Quickstart

This guide will get you from zero to a working GhostFS mount in under 5 minutes.

Prerequisites

Linux or macOS
FUSE installed (libfuse on Linux, macFUSE or fuse-t on macOS)

Step 1: Download GhostFS

Download the latest release for your platform:

# Quick install (Linux or macOS)
curl -fsSL https://ghostfs.com/install.sh | sh

# Or download manually:
# Linux (x86_64)
curl -fSL https://ghostfs.com/release/latest/GhostFS-linux-amd64 -o ghostfs
chmod +x ghostfs
sudo mv ghostfs /usr/local/bin/

# macOS (Apple Silicon)
curl -fSL https://ghostfs.com/release/latest/GhostFS-macos-arm64 -o ghostfs
chmod +x ghostfs
sudo mv ghostfs /usr/local/bin/

Step 2: Start the Server

On the machine with your files:

# Create a directory to share
mkdir -p ~/ghostfs-data

# Start the server
ghostfs server --root ~/ghostfs-data --bind 0.0.0.0 --port 3444

Step 3: Create a User Token

In another terminal on the server:

ghostfs auth add --user alice --token secrettoken123

Step 4: Mount on the Client

On any other machine that can reach the server:

# Create mount point
mkdir -p /mnt/remote

# Mount
ghostfs mount /mnt/remote --host <server-ip> --port 3444 --user alice --token secrettoken123

Step 5: Use Your Files

# List files
ls /mnt/remote

# Create a file
echo "Hello from GhostFS" > /mnt/remote/test.txt

# Read it back
cat /mnt/remote/test.txt

Next Steps

Enable TLS for encrypted transport
Enable client-side encryption for end-to-end security
Set up file sharing between users

Quickstart

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