.

Supported data engines:

A Papito data engine implements support for one type of database (or file, such as JSON or YAML). This lets ass server hosts pick their database of choice, because all they'll have to do is enter the connection/authentication details & ass will handle the rest, using the resource ID as the key.

For a detailed walkthrough on developing engines, consult the wiki. Outdated!

npm scripts

ass has a number of pre-made npm scripts for you to use. All of these scripts should be run using npm run <script-name> (except start).

Flameshot users (Linux)

Use this script. For the KEY, put your token. Thanks to @ToxicAven for creating this!

Contributing

Please follow the Contributing Guidelines when submiting Issues or Pull Requests.

Credits

• Thanks to hlsl#1359 for the logo
• Gfycat for their wordlists
• Aven, for helping kickstart the project
• My spiteful ass for motivating me to actually take this project to new heights