ass/README.md

ass is a self-hosted ShareX upload server written in Node.js. I initially started this project purely out of spite.

ass aims to be as unopinionated as possible. It allows nearly endless choice for users & hosts alike: Users can configure their upload settings directly from the ShareX interface (including embeds, webhooks, & more), while hosts are free to pick their preferred storage & data management methods.

By default, ass comes with a resource viewing page, which includes metadata about the resource as well as a download button & inline viewers for images, videos, & audio. It does not have a user dashboard or registration system: this is intentional! Developers are free to create their own frontends using the languages & tools they are most comfortable with. Writing & using these frontends is fully documented below, in the wiki, & in the source code.

Developers ❤

ass was designed with developers in mind. If you are a developer & want something changed to better suite you, let me know & we'll see what we can do!

Code quality

CodeQL	DeepSource

Features

• Token authorization via HTTP Authorization header
• Upload images, videos, gifs, audio, files
• Usage metrics
• File deletion
• File downloading
• Thumbnail support
• Mimetype blocking
• Basic multi-user support
• Fully customizable Discord embeds
• Seamless inline video embeds on Discord
• Built-in web viewer with video & audio player
• Personal upload log via customizable Discord Webhooks
• Configurable global upload limit (per-user coming soon!)
• Basic macOS/Linux client support including Flameshot (script for ass) & MagicCap
• Custom pluggable frontends using Git Submodules
• Run locally or in a Docker container
• Multiple URL styles
  • ZWS
  • Mixed-case alphanumeric
  • Gfycat
  • Original
• Multiple file storage methods
  • Local file system
  • Amazon S3 (including DigitalOcean Spaces)
• Multiple data storage methods using ass StorageEngines (JSON by default)
  • File
    • JSON (default, ass-storage-engine)
    • YAML (soon!)
  • Database
    • PostgreSQL (ass-psql)
    • Mongo (soon!)
    • MySQL (soon!)

Access types

Type	What is it?
Zero-width spaces	When pasted elsewhere, the URL appears to be just your domain name. Some browsers or sites may not recognize these URLs (Discord does support these)
Mixed-case alphanumeric	The "safe" mode. URL's are browser safe as the character set is just letters & numbers.
Gfycat	Gfycat-style ID's (for example: https://example.com/unsung-discrete-grub). Thanks to Gfycat for the wordlists
Original	The "basic" mode. URL matches the same filename as when the file was uploaded. This may be prone to conflicts with files of the same name.

Installation

1. You should have Node.js 14 or later & npm 7 or later installed.
2. Clone this repo using git clone https://github.com/tycrek/ass.git && cd ass/
3. Run npm i to install the required dependencies
4. Run npm run setup to start the easy configuration
5. Run npm start to start the server. The first time you run it you will be shown your first authorization token; save this as you will need it to configure ShareX.
6. (Optional) You must also configure an SSL-enabled reverse proxy (only if you want to use HTTPS):
   • I personally use Caddy, see [my tutorial] on setting that up
   • You may also use Apache or Nginx as reverse proxies

Using HTTPS

For HTTPS support, you must configure a reverse proxy. I recommend Caddy but any reverse proxy should work (such as Apache or Nginx). I also have a tutorial on easily setting up Caddy as a reverse proxy server.

Docker

Expand for steps to install with Docker & docker-compose

You may also install ass using docker-compose. These steps assume you are already family with Docker, so if you're not, please read the docs. It also assumes that you have a working Docker installation with docker-compose installed.

Install using docker-compose

1. Clone the ass repo using git clone https://github.com/tycrek/ass.git && cd ass/
2. Run the command that corresponds to your OS:
   • Linux: ./install/docker-linux.sh (uses #!/bin/bash)
   • Windows: install/docker-windows.bat (from Command Prompt)
   • These scripts are identical using the equivalent commands in each OS.
3. Work through the setup process when prompted.

The upload token will be printed at the end of the setup script prompts. This is the token that you'll need to use to upload resources to ass. It may go by too quickly to copy it, so just scroll back up in your terminal after setup or run cat auth.json.

You should now be able to access the ass server at http://localhost:40115/ (ass-docker will bind to host 0.0.0.0 to allow external access). You can configure a reverse proxy (for example, Caddy) to make it accessible from the internet with automatic SSL.

What is this script doing?

It creates directories & files required for docker-compose to work. It then calls docker-compose to build the image & run ass. On first run, ass will detect an empty config file, so it will run the setup script in a headless terminal with no possible input. Luckily, you can use docker-exec to start your own terminal in which to run the setup script (the install scripts call this for you). After setup, the container is restarted & you are prompted to open logs so you can confirm that the setup was successful. Each install script also has comments for every step, so you can see what's going on.

What should I be aware of?

• docker-compose exposes five volumes. These volumes let you edit the config, view the auth or data files, or view the uploads/ folder from your host.
  • uploads/
  • share/ (for future use)
  • config.json
  • auth.json
  • data.json
• Docker containers have not yet been tested with custom frontends or alternative StorageEngines like PostgreSQL. They should work fine but you may need to make your own changes.
• Updates have not been tested yet. To update to a new version of ass, run these commands:

  # Pull the latest version of ass
  git pull
  
  # Rebuild the container with the new changes
  docker-compose up --force-recreate --build -d && docker image prune -f
  

• Running npm scripts, for example to create new tokens, is possible by using docker-compose exec:

  # Create a new token
  docker-compose exec ass npm run new-token
  
  # Check usage metrics
  docker-compose exec ass npm run metrics
  

Generating new tokens

If you need to generate a new token at any time, run npm run new-token <username>. This will automatically load the new token so there is no need to restart ass. Username field is optional; if left blank, a random username will be created.

Cloudflare users

In your Cloudflare DNS dashboard, make sure your domain/subdomain is set to DNS Only.

Configure ShareX

1. Add a new Custom Uploader in ShareX by going to Destinations > Custom uploader settings...
2. Under Uploaders, click New & name it whatever you like.
3. Set Destination type to Image, Text, & File
4. Request tab:
   • Method: POST
   • URL: https://your.domain.name.here/
   • Body: Form data (multipart/form-data)
   • File from name: file (literally put "file" in the field)
   • Headers:
     • Name: Authorization
     • Value: (the value provided by npm start on first run)
5. Response tab:
   • URL: $json:.resource$
   • Thumbnail: $json:.thumbnail$
   • Deletion URL: $json:.delete$
   • Error message: $response$
   • MagicCap users: do not include the . in the above (i.e. $json:resource$)
6. The file sample_config.sxcu can also be modified & imported to suit your needs

Header overrides

If you need to override a specific part of the config to be different from the global config, you may do so via "X" HTTP headers:

Header	Purpose
X-Ass-Domain	Override the domain returned for the clipboard (useful for multi-domain hosts)
X-Ass-Access	Override the generator used for the resource URI. Must be one of: original, zws, gfycat, or random (see above)
X-Ass-Gfycat	Override the length of Gfycat ID's. Defaults to 2

Fancy embeds

If you primarily share media on Discord, you can add these additional (optional) headers to build embeds:

Header	Purpose
X-Ass-OG-Title	Large text shown above your media
X-Ass-OG-Description	Small text shown below the title but above the media (does not show up on videos yet)
X-Ass-OG-Author	Small text shown above the title
X-Ass-OG-Author-Url	URL to open when the Author is clicked
X-Ass-OG-Provider	Smaller text shown above the author
X-Ass-OG-Provider-Url	URL to open when the Provider is clicked
X-Ass-OG-Color	Colour shown on the left side of the embed. Must be one of &random, &vibrant, or a hex colour value (for example: #fe3c29). Random is a randomly generated hex value & Vibrant is sourced from the image itself

Embed placeholders

You can insert certain metadata into your embeds with these placeholders:

Placeholder	Result
&size	The files size with proper notation rounded to two decimals (example: 7.06 KB)
&filename	The original filename of the uploaded file
&timestamp	The timestamp of when the file was uploaded (example: Oct 14, 1983, 1:30 PM)

Webhooks

You may use Discord webhooks as an easy way to keep track of your uploads. The first step is to create a new Webhook. You only need to follow the first section, Making a Webhook. Once you are done that, click Copy Webhook URL. Next, paste your URL into a text editor. Extract these two values from the URL:

https://discord.com/api/webhooks/12345678910/T0kEn0fw3Bh00K
                                 ^^^^^^^^^^  ^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
                                 Webhook ID  Webhook Token

Once you have these, add the following HTTP headers to your ShareX config:

Header	Purpose
X-Ass-Webhook-Client	The Webhook ID
X-Ass-Webhook-Token	The Webhook Token
X-Ass-Webhook-Username	(Optional) the "username" of the Webhook; can be set to whatever you want
X-Ass-Webhook-Avatar	(Optional) URL to an image to use as the Webhook avatar. Use the full URL including https://

Webhooks will show the filename, mimetype, size, upload timestamp, thumbail, & a link to delete the file. To disable webhooks, simply remove the headers from your config.

Custom frontends

ass is intended to provide a strong backend for developers to build their own frontends around. The easiest way to do this is with a Git Submodule. Your submodule should be a separate git repo. Make sure you adjust the FRONTEND_NAME to match your frontend. To make updates easier, it is recommended to make a new branch. Since submodules are their own dedicated projects, you are free to build the router however you wish, as long as it exports the required items detailed below.

Sample submodule entry file:

const { name, version } = require('./package.json');
const express = require('express');
const router = express.Router();

router.all('/', (_req, res) => res.send('My awesome dashboard!'));

// These exports are REQUIRED by ass, so don't forget to set them!
module.exports = {
	router,                       // The dashboard router itself
	enabled: true,                // Required to activate frontend in ass; DO NOT change unless you want to disable your frontend
	brand: `${name} v${version}`, // Printed in ass logs & reported to client. Can be changed to your liking
	endpoint: '/dashboard'        // URL to use for your dashboard router. ass will automatically set up Express to use this value. Can be changed to your liking
};

Now you should see My awesome dashboard! when you navigate to http://your-ass-url/dashboard.

Accessing data

If you want to access resource & user data within your frontend router, just add these two lines near the top of your router:

const users = require('../auth');
const data = require('../data');

These values are recognized globally throughout ass, so they will stay up-to-date as users upload.

Custom index

By default, ass directs the app index to this README. To change it, just add an index function to your router exports:

function index(req, res, next) {
   // redirect user to dashboard
   res.redirect('/dashboard/user');

   // you can also use req & next as you normally
   // would in an Express route handler
}

module.exports = {
   router,
   index,
   enabled: true,
   brand: `${name} v${version}`,
   endpoint: '/dashboard',
};

For a detailed walkthrough on developing your first frontend, consult the wiki.

StorageEngines

StorageEngines are responsible for managing your data. "Data" has two parts: an identifier & the actual data itself. With ass, the data is a JSON object representing the uploaded resource. The identifier is the unique ID in the URL returned to the user on upload.

Supported StorageEngines:

Name	Description	Links
JSON	JSON-based data storage. On disk, data is stored in a JSON file. In memory, data is stored in a Map. This is the default StorageEngine.	GitHub, npm
PostgreSQL	Data storage using a PostgreSQL database. node-postgres is used for communicating with the database.	GitHub, npm

An ass StorageEngine implements support for one type of database (or file, such as JSON or YAML). This lets ass server hosts pick their database of choice, because all they'll have to do is plugin the connection/authentication details, then ass will handle the rest, using the resource ID as the key.

The only StorageEngine ass comes with by default is JSON. If you find (or create!) a StorageEngine you like, you can use it by installing it with npm i <package-name> then changing the contents of data.js. The StorageEngines own README file should also instruct how to use it. At this time, a modified data.js might look like this:

/**
 * Used for global data management
 */

//const { JsonStorageEngine } = require('@tycrek/ass-storage-engine');
const { CustomStorageEngine } = require('my-custom-ass-storage-engine');

//const data = new JsonStorageEngine();

// StorageEngines may take no parameters...
const data1 = new CustomStorageEngine();

// multiple parameters...
const data2 = new CustomStorageEngine('Parameters!!', 420);

// or object-based parameters, depending on what the StorageEngine dev decides on.
const data3 = new CustomStorageEngine({ key1: 'value1', key2: { key3: 44 } });

module.exports = data1;

As long as the StorageEngine properly implements GET/PUT/DEL/HAS StorageFunctions, replacing the file/database system is just that easy.

For a detailed walkthrough on developing StorageEngines, consult the wiki.

But why not "DataEngine"?

Because I was dumb & didn't know what to call it, totally forgetting that "storage engine" would also imply a way to store files, not just data.

npm scripts

ass has a number of pre-made npm scripts for you to use. All of these scripts should be run using npm run <script-name>.

Script	Description
start	Starts the ass server. This is the default script & is run with npm start.
setup	Starts the easy setup process. Should be run once after installing ass, & also after any updates that introduce new configuration options.
metrics	Runs the metrics script. This is a simple script that outputs basic resource statistics.
new-token	Generates a new API token. Accepts one parameter for specifying a username, like npm run new-token <username>. ass automatically detects the new token & reloads it, so there's no need to restart the server.
update	Runs update tasks. These will update ass to the latest version by first pulling changes with git pull, then running npm i to install any new dependencies. This is the recommended way to update ass. After updating, you will need to restart ass.
update-full	Runs the previous update script, followed by npm run setup to ensure that all the latest configuration options are set. The setup script uses your existing config for setting defaults to make updates much quicker. If any ass Release Notes say to use update-full instead of update, then use update-full.
restart	Restarts the ass server using systemctl. More info soon (should work fine if you have an existing ass.service file)
engine-check	Ensures your environment meets the minimum Node & npm version requirements.
logs	Uses the tlog Socket plugin to stream logs from the ass server to your terminal, with full colour support (Remember to set FORCE_COLOR if you're using Systemd)
docker-logs	Alias for docker-compose logs -f --tail=50 --no-log-prefix ass

Flameshot users (Linux)

Use this script kindly provided by @ToxicAven. For the KEY, put your token.

Contributing

No strict contributing rules at this time. I appreciate any Issues or Pull Requests.

Credits

• Special thanks to hlsl#1359 for the awesome logo!
• @ToxicAven for the Flameshot script
• Gfycat for their wordlists