filedrop-web

Easy peer-to-peer file transfer.

Click here to open drop.lol.

Self-hosting

A docker-compose configuration is available in the filedrop-docker repository.

Installation can be achieved without Docker as well:

First you need to clone, build and run filedrop-ws and a TURN server (like coturn), read the README in filedrop-ws for more information on configuration.

Then you need to clone this project, point it to the WebSockets backend (filedrop-ws) (in .env.local), build it and place it on some static file server (I use nginx for that). I also use nginx to proxy the back end through it. Here's a guide on how to achieve that.

Environment variables

The following variables are used in the build process:

Variable	Default value	Description
REACT_APP_TITLE	filedrop	Application title.
REACT_APP_SERVER	ws://[hostname]:5000/ws	WebSockets server location.
REACT_APP_USE_BROWSER_ROUTER	0	1 if you want the application to use BrowserRouter instead of HashRouter.
REACT_APP_ABUSE_EMAIL	null	E-mail to show in the Abuse section.

FAQ

What is the motivation behind the project?

I didn't feel comfortable logging into my e-mail account on devices I don't own just to download an attachment and cloud services have extremely long URLs that aren't really easy to type.

Where do my files go after I send them through the service?

To the other device. Sometimes the (encrypted, since WebRTC uses encryption by default) data goes through the TURN server I run. It's immediately discarded after being relayed. File metadata also is not saved.

Doesn't this exist already?

While ShareDrop and SnapDrop are both excellent projects and most definitely exist, I felt the need to create my own version for a several reasons:

• I wanted to build something using React.js and TypeScript.
• ShareDrop doesn't work when the devices are on different networks but still behind NAT.
• I didn't like the layout and design of both, I feel like the abstract design of FileDrop makes it easier to use.
• I was not aware of these projects while I started working on this project.
• ShareDrop's URLs are extremely long.

How is it related to the other projects you've mentioned?

I don't use PeerJS (while the other two projects do) and I also host TURN and WebSocket servers myself (instead of relying on Firebase). Sometimes you may get connected to Google's STUN server (always if a TURN server is not provided in the configuration).