wastebin: A Minimal, Open-Source Pastebin Alternative

Why wastebin?

Ever needed to quickly share a code snippet, config file, or error log—only to be met with bloated pastebin services or sketchy third-party sites? wastebin is a lightweight, self-hostable alternative that strips the concept down to its essentials. Written in Rust, it’s fast, privacy-focused, and designed for developers who just want to paste and share without fuss.

What It Does

wastebin is a no-frills pastebin service with a clean UI and a surprisingly robust feature set:

• Paste storage with syntax highlighting (thanks to syntect).
• Compression (zstd) and optional encryption (ChaCha20Poly1305 + Argon2).
• Self-destructing pastes (expire after reading, time-based, or manual deletion).
• Dark/light mode with eight built-in themes.
• QR code generation for easy mobile sharing.

Unlike some alternatives, it avoids user accounts, file uploads, and admin panels—keeping it simple and focused.

Why It’s Cool

• Single-binary deployment: No sprawling dependencies—just a statically compiled Rust binary.
• Low footprint: Minimal memory usage, making it great for small VPS or Raspberry Pi setups.
• Privacy-first: Encrypt pastes if needed, and host it yourself to avoid third-party snooping.
• No JavaScript required: Works fine without it (though JS enhances the experience).

The project also embraces "non-features"—intentionally omitting bloat like user auth or file uploads, which keeps the codebase tight and maintainable.

How to Try It

You can:

1. Test the live demo (resets daily).
2. Run it locally via:
   • Docker:

     docker run -p 8088:8088 quxfoo/wastebin:latest  
     

   • Pre-built binaries: Grab one from the releases page.
   • From source: cargo run --release (Rust toolchain required).

For persistence, mount a volume for the SQLite DB (state.db).

Final Thoughts

wastebin is perfect for developers who want a fast, private way to share snippets without relying on external services. It’s not for everyone—if you need user accounts or heavy moderation, look elsewhere. But if you value simplicity and control, it’s a great little tool.

Bonus: The MIT license means you can hack on it freely. Want to add a feature? Fork it and go wild.

🔗 GitHub: github.com/matze/wastebin