filex, an open-source self-hosted file manager, has released version 0.55.0, according to its release notes published on GitHub on 12 October 2026. The update lets administrators install storage plugins from an app store, gives applications more controlled ways to display and print documents, and fixes several bugs that could lose file records during renames, deletes and restores. filex ships as a single Go binary with a multi-framework frontend, and the project also publishes Docker images for users who prefer containers.
What the new release adds
Storage plugins from an app store
The most significant change is support for installing storage plugins from an app store. Users can add one either through a store link or through a new Storage plugins tab on the store screen, which starts a request that must be approved. Before anything is installed, the server reviews the release's own filex-storage.json file and checks the build against the store's pinned version.
The review is designed to be explicit about risk. According to GitHub's notes, the server tells the user, in their own language, that a storage plugin is a program running with filex's rights and outside any sandbox. It also reports what the store's plugin validator measured and on which platform, and whether the build's signature satisfies the FILEX_PLUGIN_TRUSTED_KEYS setting. If the signature is required but cannot be verified, the installation is refused.
Paid plugins add a licensing layer. The license belongs to the store and is kept on its own row, and it is checked every day. If a license no longer holds, the plugin enters a new held state: nothing runs, its storages do not open, and nothing is removed. Users can then open the License option on the plugin's row. Stores may list only self-contained builds, and GitHub says that linux/amd64 and linux/arm64 builds are required, while Windows and macOS builds are optional and must be signed when present.
For developers and store operators, a new command, filex plugin-validator, runs the conformance checks a store uses. It works without a network connection.
Safer frames and PDF printing for apps
Version 0.55 introduces two narrow exceptions to an app interface's sandbox, aimed at browser-based editors. The first, a frame permission, allows an app to open pages from its own package inside frames of its own. The second, a blob permission, allows the interface to read blob addresses that it creates itself. Both permissions are off by default, must be requested in the app's manifest, and appear in the install review in the administrator's language. An update that adds either permission stops at the review so that an administrator can approve it.
Printing is handled differently. A sandboxed frame cannot open the browser's print dialog, so the new print permission lets an app hand filex a PDF, which filex then prints from a page of its own. The print page asks for confirmation each time, and the dialog opens only after the user clicks Allow. GitHub's notes set a limit of 64 MiB per file and accept only data that begins with the PDF signature. Where the web component runs on another site, that site must be listed in FILEX_FRAME_ANCESTORS before its apps can print.
Apps that use these features need filex 0.55 or later, and an older version refuses the new manifest field.
Encryption status visible to apps
Every file row that the server returns now states whether a file is end-to-end encrypted. The value is folder for an item inside an encrypted folder, vault for an item inside a vault, and file for a single encrypted file with the .fxe extension. The rule applies across the folder listing, search, Recent, Starred, tag views, Shared with me and the file information endpoints. Apps read this as a field called encrypted, and plain files carry no such field.
The release notes stress that this is information only. filex 0.55 does not decrypt anything for an app. Encrypted files are also excluded from the "Open with" menu, from app actions and from ONLYOFFICE in every view, just as they are within their folder.
Groundwork for editing together
The release defines the building blocks for real-time collaboration in the app SDK. These include functions to join, subscribe to, append to, lease and leave a shared editing session, to share cursor positions and to read and write binary blobs. The interface bridge also exposes related events and a save action. However, GitHub states that filex 0.55 does not yet include a relay server, so each of these calls currently returns an unavailable response.
The ONLYOFFICE office editor is the first app expected to use these features. It needs both the frame and blob permissions because its editor opens in a frame and loads documents from blob addresses. The release also updates the editor's help page to explain mobile use. According to the notes, ONLYOFFICE's open-source phone apps are read-only, so on a phone a document opens for reading, and the Edit option opens the desktop editor in a folded layout. Printing goes through the new print permission.
Fixes and platform changes
- Lost rows during storage scans: A rename or delete over WebDAV, SFTP, FTPS, NFS, the S3 gateway or the AI surface could lose rows when a storage scan ran at the same time. Every protocol server now uses one shared process, and other surfaces apply the same row gate.
- Name suggestions overwriting typing: When creating a new document, a slow server could return its suggested name after the user had started typing, replacing their input mid-word. A suggestion now fills the field only if the user has not typed in it.
- Vault ownership: Files inside a vault previously showed "System" as their owner. They now show the vault folder's owner.
- Localized error messages: Many refusals for trash restores, app actions, app stores and plugin requests now come from the server in the reader's language, rather than as fixed English text.
- Snap package: The Snap Store package moves to the core24 base, which is based on Ubuntu 24.04, and keeps its existing interface requests.
- Desktop installers: The desktop packages are built with electron-builder 26 on Node 22, while the .deb and .rpm packages keep an earlier install script so the sandbox helper stays setuid.
- Update testing: Each release is now tested as an update over the previous release on Windows and Ubuntu machines, with data from the older version checked after the update.
What it means for users
For administrators, the most important changes are the new permission prompts and the store review, which make it clearer when a plugin or app has access beyond the usual sandbox. For developers, the release creates a stable base for collaborative editing, although the relay that makes it work is not yet available. The bug fixes are likely to matter most to teams that rely on WebDAV or other protocol servers while files are being moved or deleted.
The release shows filex moving toward a plugin ecosystem with clearer trust rules. Readers who run filex should review the new permission requests before approving app updates, and they should check the notes for the minimum version each app needs.
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