U-Manager Files

A file browser for your Unraid server, installed as a Community Applications plugin — a single Go binary with a bundled web UI, running on your server's port 8740 and authenticated with your Unraid API key.

It powers the file browsing feature in the U-Manager mobile app, and it also runs standalone in any browser at that same port.

Table of Contents

• Install the plugin
• Setting it up in the U-Manager app
• Signing in to the web UI
• Reaching it from outside your network
• Server options
• Hardware video transcode
• Embedding in the Unraid webGUI
• Update
• Uninstall
• Support and bug reports
• License

Install the plugin

From the U-Manager app — open CA Store in the side menu, search for U-Manager Files and tap Install. You need to be connected to the server already, since the app installs it through the Unraid API.

From the Unraid WebGUI — open Plugins → Install Plugin and paste:

https://github.com/jandrop/u-manager-files-releases/releases/latest/download/UManagerFiles.plg

Click INSTALL.

Either way, the plugin starts on port 8740 with /mnt/user as the exposed root.

Setting it up in the U-Manager app

Open the File Browser settings in the app (you need to be connected to a server first).

Connection

• Host / Port — your Unraid server and port 8740. The plugin runs on Unraid itself, so the host is simply your server's address.
• HTTPS — turn on if you reach the server over https.

Authentication

• API key — paste an Unraid API key. Recommended: create a new, dedicated key in Unraid (Settings → Management Access → API Keys → Create API Key) so you can later revoke just the file browser's access without touching your other keys.

Preferences

• Native file browser — browse with the app's built-in UI instead of the bundled web UI.
• Hardware transcoding and Media thumbnails — server-side options you toggle from the app. They need a recent plugin version; older versions show them disabled with an "update needed" hint. Showing previews in the native file browser requires the File Browser Pro add-on.

Advanced

• Custom headers — extra HTTP headers sent with every request, for servers behind a reverse proxy (e.g. Cloudflare Access).

Use Test connection to confirm the app can reach the service, then Save.

Signing in to the web UI

The login screen asks for an API key, not your Unraid username and password. Any key issued by Unraid itself is accepted, so you sign in with a key Unraid already gave you. Besides the WebGUI route above, you can create one from the server terminal:

unraid-api apikey --create

Paste the key it prints into the login screen. The session lives in a cookie, so you only do this once per browser.

The Static API key setting is separate and optional. It adds one fixed key of your own for scripts or clients that cannot use an Unraid key.

Reaching it from outside your network

Keep port 8740 on your LAN. Do not forward it on your router, and do not publish it through a reverse proxy. This is a file browser with read and write access to your whole array, so a door opened to it is a door opened to your data, and servers exposed to the internet get found and probed automatically.

Use a VPN instead. Unraid ships WireGuard built in, under Settings → VPN Manager. It takes a few minutes to set up, and once your phone is connected it reaches the plugin exactly as if it were sitting on your LAN, with nothing published to the internet. Unraid's own guide covers the reasoning:

https://unraid.net/blog/unraid-server-security-best-practices

Server options

In Unraid, go to Settings → User Utilities → U-Manager Files:

• Root directory exposed (BASE_PATH) — /mnt/user by default, which shows your shares. Use /mnt to also reach unassigned disks (USB drives and anything else outside the array).
• Listen port — 8740 by default. Pick another if that port is taken. The service listens on every interface; to bind it to one address instead, set ADDR by hand in /boot/config/plugins/umfiles/umfiles.env, for example ADDR=127.0.0.1:8740, then run /usr/local/sbin/rc.umfiles restart.
• Static API key (optional) — empty means only keys issued by Unraid are accepted. Set a value to also accept that key in an X-API-Key header.
• Allow embedding in a frame (FRAME_ANCESTORS) — empty by default, which blocks every site from framing the UI. See Embedding in the Unraid webGUI.
• Hardware video transcode (Intel iGPU) (ENABLE_TRANSCODE) — off by default. See Hardware video transcode.
• Image and video thumbnails (ENABLE_THUMBNAILS) — on by default. Turn it off if browsing large media folders feels slow; the cache stays on disk, but new thumbnails are no longer rendered.

Apply restarts the service automatically.

The same page shows the size of the thumbnail cache and a Purge thumbnails button that wipes it. Thumbnails are rebuilt on demand the next time each file is shown.

Hardware video transcode

Off by default. Turn it on and videos the browser cannot decode are transcoded on the fly through VA-API, so HEVC, AV1 and 4K play anywhere.

It needs an Intel GPU and the Intel GPU TOP plugin from Community Applications. Image and video thumbnails work without either.

Transcode GPU picks the card. Leave it on Auto unless the server has more than one Intel GPU. Available only on plugin versions newer than 2026.07.29.1.

Embedding in the Unraid webGUI

Available only on plugin versions newer than 2026.07.28.1.

By default no site can put U-Manager Files inside a frame, which is what blocks clickjacking. To reach it from a tab in the webGUI (with the Custom Tab plugin, for example), list the origin you are embedding from in Allow embedding in a frame, scheme included:

http://192.168.1.10

Use commas for several. Note that the webGUI and U-Manager Files run on different ports, and the port is part of the origin, so a same-origin policy is not enough. Put the webGUI address there, not the port 8740 one.

Update

The plugin auto-checks for new versions through releases/latest. You can also force a check from Plugins → CHECK FOR UPDATES.

Uninstall

Plugins → U-Manager Files → Remove.

Support and bug reports

Open an issue on the plugin repository:

https://github.com/jandrop/u-manager-files-releases/issues

License

MIT. See LICENSE.