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Spacedrive

Open source · OSI-approvedStatus: unknownNew

Local-first file explorer unifying devices, drives, and clouds

Alternative to Dropbox

Spacedrive is open personal data infrastructure: a cross-platform file explorer backed by a Rust daemon that turns storage the user controls into one private filesystem across devices, drives, servers, and chosen clouds. It is Apache-2.0 licensed, works without a hosted account or telemetry, and exposes the same typed operations to the desktop app, CLI, SDKs, and MCP server.[1][2][3][4]

Quick verdict

Spacedrive is a local-first, open source file explorer that unifies files across personal devices, drives, servers, and optional clouds in one searchable interface, keeping storage ownership with the user instead of a vendor cloud.[1][2][3]

What it does

  • One live index spans local folders, drives, NAS datasets, paired Spacedrive nodes, cloud buckets, and adapter sources, with a single search across all of them.[1]

  • Stable BLAKE3 content identities connect copies of the same bytes across sources, with sampled-hash candidate detection confirmed by full-byte verification before destructive cleanup.[1]

  • Disconnected drives keep a browsable, searchable catalog, and sources can be frozen at a point in time to inspect history.[1]

  • Paired devices connect over Iroh and QUIC with end-to-end encryption, directly or via relays, and any source can be mounted into macOS, Windows, or Linux with on-demand streaming.[1]

  • Every file-changing operation validates before running and previews the projected result, then re-validates at dispatch and reports divergence.[1]

  • Desktop, web, mobile, CLI, generated SDKs, skills, and MCP server all call the same registered typed operations over JSON-RPC, with long-running work tracked as durable jobs.[1]

  • Owned disks, NAS datasets, private servers, and offline archives are first-class homes while clouds stay optional sources and destinations, giving a practical path off vendor cloud custody.[1][2]

  • Index snapshots preserve evidence of what existed and where, while provider versions and backups preserve the bytes, so migrations keep organization, tags, and history.[1]

Who it fits

  • People with files spread across many drives, devices, or a NAS who want one searchable view without moving everything into a vendor cloud.[1][2]

  • Individuals leaving hosted file sync who still need search, history, sharing, and remote access over storage they own.[1][2]

Limits to know

  • Version 2.0 is pre-release: a beta is planned for November 1, 2026, and current nightly CLI and daemon builds are unsigned, track main, and can break, so libraries need backups.[1]

  • Building from source requires Rust, Bun, Node, just, and host FFmpeg development libraries, which is heavier than installing a finished app.[1]

  • No enterprise support offering or single-sign-on documentation was found in the observed official sources.[1][2]

  • Heavy codecs, provider SDKs, and models stay outside the default binary and arrive through explicitly installed extensions.[1]

Questions worth asking

Is Spacedrive free and open source?

Yes. Spacedrive is licensed under Apache-2.0 with release and nightly binaries and no paid edition documented; releases before 2026-03-24 were AGPL-3.0.[1][2]

Which platforms does Spacedrive run on?

Version 2.0 targets macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android; sources mount into macOS, Windows, and Linux for on-demand file streaming.[1][2]

Does Spacedrive require a hosted account?

No. It is local-first with no hosted account, vendor control plane, or telemetry; no hosted Spacedrive service is the required authority over a library.[1][2]

Is Spacedrive ready for daily use?

Version 2.0 is pre-release with a beta planned for November 1, 2026; nightly builds track main and can break, so current use needs backups of any pointed library.[1]

Sources and editorial review

Source research. Reviewed on October 13, 2026. Written by Sanjib Sah. AI assisted; reviewed by a human editor.

We have not run or tested this product.

  1. Spacedrive official site

    official · Observed October 13, 2026

    Official positioning, supported platforms, and GitHub link.

  2. spacedriveapp/spacedrive on GitHub

    official · Observed October 13, 2026

    Repository identity and project description.

  3. Spacedrive README

    official · Observed October 13, 2026

    License, architecture, features, install and build instructions, release plans.

  4. Spacedrive Product Direction

    official · Observed October 13, 2026

    Product boundary, ownership model, and provider-exit positioning.

  5. GitHub API repository record

    official · Observed October 13, 2026

    License identifier, primary language, star count, creation date, homepage.

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