Luca
9431b9f094
* feat(setup): configure the public address and SMTP in the wizard, not .env
A fresh install could not configure its own public address. `general_site_url`
and the `email_configs` row already existed as admin settings, but nothing
could reach them:
- docker-compose.yml injected FRONTEND_URL=${FRONTEND_URL:-http://localhost:3000}
and Dockerfile.aio baked in ENV FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:3000, so
getFrontendBaseUrl() returned on its first branch every time and the setting
was never read. .env.example shipped the same value as an uncommented
placeholder for FRONTEND_URL / ADMIN_URL / API_URL.
- the wizard never asked for the address at all, and skipped its whole config
step unless a CRM-ish feature was selected — so a gallery-only install was
also never offered SMTP, despite gallery links, guest invites and expiry
warnings all going out through email_configs.
- eleven call sites read process.env.FRONTEND_URL directly rather than the
resolver, three of them defaulting to placeholder hosts that reached real
recipients: https://app.example.com in payment-reminder emails, localhost:3005
in admin invitation emails, https://app.example.com in dev template previews.
Stop injecting a default anywhere, and resolve the origin instead:
FRONTEND_URL -> general_site_url -> the origin the request arrived on ->
whichever exists -> ''. A loopback candidate is treated as unconfigured so the
installs that already have http://localhost:3000 baked into their environment
self-heal; the same guard previously lived inline in routes/gallery.js for the
slideshow QR (#848) and is now shared. The empty return is preserved because
shareLinkService and the SSO redirects in routes/auth rely on it to emit
relative urls — callers needing an absolute url use getAbsoluteFrontendUrl(),
which still ends at http://localhost:3000.
The wizard now persists window.location.origin right after the admin account is
created, so an install that skips the rest still has a usable origin for
background jobs that have no request to derive one from, and offers it as an
editable "Public address" field. Settings -> General shows the field read-only
when FRONTEND_URL pins it, instead of silently ignoring edits.
Also drop the `|| 'mailhog'` fallback when seeding email_configs: that host only
exists in the dev compose profile (which does not even start by default), so a
fresh install came up with a live config pointing nowhere while the wizard
showed empty SMTP fields. With no row, blank fields are the truth and
emailProcessor logs "No email configuration found". Developers set
SMTP_HOST=mailhog explicitly.
backend/src/services/emailService.js is deleted: nothing in backend/ references
it, and it was the only consumer of the SMTP_* variables, which misrepresented
how mail is configured.
Refs #705
* fix(setup): keep FRONTEND_URL ahead of ADMIN_URL/APP_URL when resolving links
The previous commit routed two call sites through the resolver but put the
site-specific variable FIRST, silently reversing precedence:
userManagementService was: FRONTEND_URL || ADMIN_URL || localhost:3005
became: ADMIN_URL || resolver
adminEvents/crud was: FRONTEND_URL || APP_URL || ''
became: APP_URL || resolver
An install with both variables set would have flipped which one won. Call the
resolver first instead — it starts with FRONTEND_URL, so the original relative
order is preserved and only the final fallback changes: localhost:3005 (not
even the frontend's port) and '' (a relative link inside an email) both become
the resolved origin.
Refs #705
* fix(setup): unpin loopback FRONTEND_URL, keep ADMIN_URL/APP_URL reachable
Review feedback on #1104.
isEnvPinned() reported ANY FRONTEND_URL as authoritative, including the
loopback values getFrontendBaseUrl() deliberately demotes. An install
upgrading with the old compose default FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:3000
therefore resolved its origin from general_site_url correctly, but got the
Site URL field rendered read-only in Settings and skipped by the wizard's
seeding - locking the exact operators this change exists to unblock out of
configuring a public address anywhere. The predicate now mirrors the
resolver, and the derived general_site_url_effective the General tab reads
comes from the same helper instead of re-normalising process.env inline.
APP_URL and ADMIN_URL had become dead code: getFrontendBaseUrl() only
returns falsy when NOTHING is configured, so `|| process.env.ADMIN_URL`
after it never ran once a site URL existed - which after this PR is the
normal case. A split-origin install pointing ADMIN_URL at a separate admin
host got invite links on the public gallery origin instead. They are now
passed as an explicit `override` that resolves directly below FRONTEND_URL,
preserving the historic FRONTEND_URL-before-ADMIN_URL order while beating
the database- and request-derived fallbacks.
general_site_url now feeds the CORS allowlist and the
Access-Control-Allow-Origin header, not just email links, so a schemeless
value is an allowlist entry no browser origin can match. Validate it
server-side in PUT /general (isURL with require_protocol, require_tld off
so LAN/NAS installs on http://nas:3000 still work) and client-side in both
surfaces that write it - type="url" never fires in either, since neither
input sits inside a form.
Two more wizard fixes: the General tab no longer reposts general_site_url
while it is env-pinned, because the field then holds the effective env
value rather than the stored one and the round-trip read as a change to a
protected key, 403ing a settings.edit-without-settings.domains admin on an
unrelated save. And SetupConfigStep validates the From address before
posting - /admin/email/config rejects a blank one, which used to surface as
a generic warning while the wizard advanced from its finally block anyway,
discarding every SMTP value the user had typed, password included. A failed
save now keeps them on the step.
* fix(setup): surface a rejected public address instead of swallowing it
Review round 2 follow-up on #1104, pushed onto the branch.
saveSiteUrl() caught and discarded every error. That was defensible before
round 2 added a server-side URL check, but PUT /general can now answer 400 —
and the two validators disagreed:
http://my_nas.local client: accepted server: rejected
http://foo_bar:3000 client: accepted server: rejected
validate() let those through, the 400 was swallowed, `failed` stayed false and
onDone() ran. The operator finished the wizard believing the public address was
stored when nothing had been. That is the silent misconfiguration this whole
change exists to remove, landing on the LAN and NAS installs it targets.
Three parts:
- saveSiteUrl() throws. finish() resolves it before anything else is posted and
puts the message on the address field rather than the generic "some settings
could not be saved" warning. Skip for now still always leaves, by contract,
but warns instead of dropping the value in silence.
- allow_underscores on the server check, for the same reason require_tld is
off: browsers resolve http://my_nas.local and the client accepts it, so
rejecting it server-side only produced the mismatch above. Both validators
now agree across the LAN/NAS, IDN, bare-IP and scheme-less cases.
- LOOPBACK_BASE_RE anchors its host token. Bare prefix matching also demoted
https://localhost-nas.example.com, and now that this predicate gates the
whole resolver rather than just the slideshow QR, being demoted means a
configured address is silently ignored. 127. stays a bare prefix on purpose:
all of 127.0.0.0/8 is loopback.
Resolver suite 31 passing, up from 26. Mutation-checked: restoring the
unanchored regex fails the three new host-boundary cases.
* fix(settings): don't lock the General tab on a site URL nobody typed
Review follow-up on #1104, pushed onto the branch.
general_site_url was free-text until this PR added a server-side check, so an
upgraded install can hold something schemeless that predates it. The tab
flagged that on load, and `disabled={!!siteUrlError}` then killed Save for
EVERY General setting.
An admin holding settings.edit but not settings.domains could not clear it
either: correcting the address is a change to a protected key and 403s. The
tab has no permission gating, so that role was simply locked out of the tab
with no self-service way back.
That is the same role adminSettings.js:85-95 documents the no-op round-trip
allowance for. The allowance only helps if the request is made, and this
blocked it in the browser first.
Validation now waits until the field is actually edited, and an unchanged
value is dropped from the payload rather than reposted — matching what the
env-pinned case already does one line above, and for the same reason.
stored value invalid, untouched Save works, key not sent
edited to something unusable Save blocked
edited to a usable absolute url saved
Four tests, first coverage for this feature. Mutation-checked: removing the
dirty gate fails the untouched-value case.
---------
Co-authored-by: Paul Nothaft <53005142+the-luap@users.noreply.github.com>
📸 PicPeak
Open-source, self-hosted photo sharing for events.
PicPeak is a powerful, self-hosted open-source alternative to commercial photo-sharing platforms like PicDrop.com and Scrapbook.de. Built for photographers and event organizers, it makes it simple to share beautiful, time-limited photo galleries with clients while keeping full control over your data and branding.
Important
PicPeak has moved to its own GitHub organization. Docker images are now at
ghcr.io/picpeak/picpeak/{backend,frontend,aio,ml}(and on Docker Hub aspicpeak/{backend,frontend,aio,ml}) and active development is onmain. The oldghcr.io/the-luap/...path still responds but its tags are frozen at 2026-05-27 — if updates never arrive, check your image path first. Seedocs/migration-to-org.mdfor the one-linedocker-compose.ymledit.
Contents
- Live Demo
- Quick Start
- Why PicPeak?
- Features
- Documentation
- Comparison
- Tech Stack
- Contributing & Support
- License
🎮 Live Demo
Try PicPeak without installing anything — demo.picpeak.app · admin panel
| Password | |
|---|---|
demo@picpeak.app |
Demo2026! |
The demo resets periodically. Uploaded content may be removed without notice.
🚀 Quick Start
Get PicPeak running in under 5 minutes:
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/PicPeak/picpeak.git
cd picpeak
# Copy the environment template — the defaults work out of the box.
# Machine secrets (JWT, DB, Redis) are auto-generated on first run, and the
# admin account is created in the browser. Edit .env only to customise
# (domain, SMTP, storage paths, …) — nothing is required.
cp .env.example .env
# Start with Docker Compose
docker compose up -d
# Access at http://localhost:3000
On first start, open http://localhost:3000/admin and follow the in-browser setup to create your admin account. Full details — the one-time setup token, Docker file permissions, and ARM64 notes — are in First-run setup.
Updating / release channels: set
PICPEAK_CHANNEL(stabledefault, orbeta) in.env, thendocker compose pull && docker compose up -d. See RELEASING.md for the promotion cadence.
Or: one container, no compose file
For a home server, a NAS, or a single small studio, the all-in-one image runs the whole app as one process with SQLite — no compose file, no separate database, no reverse proxy to wire up:
docker run -d --name picpeak -p 3000:3000 \
-v picpeak:/data \
-e JWT_SECRET="$(openssl rand -base64 48)" \
ghcr.io/picpeak/picpeak/aio:main
Then open http://localhost:3000/admin and read the setup token with docker exec picpeak cat /data/db/SETUP_TOKEN.
:main is the active-development tag, and today it is the only one the all-in-one image has — Dockerfile.aio landed after the current stable release, so :stable and :latest first appear for this image once the aio build reaches the stable branch. Switch to :stable then, or pin a version tag (3.107.4-beta.0) if you would rather not track main.
The compose stack above is still the right choice for anything busier — SQLite takes one writer at a time, and Postgres is what scales. You can move to it later without reinstalling: take a .picpeak backup and restore it into the full stack. See Single-container install for the volume layout, the external-Postgres variant, TLS, and the limits.
Docker images
| GHCR | Docker Hub | |
|---|---|---|
| Backend | ghcr.io/picpeak/picpeak/backend |
picpeak/backend |
| Frontend | ghcr.io/picpeak/picpeak/frontend |
picpeak/frontend |
| All-in-one | ghcr.io/picpeak/picpeak/aio |
picpeak/aio |
| ML sidecar (optional) | ghcr.io/picpeak/picpeak/ml |
picpeak/ml |
Both registries get the same digests and the same tags — stable/latest, a pinned x.y.z, and beta/main for the active development channel — for linux/amd64 and linux/arm64. Keep every image in one install on the same tag.
🌟 Why PicPeak?
Unlike expensive SaaS solutions, PicPeak gives you:
- 💰 No Monthly Fees — one-time setup, unlimited galleries
- 🔒 Complete Data Control — your photos stay on your server
- 🎨 White-Label Ready — full branding customization
- 📱 Mobile-First Design — beautiful on all devices
- 🌍 Multi-Language — built-in i18n (EN, DE)
✨ Features
For photographers — drag & drop upload, auto-expiring & password-protected galleries, automated emails, an analytics dashboard, custom themes, a public landing page, and a Live Slideshow projector view that auto-picks-up new uploads during live events.
For clients — clean mobile-optimized galleries, one-click bulk downloads, smart search, People in this gallery face grouping (opt-in per gallery, needs the optional ML sidecar), optional guest uploads, and download protection (watermarking + right-click prevention).
Technical — Docker-ready, automatic thumbnail generation, external media reference mode, smart archiving of expired galleries, S3-compatible storage backends, webhooks, and security-first defaults (JWT, rate limiting, CORS).
🧾 For studios — CRM & Accounting (Beta, off by default)
- 📝 Quotes → Contracts → Invoices — one deal lineage; cancel-and-reissue (Storno) keeps issued invoices immutable
- ⏱️ Hours Logging & Calendar — per-customer time tracking; admin calendar of events, logged hours, and pending quotes/contracts
- 🧾 Inbound Supplier Invoices & Expenses — capture received invoices (upload/camera, rasterised server-side), categorise, and re-bill costs to clients
- 📊 Tax Report & Accountant Export — period-scoped income/cost report with VAT breakdown; PDF/CSV plus a Treuhänder/Banana (Swiss/LI) journal export
- 🌍 VAT & Multi-currency — single VAT-code registry snapshotted onto each document
Warning
CRM & Accounting — examples only, verify locally. Feature-flagged off by default. Seeded contract blocks are written by the maintainer, not a lawyer; QR-bills/SEPA payloads and every tax, VAT and Treuhänder/Banana figure are computed from your input and defaults and are jurisdiction-specific guidance only. Have your lawyer review contracts, scan a test QR with your bank's app, and verify all numbers with your accountant / Treuhänder / tax authority before customer-facing use. Read the CRM disclaimers first.
📖 Documentation
Full documentation lives at docs.picpeak.app — deployment, admin settings, API, branding, and more.
| Topic | Link |
|---|---|
| 🚀 Deployment (Docker, env, reverse proxy, SSL) | docs.picpeak.app/deployment |
📦 Single-container install (one docker run, SQLite) |
docs.picpeak.app/deployment/single-container |
| ⚙️ Admin settings reference | docs.picpeak.app/guides/admin-settings |
| 🎯 Creating events | docs.picpeak.app/guides/creating-events |
| 📽️ Live Slideshow | docs.picpeak.app/features/live-slideshow |
| 💾 Backup & Restore | docs.picpeak.app/guides/backup-restore |
| 🔌 API reference | docs.picpeak.app/api |
| 🪝 Webhooks | docs.picpeak.app/features/webhooks |
| 💾 Storage backends (local / S3) | docs.picpeak.app/features/storage-backends |
| 💻 System requirements & tuning | docs.picpeak.app/deployment/system-requirements |
| 🧾 CRM & Accounting | docs.picpeak.app/features/crm · disclaimers |
| 🗺️ Roadmap | GitHub Issues |
Project meta: Contributing · License · Security · Code of Conduct
📊 Comparison with Alternatives
| Feature | PicPeak | PicDrop | Scrapbook.de | Pixieset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-Hosted | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Custom Branding | ✅ Full | Limited | Limited | ✅ (paid) |
| Monthly Cost | $0* | $29-199 | €19-99 | ~$60 |
| Storage Limit | Unlimited** | 50-500GB | 100-1000GB | 3GB–Unlimited*** |
| Client Uploads | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Limited |
| API Access | ✅ | Paid | ❌ | ❌ |
| Open Source | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Customer Accounts | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Quotes / Contracts / Invoices | 🧪 Beta | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Incoming Invoices & Accounting | 🧪 Beta | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
*You bring your own server and, optionally, a domain. **Limited only by your server storage. ***Pixieset's "unlimited" is photos only; video is capped by plan. 🧪 Beta = built but feature-flagged off by default.
🏗️ Tech Stack
- Backend: Node.js, Express, SQLite/PostgreSQL
- Frontend: React, Tailwind CSS, Framer Motion
- Storage: Local filesystem (default) or S3-compatible object store (AWS S3, MinIO, R2, B2, Wasabi, Spaces) — see Storage Backends
- Email: SMTP with customizable templates
- Analytics: Privacy-focused with Umami integration
- External media: point PicPeak at
EXTERNAL_MEDIA_ROOTto reference existing originals read-only, index quickly, and generate thumbnails on demand
📸 Screenshots
Click to see the admin dashboard, analytics, and event management
🎛️ Admin Dashboard
📊 Analytics & Insights
📁 Event Management
🤝 Contributing
We love contributions! PicPeak is built by photographers, for photographers — whether you're fixing bugs, adding features, or improving docs. See the Contributing Guide to get started.
Found a security issue? Please open a security issue. See SECURITY.md for the policy.
☕ Support the Project
PicPeak is free, open source, and self-hostable forever. If it saves you time or replaces a paid subscription, consider buying me a coffee — it directly funds new features, bug fixes, and keeping the demo + docs running. You can also ⭐ star the repo, share it, file good bug reports, or open a PR.
🙏 Acknowledgments
PicPeak is inspired by the best features of commercial platforms while remaining completely open source. It's developed with AI assistance, but human-tested end-to-end, security-audited, and human-reviewed for quality.
👥 Contributors
A huge thank you to the people whose code, reports, and feedback have shaped PicPeak:
@the-luap — creator and lead maintainer
- Gallery foundation (events, uploads, sharing, download protection, templates)
- Backup & restore, analytics, branding/theming
- The architecture every later feature builds on
- Native Apple Silicon multi-arch images
- CRM & accounting suite (quotes/contracts/invoices)
- Hours logging & Treuhänder/Banana tax export
- Gallery header/banner decoupling
@Rekoo-PS — bug reports & product feedback
- Login-loop fix, mobile-lightbox overhaul, bulk-delete workflow
- Also a BuyMeACoffee supporter
If you've contributed and aren't listed here, please open a PR — this list is meant to grow.
📄 License
PicPeak is released under the MIT License. Use it freely for personal or commercial projects.
Made with ❤️ by photographers, for photographers
Homepage ·
Live Demo ·
Documentation ·
Support