LittleFS Browser

Browse files on LittleFS-formatted SD cards and USB drives from your Linux desktop.

Requirements

• Linux (Ubuntu 20.04+ or any Debian-based distro)
• sudo access (needed to mount block devices via FUSE)

Install

Binary (recommended)

Download the latest binary from the Releases page:

chmod +x littlefs-browser-linux-x86_64
sudo ./littlefs-browser-linux-x86_64

Nice and easy, just the one file.

Install script

If you'd rather install it as a system tool (sets up a venv, desktop launcher, etc.):

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/finorr/littlefs-browser/main/install/install.sh | bash
cd ~/littlefs-browser && ./run.sh

Open http://localhost:5000, plug in your device, click Scan Devices.

Usage

1. Plug in your SD card or USB drive
2. Click Scan Devices
3. Click your device to mount it
4. Browse and download files
5. Click Disconnect when done

Troubleshooting

Device not showing up

lsblk        # confirm the device is visible to the OS
dmesg | tail # check for kernel errors

Mount fails

The auto-detection tries common LittleFS parameters. If it fails, the device may use non-standard settings, check what parameters your firmware was compiled with (block_size, read_size, prog_size).

Port 5000 already in use

Edit the last line of app.py and change the port:

app.run(host='0.0.0.0', port=5001)

littlefs-fuse won't build

sudo apt install build-essential libfuse-dev pkg-config

Development

./start-dev.sh

Backend runs on :5000, Vite dev server with hot reload on :5173.

How it works

• lsblk scans for block devices
• littlefs-fuse mounts the selected device via FUSE, trying common parameter combinations until one succeeds
• Flask serves the React UI and exposes a small REST API over the mount
• Files are read directly from the FUSE mount point and streamed to the browser

Uninstall

rm -rf ~/littlefs-browser
rm -f ~/.local/share/applications/littlefs-browser.desktop
sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/lfs

Use Cases

• Extract logs from microcontroller SD cards
• Browse filesystems from IoT devices
• Recover data from LittleFS volumes
• Verify files written by embedded systems
• Backup device data before reflashing

Project Structure

littlefs-browser/
├── app.py              # Flask backend
├── templates/
│   └── index.html     # Web interface
├── install.sh         # Installation script
└── README.md          # Documentation

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• littlefs-fuse - FUSE driver for LittleFS
• LittleFS - The filesystem implementation
• Flask - Web framework