pywebdavserver

A WebDAV server with pluggable storage backends - support for local filesystem and Drime Cloud storage.

Features

• Multiple Storage Backends:

  • Local Filesystem (default): Standard filesystem-based WebDAV access
  • Drime Cloud (optional): Access Drime Cloud storage via WebDAV

• Full WebDAV Support:

  • Read and write files
  • Create and delete folders
  • Move and copy resources
  • File locking for collaborative editing
  • WebDAV properties
  • Directory browser

• Flexible Authentication:

  • Optional HTTP Basic/Digest authentication
  • Anonymous access support
  • Per-server credentials

• Easy Configuration:

  • Named backend configurations (rclone-style) - no more CLI flag overload!
  • Simple CLI with sensible defaults
  • Programmatic API for custom integrations
  • SSL/TLS support
  • Secure password obscuring (rclone-compatible)

Installation

Basic Installation (Local Filesystem Only)

pip install pywebdavserver

With Drime Cloud Support

pip install pywebdavserver[drime]

Full Installation (with config encryption)

pip install pywebdavserver[drime]
pip install cryptography  # For password obscuring

Development Installation

git clone <repository>
cd pywebdavserver
pip install -e ".[dev,drime]"

Quick Start

Using Named Backend Configurations (Recommended)

The best way to use pywebdavserver is with named backend configurations - similar to how rclone works:

# Add a backend configuration (interactive wizard)
pywebdavserver config add drime-personal

# Start server with the configured backend
pywebdavserver --backend drime-personal --no-auth

# List all configured backends
pywebdavserver config list

# Show backend details
pywebdavserver config show drime-personal

# Remove a backend
pywebdavserver config remove drime-personal

Benefits:

• No need to remember API keys or workspace IDs
• Passwords are securely obscured in config file
• Easily switch between multiple cloud accounts
• Clean CLI without flag overload
• Ready for future cloud providers (Nextcloud, S3, etc.)

Local Filesystem Backend

Start a WebDAV server with local filesystem storage:

# Anonymous access (no authentication)
pywebdavserver --no-auth

# With authentication
pywebdavserver --username admin --password secret

# Custom path and port
pywebdavserver --path /data/webdav --port 9000 --no-auth

# Read-only mode
pywebdavserver --readonly --no-auth

# With SSL/TLS
pywebdavserver --ssl-cert cert.pem --ssl-key key.pem --no-auth

# Or configure a named backend
pywebdavserver config add local-docs
# Then start with: pywebdavserver --backend local-docs --no-auth

Drime Cloud Backend

# Method 1: Using named backend (recommended)
pywebdavserver config add drime-work
pywebdavserver --backend drime-work --no-auth

# Method 2: Using environment variables (legacy)
export DRIME_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"
pywebdavserver --backend drime --workspace-id 0 --no-auth

Backend Configuration

Configuration File Location

Backend configurations are stored in TOML format at:

• Linux/macOS: ~/.config/pywebdavserver/backends.toml
• Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.config\pywebdavserver\backends.toml

Config Commands

# Interactive wizard to add a backend
pywebdavserver config add <name>

# List all backends
pywebdavserver config list

# Show backend details (with obscured passwords)
pywebdavserver config show <name>

# Show backend details (reveal passwords)
pywebdavserver config show <name> --reveal-passwords

# Remove a backend
pywebdavserver config remove <name>

# Get config file path
pywebdavserver config path

# Edit config file manually
pywebdavserver config edit

# Obscure a password for manual editing
pywebdavserver config obscure
# Or from stdin: echo "mypassword" | pywebdavserver config obscure -

# Reveal an obscured password
pywebdavserver config reveal <obscured-password>

Example Configuration File

# ~/.config/pywebdavserver/backends.toml

[local-docs]
type = "local"
path = "/home/user/Documents"
readonly = false

[local-readonly]
type = "local"
path = "/mnt/shared"
readonly = true

[drime-personal]
type = "drime"
api_key = "FZq5EuI..."  # Obscured with AES-CTR encryption
workspace_id = 0
readonly = false
cache_ttl = 30.0
max_file_size = 524288000

[drime-work]
type = "drime"
api_key = "zEYAL3o..."  # Different workspace, different key
workspace_id = 42
readonly = false
cache_ttl = 60.0
max_file_size = 1073741824

Password Obscuring

Passwords are automatically obscured when using pywebdavserver config add. The obscuring uses AES-CTR encryption (compatible with rclone's obscure command).

This is NOT secure encryption! It's designed to prevent casual "shoulder surfing" - anyone with access to the code can decrypt the passwords. For true security, use file system permissions (chmod 600 ~/.config/pywebdavserver/backends.toml).

Mounting the WebDAV Server

macOS (Finder)

1. Open Finder
2. Go → Connect to Server (⌘K)
3. Enter: http://localhost:8080
4. Click Connect

Linux

# Install davfs2
sudo apt-get install davfs2  # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo yum install davfs2      # RHEL/CentOS

# Mount
sudo mount -t davfs http://localhost:8080 /mnt/webdav

Windows

1. Right-click "This PC"
2. Select "Map network drive..."
3. Enter: http://localhost:8080
4. Click Finish

CLI Reference

Usage: pywebdavserver [OPTIONS]

  PyWebDAV Server - WebDAV server with pluggable storage backends.

Options:
  --backend [local|drime]        Storage backend (default: local)
  --path PATH                    Root directory for local backend
                                 (default: /tmp/webdav)
  --host TEXT                    Host address (default: 127.0.0.1)
  --port INTEGER                 Port number (default: 8080)
  --username TEXT                WebDAV username
  --password TEXT                WebDAV password
  --readonly                     Enable read-only mode
  --cache-ttl FLOAT              Cache TTL for Drime backend (default: 30.0)
  --max-file-size INTEGER        Max file size in bytes (default: 524288000)
  --workspace-id INTEGER         Workspace ID for Drime (default: 0)
  --ssl-cert PATH                SSL certificate file
  --ssl-key PATH                 SSL private key file
  -v, --verbose                  Increase verbosity (can repeat)
  --no-auth                      Disable authentication
  --version                      Show version and exit
  --help                         Show this message and exit

Programmatic Usage

Local Filesystem Provider

from pywebdavserver.providers.local import LocalStorageProvider
from pywebdavserver.server import run_webdav_server

# Create provider
provider = LocalStorageProvider(
    root_path="/data/webdav",
    readonly=False
)

# Run server
run_webdav_server(
    provider=provider,
    host="0.0.0.0",
    port=8080,
    username="admin",
    password="secret",
    verbose=2
)

Drime Cloud Provider

from pydrime.api import DrimeClient
from pywebdavserver.providers.drime import DrimeDAVProvider
from pywebdavserver.server import run_webdav_server

# Create Drime client
client = DrimeClient(email="user@example.com", password="password")

# Create provider
provider = DrimeDAVProvider(
    client=client,
    workspace_id=0,
    readonly=False,
    cache_ttl=30.0,
    max_file_size=500 * 1024 * 1024
)

# Run server
run_webdav_server(
    provider=provider,
    host="0.0.0.0",
    port=8080,
    username="admin",
    password="secret",
    verbose=2
)

Custom WSGI Integration

from pywebdavserver.providers.local import LocalStorageProvider
from pywebdavserver.server import create_webdav_app

provider = LocalStorageProvider("/data/webdav")
app = create_webdav_app(
    provider=provider,
    username="admin",
    password="secret",
    verbose=1
)

# Use with any WSGI server (gunicorn, uWSGI, etc.)

Architecture

Storage Provider Interface

The StorageProvider base class defines the interface for storage backends. Each provider must:

1. Inherit from wsgidav.dav_provider.DAVProvider
2. Implement WebDAV resource operations (get, list, create, delete, move, copy)
3. Provide metadata (size, modified time, ETags)
4. Support locking (optional but recommended)

Available Providers

LocalStorageProvider

• Backend: Local filesystem
• Dependencies: None (uses wsgidav's FilesystemProvider)
• Features: Standard filesystem WebDAV access
• Use Case: Simple file sharing, local development

DrimeDAVProvider

• Backend: Drime Cloud API
• Dependencies: pydrime>=0.1.0
• Features: Cloud storage, eventual consistency handling, caching
• Use Case: Cloud file access, team collaboration

Configuration Examples

Development Server

# Quick local testing
pywebdavserver --no-auth --verbose

Production Server

# Secure production setup
pywebdavserver \
  --path /var/www/webdav \
  --host 0.0.0.0 \
  --port 443 \
  --ssl-cert /etc/ssl/certs/server.crt \
  --ssl-key /etc/ssl/private/server.key \
  --username webdav \
  --password $(cat /etc/webdav/password) \
  --readonly

Drime Cloud Gateway

# Expose Drime workspace via WebDAV
export DRIME_EMAIL="admin@company.com"
export DRIME_PASSWORD="$(cat ~/.drime/password)"

pywebdavserver \
  --backend drime \
  --workspace-id 123 \
  --host 0.0.0.0 \
  --port 8080 \
  --username teamlead \
  --password teampass \
  --cache-ttl 60

Troubleshooting

Connection Refused

• Check if the server is running: netstat -an | grep 8080
• Verify firewall settings
• Try binding to 0.0.0.0 instead of 127.0.0.1

Authentication Fails

• Ensure username and password are provided together
• Check WebDAV client supports Basic/Digest auth
• Try without authentication first (--no-auth)

Drime Backend Errors

• Verify DRIME_EMAIL and DRIME_PASSWORD environment variables
• Check network connectivity to Drime Cloud
• Ensure pydrime is installed: pip install pywebdavserver[drime]

File Locking Issues

• File locking requires a writable lock storage
• Check directory permissions
• Increase cache TTL for better lock handling

Development

Running Tests

pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest tests/

Code Formatting

ruff check .
ruff format .

Building Documentation

# This README serves as the main documentation

Comparison with Other WebDAV Servers

Feature	pywebdavserver	Apache mod_dav	WsgiDAV CLI
Local Filesystem	✅	✅	✅
Cloud Storage	✅ (Drime)	❌	❌
Python API	✅	❌	⚠️ (Limited)
File Locking	✅	✅	✅
Easy Setup	✅	⚠️ (Complex)	✅
Pluggable Backends	✅	❌	⚠️ (Limited)

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Add tests if applicable
5. Submit a pull request

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Credits

• Built on WsgiDAV
• Uses Cheroot WSGI server
• Drime backend powered by pydrime

Support

For issues and questions:

• GitHub Issues: /issues
• Documentation: This README
• WsgiDAV Docs: https://wsgidav.readthedocs.io/

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for version history.