RustFS Launcher

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RustFS Launcher is a small desktop app that runs RustFS, an S3-compatible object storage server, on your own computer. You pick a folder, press one button, and you get an S3 endpoint at http://127.0.0.1:9000.

The server itself is bundled inside the app. There is nothing else to install, no terminal to open, and no configuration file to edit.

What you can do with it

• Run object storage on your laptop for development, testing, or a personal backup target — without Docker.
• Point any S3 client or SDK at 127.0.0.1 and use it like a bucket in the cloud.
• Watch the server: online status, ports in use, and live logs.
• Start and stop RustFS whenever you want. The launcher keeps running in the tray while the server works.
• Update the launcher (and the RustFS build inside it) from the app itself.

Download

Grab the newest file for your machine from the releases page.

Your system	File
Windows 10 / 11, 64-bit	rustfs-launcher-windows-x86_64-<version>-setup.exe (about 50 MB)
macOS, Apple Silicon	rustfs-launcher-macos-aarch64-<version>.app.zip
macOS, Intel	rustfs-launcher-macos-x86_64-<version>.app.zip

Windows on ARM works as well — it runs the x86_64 build through emulation. There is no Linux package yet; on Linux, run the RustFS binary directly.

The downloads are large because a full RustFS server is packed into the installer.

Windows, step by step

1. Download the installer

Open the releases page, expand Assets on the newest release and click the file ending in -setup.exe. Edge and Chrome sometimes flag installers they rarely see; choose Keep if the browser asks.

2. Get past SmartScreen

Double-click the file. If you see Windows protected your PC, click More info, then Run anyway. The warning shows up because the installer is not signed with a commercial code-signing certificate yet — it is not a verdict about the file.

3. Walk through the installer

The wizard asks the usual questions: welcome, license, install location, Start menu folder.

• The default location is C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Local\RustFS Launcher. It installs for your user only, so Windows will not ask for administrator rights.
• If your PC is missing the Microsoft WebView2 runtime, the installer downloads it once. This step needs an internet connection.
• On the last page, leave Run RustFS Launcher ticked. You can also let it create a desktop shortcut.

Afterwards the app lives in the Start menu under RustFS Launcher.

4. Create a folder for your data

RustFS stores objects in a folder you choose, and it expects that folder to exist already. Create something like D:\RustFS\data in Explorer first. An empty folder on a drive with free space is the safest choice.

The server keeps its own log files in a logs folder next to the one you picked — D:\RustFS\logs in this example.

5. Fill in the form

Field	What it means
Data Path	The folder from step 4. Click Browse, or drag a folder onto the window. This is the only required field.
API Port	The S3 endpoint port. 9000 unless something else on your PC already uses it.
Host	127.0.0.1 keeps the server private to this computer. Use 0.0.0.0 to let other machines on your network reach it.
Console Endpoint	Turn this on if you want the RustFS web console. It runs on its own port, 9001 by default.
Access Key / Secret Key	The credentials your S3 client will use. They default to rustfsadmin / rustfsadmin, so change them if the server is reachable from outside your machine.

Your entries are remembered, so the next start is a single click.

6. Press Launch

Click Launch RustFS. Within a second or two the header switches to Service Online / Managed by Launcher, the form locks itself, and App Logs shows what the launcher did — which binary it picked, the arguments it used, and the process ID it got back.

If the launch fails, the reason is in that same log panel. The most common ones are a data folder that does not exist and a port that is already taken.

7. Use the storage

While the service is online, the API and Console cards at the top become clickable. Console opens the web interface; API opens the S3 endpoint itself, and a browser only gets an XML answer from it — that address is meant for S3 clients.

Point an S3 client at the endpoint:

aws --endpoint-url http://127.0.0.1:9000 s3 mb s3://demo
aws --endpoint-url http://127.0.0.1:9000 s3 cp report.pdf s3://demo/

Use your access key and secret key as the credentials, us-east-1 as the region, and path-style addressing.

In the console, sign in with that same access key and secret key.

8. Stop the server, or leave it running

Stop RustFS shuts the server down and unlocks the form again.

Closing the window does not quit anything — the launcher hides in the notification area and RustFS keeps serving. Click the tray icon to bring the window back, or right-click it and choose Quit, which stops the server and closes the app.

9. Uninstall

Remove RustFS Launcher from Settings → Apps → Installed apps, or use the uninstaller in its Start menu folder. Your data folder is left alone; delete it yourself if you no longer need the objects in it.

macOS

1. Unzip the .app.zip and drag RustFS Launcher into Applications.

2. The first launch is blocked, because the release builds are not notarized by Apple. Either right-click the app and choose Open, or clear the quarantine flag from a terminal:

   xattr -cr "/Applications/RustFS Launcher.app"
   open "/Applications/RustFS Launcher.app"

3. From there, everything works as described in steps 4 to 8 above. Clicking the Dock icon brings the window back after you close it.

A tour of the window

Status badges. The first badge is about the server: Service Online means something answers on the host and port you configured. The second one is about who owns that process:

Badge	Meaning
Ready to Launch	Nothing is running on that port.
Managed by Launcher	The launcher started RustFS and can stop it again.
Detected Externally	The port answers, but the process was not started here — for example a RustFS you launched from a terminal. The stop button stays disabled in that case.

Summary cards. API and Console show the ports and open them in a browser once the service is online. Mode tells you whether the form is Editable or Locked because RustFS is running.

Version & Updates. Shows the launcher version and the RustFS version built into it, and checks for a newer release when you ask it to.

Logs. App Logs is the launcher talking: what it looked for, what it started, why something failed. RustFS Output shows whatever the server prints on its console — recent RustFS builds write their detailed logs to files instead, so this tab is often quiet. Auto-scroll follows new lines; Clear empties both tabs.

Where things end up

What	Where
Your objects	The data folder you chose, plus a hidden .rustfs.sys folder for metadata
Server logs	A logs folder next to the data folder
Launcher settings	Stored by the app itself; no file for you to edit
The app	%LOCALAPPDATA%\RustFS Launcher on Windows, /Applications on macOS
Updated RustFS binary	App data: %APPDATA%\com.dandan.rustfs-launcher\binaries on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/com.dandan.rustfs-launcher/binaries on macOS

Updating

The Version & Updates card covers two independent updates, both started by Check for Updates (Windows and macOS only):

1. Launcher — a signed whole-app update. This replaces the launcher and the bundled RustFS, then restarts the app.
2. RustFS — a verified binary-only update from the upstream RustFS release feed. The archive is checked against SHA256SUMS, smoke-tested, and installed into the launcher data directory. You do not need a new launcher installer just to pick up a newer RustFS.

If RustFS is running, the launcher asks before stopping it. RustFS is not started again automatically after either update.

The signing and release mechanics are documented in docs/SELF_UPDATE.md.

When something goes wrong

"Data path does not exist" — create the folder in Explorer or Finder first; the launcher does not create it for you.

"Port 9000 is already in use" — another program (or an older RustFS) holds the port. Pick a different API port, or stop the other program. The same applies to the console port.

The badge says Detected Externally — a RustFS is already answering on that host and port, but this launcher did not start it. Stop that process where you started it, or move the launcher to a different port.

RustFS Output stays empty — that is normal for recent RustFS builds; they write their logs into the logs folder next to your data directory. Use App Logs to see what the launcher itself is doing.

The browser shows XML like AccessDenied — that is the S3 API answering a browser, and nothing is broken. Use the Console card for a web interface, and give the API address to an S3 client instead.

The window disappeared — closing the window only hides it. Use the tray icon on Windows, or the Dock icon on macOS.

macOS says the app "cannot be opened" — see the quarantine command in the macOS section above.

Building it yourself

You need Rust, Node.js, and Trunk (cargo install trunk).

./build.sh          # build.bat on Windows — downloads the RustFS binary for your platform
cargo tauri dev     # run it with hot reload
cargo tauri build   # produce installers

Run make pre-commit before sending a pull request; it runs formatting, Clippy, the frontend build, and the tests. More detail lives in AGENTS.md, the release workflows in .github/ACTIONS.md. For editing, VS Code with the Tauri and rust-analyzer extensions is a good setup.

License

Apache-2.0. See LICENSE.