Index whole drives or just folders
Scan an entire external drive or only the folders you pick. Each drive carries a .videocat-disk.json with a stable ID, so it stays recognized even when Windows changes the drive letter.
Open source · Private · Yours only Your video catalog,
Your video catalog,
even when the drive is unplugged
VideoCAT indexes the videos spread across your external drives and the folders you choose: metadata, thumbnails, tags and duplicates. The originals never leave the drive. Search, filter and decide what to keep without plugging everything in.
One-click install Requires Docker
$ Copy it, paste it in your terminal and you are set. The script spins everything up with Docker.
View on GitHub
Download Companion
How it works Windows companion
Windows tray app. You need it to scan drives and open/delete local files.
- Detects drives with
.videocat-disk.json - Scans entire drives or specific folders
- Opens the video or its local folder
- Runs deletes only when the drive is connected
Self-hosted with Docker. Windows companion to scan and open files.
- Never uploads your videos
- Survives drive-letter changes
- Safe, deferred deletion
- Dark mode
The problem
Hundreds of hours of video spread across drives you rarely plug in
Once your collection outgrows a single drive, finding anything becomes impossible: which drive was it on? Is it a duplicate? Did I already review it? Plugging in drive by drive to search does not scale.
- ✕ You can't remember what's on each drive without connecting it.
- ✕ Duplicates eat up space you could reclaim.
- ✕ There's no record of what you've already reviewed or decided to delete.
Features
Built for collections spread across many drives
Everything you need to index, review and prune without moving a single original video.
Powerful search & filters
Accent-tolerant, partial search across filename and path. Filter by drive, extension, folders, tags, categories and duplicates.
Thumbnails & frame gallery
Every video shows a thumbnail and a gallery of distributed frames, with a full-screen detail modal.
Duplicate detection
Groups probable duplicates by size so you can decide what to keep and how much space you can reclaim.
Tags & categories
Automatic filename-based tags and custom color categories, assignable to many videos at once.
Folder space usage
Computes each video's folder size and shows space distribution so you understand where it all goes.
PIN-protected folders
Folders matching configurable patterns require a PIN in the web session and are excluded from duplicate calculations.
Audit trail
A log of scan, metadata, thumbnail and delete errors so nothing slips by unnoticed.
Architecture
Two pieces that work together
A self-hosted web server and a lightweight Windows companion. The server never touches your drives.
Web platform
Private catalog with login, dark mode and a Docker Compose deployment behind your own domain.
- Postgres + Fastify + Prisma
- React + Vite served by Nginx
- Reverse proxy, secure cookies and HTTPS
- Search, filters and persistent pagination
Windows companion
A tray app that detects your drives, scans them and runs pending deletes — without opening a terminal.
- Detects drives with
.videocat-disk.json - Scans entire drives or specific folders
- Opens the video or its local folder
- Runs deletes only when the drive is connected
Screenshots
A look inside
Catalog, filters, video detail and the review flow — all in dark mode.
Review flow
Prune your collection, one video at a time
A random review flow that makes cleanup approachable — and measurable.
- 01
Start a review
Get a random pending video, filterable to just the connected drives.
- 02
Decide
“Keep” preserves it; “Delete” marks it for deletion. You can assign categories while reviewing.
- 03
Deferred deletion
The file is not deleted instantly: it gets marked. The server never touches the drive.
- 04
Reclaim space
When the right drive reconnects, the companion runs the deletes and adds up the freed GB.
Streak
weekly review streak
GB
freed over time
Today
marked today
Privacy & security
Your videos never leave your drives. Full stop.
VideoCAT is designed so the control and the data stay yours.
Self-hosted · No telemetry
- Original videos are never uploaded to the server.
- Only metadata, relative paths, thumbnails and audit errors are indexed.
- The server needs no direct access to your external drives.
- The web app requires login; agent routes are protected by a token.
- Physical deletion happens only on Windows, via the companion, with the drive connected.
- Sensitive folders are PIN-protected and excluded from duplicates.
Open Source
Yours to self-host, inspect and improve
No cloud, no subscription, no telemetry. Deploy with Docker Compose in minutes.
- Open license
- Self-hosted end to end
- Ready-made images on Docker Hub
- Portable companion (.exe) in the releases
TypeScriptFastifyPrismaPostgreSQLReactViteElectronDocker
Up and running in minutes
# 1. Configure the environment
cp .env.example .env
# 2. Start the platform
docker compose up -d --build
# 3. Open the web app
http://localhost:8081 Support
If VideoCAT saves you drives and hours, buy me a coffee
The project is free and open source. Your support funds development time and keeps it all open.