Persistent OnionShare VPS

OnionShare supports four modes: share (one-time file send), receive (others upload to you), website (static .onion site), and chat (anonymous group chat). All four can run persistently on a VPS. The VPS install uses the same onionshare-cli binary that the desktop app uses, just in headless persistent mode without the GUI wrapper.

Persistent mode stores the v3 onion key in a JSON file so the .onion address survives daemon restarts. Without persistence, every restart generates a new address and every existing user loses their bookmark.

# Persistent OnionShare receive mode
onionshare-cli --persistent /etc/onionshare/receive.json \
    --receive /var/lib/onionshare/uploads/

The persistent file stores the v3 onion key so the address survives restarts. We ship the persistent file path inside an encrypted partition by default so a seized VPS yields ciphertext only.

Persistent OnionShare endpoints work well for: long-running source-submission boxes (lighter-weight than SecureDrop), file-distribution onions for software releases, anonymous group chats for closed communities, static .onion mirrors of clearnet sites. The receive mode is particularly useful: it lets sources submit documents without needing to install anything beyond Tor Browser.

BTC and XMR. Hardening: bind onionshare-cli to a unix socket consumed by Tor, never to a TCP port. LUKS-encrypt the uploads directory. Rotate the persistent key annually if threat model warrants.

Related: OnionShare receive, SecureDrop source, v3 onion Iceland, Tor hosting parent, Cwtch server.