Reverse Proxy Setup

A reverse proxy allows you to “pass” requests through your web server to another site or program. The reverse proxy will make it look like Syncthing’s GUI is a page within your existing site.

This is especially useful if:

  • You need to access the GUI on port 80 or 443 but you already host a website on the same device.

  • You want to share SSL certificates with an existing site.

  • You want to share authentication with an existing setup.

Server Configuration

If you have access to your web server’s configuration use the following examples to pass the location /syncthing on your web server to Syncthing’s GUI hosted on localhost:8384.

Apache

First of all, execute the following command to enable the Apache HTTP Proxy module and the headers module: a2enmod proxy_http headers.

Then, you may add the following to your Apache httpd configuration:

  1. <Location /syncthing/>
  2.     ProxyPass http://localhost:8384/
  3.     ProxyPassReverse http://localhost:8384/
  4.     RequestHeader set "X-Forwarded-Proto" expr=%{REQUEST_SCHEME}
  5.     Require all granted
  6. </Location>

Nginx

  1. location /syncthing/ {
  2.   proxy_set_header        Host $host;
  3.   proxy_set_header        X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
  4.   proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
  5.   proxy_set_header        X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
  7.   proxy_pass              http://localhost:8384/;
  9.   proxy_read_timeout      600s;
  10.   proxy_send_timeout      600s;
  11. }

Caddy

  1. proxy /syncthing localhost:8384 {
  2.     transparent
  3. }
  5. timeouts {
  6.     read none
  7.     write none
  8.     header none
  9. }

Caddy v2

  1. handle_path /syncthing/* {
  2.     uri strip_prefix /syncthing
  3.     reverse_proxy http://localhost:8384 {
  4.             header_up Host {upstream_hostport}
  5.             header_up X-Forwarded-Host {host}
  6.     }
  7. }

Folder Configuration

If you don’t have access to your web server configuration files you might try the following technique.

Apache

Add the configuration below to a .htaccess file in the folder of your webroot which should redirect to the WebUI, /syncthing to produce the same behaviour as above

  1. RewriteEngine On
  2. RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
  3. RewriteCond %{ENV:HTTPS} !=on
  4. RewriteRule .* https://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
  5. RewriteRule ^(.*) http://localhost:8384/$1 [P]

This method also redirects to HTTPS to prevent opening the GUI unencrypted.