eXtplorer 3

eXtplorer 3 is a modern, web-based file manager built for speed, security, and ease of deployment. It is the direct successor to the classic eXtplorer 2, completely rewritten from the ground up to meet modern web standards while retaining the powerful features that made the original a favorite for system administrators.

Note: Starting with version 3, eXtplorer is only a standalone application. It no longer functions as a Joomla! component or integration module, allowing for a cleaner codebase and broader compatibility with any PHP server environment.

🚀 Key Features

• Modern UI: A sleek, responsive Single Page Application (SPA) powered by Vue.js 3 and Bootstrap 5.
• Virtual File System (VFS): Manage files on your Local server, or connect remotely via FTP or SFTP (SSH) using the same interface.
• Full File Operations: Create, Rename, Move, Copy, Delete, and Change Permissions (Chmod/Chown) with ease.
• Advanced Editor: Integrated Ace Editor with syntax highlighting for 100+ languages.
• Visual Assets: Instant image thumbnails in grid view and a built-in lightbox with navigation.
• Diff Viewer: Compare two files side-by-side to see changes.
• Archives: Create and extract ZIP, TAR, and TAR.GZ archives directly in the browser.
• User Management: Robust Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) with support for Groups and granular permissions.
• Keyboard Friendly: Desktop-like experience with keyboard shortcuts and right-click context menus.
• Multilingual: Full support for English, German, and French (i18n ready).
• Appearance: Dark Mode, Light Mode, and automatic System Theme detection.

📋 Server Requirements

To run eXtplorer 3, your server must meet the following requirements:

• PHP: Version 8.1 or higher.
• PHP Extensions:
  • intl (Required for CodeIgniter 4)
  • mbstring, json, xml, curl
  • gd (Required for image thumbnails)
  • zip (Required for ZIP archive support)
  • phar (Required for TAR/GZ support)
  • ftp (Optional, for remote FTP management)
  • ssh2 (Optional, for SFTP management)
• Web Server: Apache (with mod_rewrite enabled) or Nginx.

📦 Installation

eXtplorer 3 is designed to be deployed as a single, self-contained bundle.

1. Download: Grab the latest release ZIP from the GitHub Releases page.
2. Upload: Extract the contents to a directory on your web server.
3. Permissions: Ensure the writable/ directory has write permissions for the web server user.
4. Web Server Configuration:
   • Apache: Works out-of-the-box via the included .htaccess files.
   • Nginx: Refer to the included nginx.conf.example for configuration.
5. Access: Navigate to the URL in your browser.

🐳 Docker (GHCR Images)

Prebuilt images are published to GHCR and intended to run as a multi-container setup with nginx and php-fpm separated.

Quick Start (Compose)

Important: To deploy via Docker, you must have the full repository (including the docker/ directory) because the nginx service mounts the local configuration file.

Command Line:

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/soerennb/extplorer3.git
cd extplorer3

# 2. Start the stack
docker compose up -d

Note for Portainer Users: Do not simply paste the docker-compose.yml into the Web Editor. Use the "Repository" method to ensure Portainer clones the configuration files along with the compose file.

• ghcr.io/soerennb/extplorer3:latest for the app (php-fpm)
• nginx:alpine for the web server
• An init service that populates the shared code volume on first run and on image updates

Volumes

• extplorer_code: contains the application code copied from the image.
• extplorer_writable: contains persistent data (uploads, logs, sessions, etc.).

Update Flow

1. Pull the latest images: docker compose pull
2. Restart: docker compose up -d

The init container compares the image version with the version stored in the code volume and refreshes the code automatically when the image changes.

Environment Variables (common)

Core app settings:

• CI_ENVIRONMENT
• app.baseURL (or app_baseURL)
• WRITEPATH
• encryption.key

Admin bootstrap:

• EXTPLORER_ADMIN_USER
• EXTPLORER_ADMIN_PASS

Settings synced into writable/settings.php (apply once on first run, or always if EXTPLORER_APPLY_ENV=1):

• EXTPLORER_EMAIL_PROTOCOL
• EXTPLORER_SMTP_HOST
• EXTPLORER_SMTP_PORT
• EXTPLORER_SMTP_USER
• EXTPLORER_SMTP_PASS
• EXTPLORER_SMTP_CRYPTO
• EXTPLORER_SENDMAIL_PATH
• EXTPLORER_EMAIL_FROM
• EXTPLORER_EMAIL_FROM_NAME
• EXTPLORER_DEFAULT_TRANSFER_EXPIRY
• EXTPLORER_ALLOW_PUBLIC_UPLOADS
• EXTPLORER_MOUNT_ROOT_ALLOWLIST (comma- or newline-separated)

🛠 Development & Building

If you are contributing to eXtplorer or building from source:

1. Clone the repository.
2. Install development dependencies: ./composer install.
3. To create a deployable archive, run: ./build.sh.