snapotter-hq/SnapOtter

Open-source, self-hosted file-processing tool. Convert, compress, OCR, transcribe & run local AI across image, video, audio, PDF & documents, via UI, REST API & pipelines. Your files never leave your network.

SnapOtter – Self‑hosted file‑processing suite

SnapOtter is an open‑source, Docker‑based platform that lets you run a huge collection of file‑manipulation tools on your own hardware. It covers five media modalities (image, video, audio, PDF, generic files) and bundles 200+ utilities, many of which use local AI models for tasks such as background removal, up‑scaling, OCR, and transcription. Because everything runs inside your network, no data is sent to third‑party SaaS services.

What it does

Modality	Example tools (out of 200+)
Image (112)	resize, crop, compress, convert, watermark, generate memes, vectorise, duplicate detection, background removal, AI up‑scale, colorisation
Video (57)	format conversion, trim, crop, compress, extract audio, create GIFs, stabilise, subtitle burn/extract
Audio (27)	format conversion, trim, normalise, noise reduction, speech‑to‑text transcription
PDF (35)	merge, split, compress, OCR, convert to images, redact, watermark
Files (23)	CSV/JSON/XML/YAML conversion, Excel‑to‑CSV, chart generation, ZIP create/extract

All tools are reachable via a web UI, a REST API (/api/docs), or pipeline definitions that chain multiple steps together.

Quick start (single‑container)

docker run -d --name SnapOtter \
  -p 1349:1349 \
  -v SnapOtter-data:/data \
  snapotter/snapotter:latest

Then open http://localhost:1349 and log in with admin / admin (you’ll be forced to change the password).

For production you can use the provided three‑service Docker‑Compose stack (app + Postgres 17 + Redis 8). GPU‑accelerated builds are available for NVIDIA cards; AI inference otherwise runs on CPU.

Why you might use it

Replace multiple SaaS tools (CloudConvert, Smallpdf, TinyPNG, Otter.ai, etc.) with one self‑hosted stack.
Privacy‑first – files never leave your network; analytics can be disabled at build‑time or runtime.
Local AI – background removal, image up‑scaling, OCR, audio transcription, subtitle generation, all performed on‑premise.
Extensible workflows – define reusable pipelines (up to 20 steps by default) and run them in batch mode.
Multi‑arch – works on AMD64, ARM64 (Apple Silicon, Raspberry Pi).
Enterprise‑ready auth – OpenID Connect / SSO integration (Google, GitHub, Okta, etc.).

Documentation & community

Full guides: Getting Started, Deployment, Configuration, AI Engine, Image Engine, Architecture, etc. (all linked from the README).
Live demo: https://demo.snapotter.com
Community Discord: https://discord.gg/hr3s7HPUsr
Contributions welcome via GitHub issues/PRs; sponsorship options are listed for those who want to keep the project free.

License

Dual‑licensed:

AGPL‑v3 – free to use, modify, and redistribute, with the usual network‑source‑disclosure requirement.
Commercial license – available for proprietary or SaaS deployments that cannot comply with AGPL.

Bottom line: SnapOtter is a comprehensive, self‑hosted alternative to a suite of cloud‑based file‑conversion and AI‑enhancement services, aimed at users who need privacy, offline processing, or a single stack to automate media workflows.