Every photo, home safe.

A stunning, fast photo library for the whole household. Self-hosted on the Mac mini or Linux box you already have, easy to run, and free.

Download for free Read the docs

Free No subscription. No account with us.

Filamama on the living-room TV: a full-screen photo of a mother and child on a beach at sunset, in a lamp-lit room with an oak console, a linen lamp and a fiddle-leaf fig

Fast, easy, beautiful. And free.

Filamama is free to download and use. No subscription, no account with us, no device to buy. It runs on the computer you already have, and everyone at home opens their library 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.

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 photo library.

A small desktop computer next to a monitor on a walnut desk at night, the monitor showing the Filamama Trips folder in mosaic view
  • Mac miniNow
  • LinuxNow
  • SparkNow
  • SynologyLater
  • UmbrelLater

The library

A library worth opening.

One timeline for everything the phones back up. Switch to the mosaic, zoom the grid, open a photo and see where it came from. Light or dark.

192.168.1.20:18443
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 speaks an open protocol, ships a command line, and publishes its documentation for machines as well as people. An AI agent can pair a device, run a backup and check what changed.

dmsp
$ dmsp pair
Scan the QR code in Settings, Devices. Or type the code.
Safety code  MFVR-F1NH-XBEY-GXVB
Paired  Galaxy Tab S10
 
$ dmsp backup
{"files":6,"known":0,"linked":6,"sent":0,"bytesSent":0}
 
$ dmsp changes
+ IMG_20260812_190822.jpg   Trips
+ IMG_20260720_104116.jpg   Trips
 
$ dmsp status
2 devices   63 items   44 MB   last backup just now

  • DMSP, an open protocol

    The protocol between phones and the server is published. Anyone can write a client. Read the protocol

  • The dmsp command line

    pair, backup, changes and status. Scriptable, with plain output. Command reference

  • llms.txt and markdown pages

    Every page of the docs has a markdown version, and llms.txt points agents to them. Open llms.txt

  • MCP server Planned

    An MCP server is planned, so agents can use Filamama as a tool without going through the command line.

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.
Get Piktures for Android

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.

192.168.1.20:18443
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%
  1. Uploading over Wi-Fi
  2. Wi-Fi dropped at 98%
  3. Resumed at 98%
  4. 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. These are not in it today, and we would rather say so here.

  • SharingNot yet
  • SearchNot yet
  • People and facesNot yet
  • MapNot yet
  • HEIC on LinuxNot yet
  • iOS appAndroid only for now
  • MCP serverPlanned

Questions.

Is Filamama really free?

Yes. Free to download and use, with no subscription and no account to create with us. The licence will be published with the download.

What do I need to run it?

A Mac mini, a Linux machine or a Spark on your home network, and an Android phone for backups. Any browser at home opens the library.

Does it work away from home?

Not today. Filamama is LAN only: phones back up and browse when they are on your network. Nothing goes out to the internet.

Is there an iPhone app?

Not yet. Piktures is Android only for now. The web library works in any phone browser.

Where are my photos stored?

On the disk of the computer that runs Filamama, with one database beside them. They never leave your network.

What is DMSP?

The open protocol between Piktures and the server: resumable uploads, duplicate detection before sending, pairing, and TLS with a pinned key. It is published so other clients can be written.

Can an AI agent use Filamama?

Yes. The dmsp command line covers pairing, backups, changes and status, and every docs page has a markdown version listed in llms.txt. An MCP server is planned.