PirateBox¶

PirateBox is a local-only sharing box for Raspberry Pi. You join an open Wi-Fi, hit a local web page, and trade files, chat messages, or forum threads without the internet meddling in your business. It is a small rebellion against the cloud, and like most rebellions, it is mostly paperwork.

Quick links¶

• Overview
• Install on Raspberry Pi
• Prebuilt Image
• Architecture
• Configuration
• Operations
• Troubleshooting
• E-Paper HAT
• Development
• FAQ

What this is¶

PirateBox is an offline-first web app that runs on a Raspberry Pi and serves a captive portal, a file drop, a chat room, and a forum. Everything lives in SQLite on the device. No accounts, no cloud, no excuses.

What this is not¶

• A secure dropbox for secrets. It is open Wi-Fi by design.
• A high-availability system. The Pi is the single point of failure and also the single point of truth.
• A substitute for backups. You still have to do those yourself.

If you are in a hurry¶

1. Flash Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit).
2. Run the setup script or follow the manual steps in Install on Raspberry Pi.
3. Connect to the PirateBox Wi-Fi and open http://10.0.0.1:8080.

If you want a prebuilt image, read Prebuilt Image. It does more work up front so you can pretend you are efficient.