Samba & SMB Web Access Through Sambee With Automatic HTTPS

Home Automation, Networking & Self-Hosting
Published Jul 12, 2026

This article explains how to set up Sambee in a Docker container as a web interface for browser-based access to a Samba or SMB file server.

This article is part of a mini-series about running Samba Active Directory and a file server service in a Docker container on a home server:

Samba Active Directory in a Docker Container: Installation Guide
Samba Active Directory as Authelia’s Authentication Backend
Samba File Server With Windows ACLs in a Docker Container
Samba File Server With POSIX ACLs in a Docker Container
Web Access Through Filebrowser With SSO & HTTPS
Web Access Through Filestash With Passthrough Auth
Web Access Through Sambee With Automatic HTTPS (this article)
GitHub repository with Docker files and helper scripts

Sambee Installation

Installing Sambee via its Docker image is straightforward (docs).

Preparation

I’m assuming that you’ve set up Docker, the Caddy container and a Samba file server as described in previous articles.

Dockerized Sambee Directory Structure

This is what the directory structure will look like when we’re done:

rpool/
 └── encrypted/
     └── docker/
         └── sambee/
             ├── data/
             └── docker-compose.yml

We’re placing the configuration on the encrypted ZFS dataset (rpool/encrypted).

Create the new directories and set ownership of the directories to user/group ID 1000, which are used by the dockerized application:

mkdir -p /rpool/encrypted/docker/sambee/data
chown -Rfv 1000:1000 /rpool/encrypted/docker/sambee/data

Sambee Docker Compose File

Create docker-compose.yml with the following content:

services:

  sambee:
    container_name: sambee
    hostname: sambee
    # Release channels:
    # test: preview builds
    # beta: prerelease builds
    # stable: production builds (not available yet)
    image: ghcr.io/helgeklein/sambee:beta
    restart: unless-stopped
    networks:
      caddy_caddynet:                           # Frontend communications
    expose:
      - 8000                                    # Web UI, Sambee to Caddy
    volumes:
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
      - ./data:/app/data

networks:
  caddy_caddynet:
    external: true

Start the Sambee Container And Retrieve the Initial Admin Password

Navigate into the directory with docker-compose.yml and run:

docker compose up -d

When the Sambee container is first started, it sets up some required files in the data subdirectory, creates an admin user and prints the password (only once!).

Run the following to retrieve the initial admin password:

docker compose logs sambee --tail 100 | grep -A 5 "FIRST-TIME SETUP"

Let’s Encrypt Certificate for Sambee via Caddy

Caddyfile

Default: No Authentication by the Reverse Proxy

Add the following to Caddyfile (details):

files.{$MY_DOMAIN} {
	reverse_proxy sambee:8000 {
	}
	tls {
		dns cloudflare {env.CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN}
	}
}

Alternative: Reverse Proxy Authentication via Authelia

Add the import auth snippet to your Caddy configuration so that it looks as follows:

# Sambee site
files.{$MY_DOMAIN} {
	import auth
	reverse_proxy sambee:8000 {
	}
	tls {
		dns cloudflare {env.CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN}
	}
}

Note: the definition of the auth snippet can be found here.

DNS A Record

Add the following A record to your DNS domain:

files.home.yourdomain.com 192.168.0.4     # replace with your Docker host's IP address

Try to resolve the name on a machine in your network (e.g., nslookup files.home.yourdomain.com).

Reload Caddy’s Configuration

Instruct Caddy to reload its configuration by running:

docker exec -w /etc/caddy caddy caddy reload

You should now be able to access the Sambee web interface at https://files.home.yourdomain.com without getting a certificate warning from your browser.

If you selected the alternative configuration with reverse proxy authentication, you’re directed to Authelia’s login page before you can access Sambee.

Create Sambee Users

Users are managed in Sambee’s settings UI. To access it, open https://files.home.yourdomain.com and log on with the user admin and the password you retrieved earlier.

Navigate to Settings by clicking the gear icon or pressing Ctrl+,, select User Management and create the user accounts you need. Assign users to roles as follows: