Connect a NAS and Browse It Like a Folder | Crate
Frequently asked questions
- Can Crate connect to a NAS over WebDAV?
- Yes. It discovers WebDAV servers over Bonjour, and brands like Nextcloud, Synology and QNAP appear as presets under the protocol.
- What happens before a connection is saved?
- A connection test runs first, reporting DNS, port, authentication, directory listing and write permission as five separate checks.
- Why does the test report five separate items?
- Because "connection failed" does not tell you what to fix. Crate points at which of the five failed and what to do about it.
- What kinds of location can Crate connect to?
- A folder on this device, a cloud drive, or a network share at home over WebDAV.
The short answer
Crate connects to network shares over WebDAV, discovered over Bonjour, so a NAS in the house appears without you typing an address.
Protocol, not brand
Adding a location is grouped by protocol — WebDAV, SMB, SFTP, FTP — with brands like Nextcloud, Synology and QNAP appearing as presets under WebDAV, pre-filled with a host template.
Grouping by protocol rather than by brand logo is the point: the thing you configure is a protocol and an address, and the brand is one way of obtaining them.
The connection test reports five things
Before anything is saved, Crate forces a connection test and reports the result broken out:
- DNS
- port
- authentication
- directory listing
- write permission
Failure points at which of the five failed rather than saying "connection failed" — because those five need five different actions, and a single message makes you guess.
Why the local-network permission is up front
Crate asks for local network access because WebDAV discovery is the step most likely to fail on a first connection. It is therefore explained at the top of the add-location flow instead of being discovered as a confusing failure later.
What you can connect to
A folder on this device · a cloud drive · a network share at home over WebDAV.