dropall-cli

A command-line client for Dropall — the browser-based P2P file transfer app. Upload and download files from any Dropall room without opening a browser.

Installation

# Install Volta if needed:
# https://volta.sh
curl https://get.volta.sh | bash

# From this cli directory, pin the expected toolchain
volta pin [email protected]
volta pin [email protected]

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Build the package
pnpm build

# Link the CLI globally for local use
npm link
dropall <command> [options]

For development without linking globally:

pnpm exec tsx src/cli.ts <command> [options]

Commands

upload — Share a file in a room

dropall upload <file> [options]

Announces the file to the room and keeps serving it until you press Ctrl-C. When you quit, the file is automatically removed from the room.

| Option | Short | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | --room <id> | -r | required | Room ID to join | | --username <name> | -u | CLI-User | Your display name | | --server <url> | -s | https://dropallp2p-ebrv57bf.manus.space | Dropall server URL | | --password <pwd> | -p | — | Room password (if locked) | | --port <n> | | 0 (random) | Local HTTP port to serve the file on |

Example:

dropall upload ./report.pdf --room my-room --username Alice

download — Download a file from a room

dropall download [options]

If --file-id is supplied, downloads that file immediately. Otherwise, an interactive picker lists all files in the room and lets you choose.

| Option | Short | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | --room <id> | -r | required | Room ID to join | | --username <name> | -u | CLI-User | Your display name | | --file-id <id> | -f | — | ID of the specific file to download | | --output <dir> | -o | current directory | Directory to save the downloaded file | | --server <url> | -s | https://dropallp2p-ebrv57bf.manus.space | Dropall server URL | | --password <pwd> | -p | — | Room password (if locked) |

Examples:

# Interactive picker
dropall download --room my-room --username Bob --output ~/Downloads

# Direct download by file ID
dropall download --room my-room --username Bob --file-id abc123xyz --output ~/Downloads

list — List files in a room

dropall list [options]

Connects to the room, prints all currently shared files (ID, name, size, uploader, age), then exits.

| Option | Short | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | --room <id> | -r | required | Room ID | | --username <name> | -u | CLI-User | Your display name | | --server <url> | -s | https://dropallp2p-ebrv57bf.manus.space | Dropall server URL | | --password <pwd> | -p | — | Room password (if locked) | | --json | | — | Output raw JSON instead of a table |

Example:

dropall list --room my-room
dropall list --room my-room --json | jq '.[].name'

Transfer Architecture

CLI uploader                        CLI downloader
    │                                    │
    │  1. join-room (Socket.IO)          │
    │  2. file-announce (with httpUrl)   │
    │─────────────────────────────────►  │
    │                                    │  3. join-room
    │                                    │  4. receive room-files (with httpUrl)
    │                                    │
    │  ◄── HTTP GET /files/<id> ─────────│
    │  5. stream chunks (Dropall v1)     │
    │─────────────────────────────────►  │
    │                                    │  6. reassemble & save to disk

When the uploader is a browser peer, the CLI falls back to the standard WebRTC data channel path. This requires the optional wrtc package:

pnpm add wrtc --optional

If wrtc is not installed, the CLI prints the browser URL so you can download manually.

Room Locking

Locked rooms require a password for all operations. Pass --password <pwd> to any command. If the room is locked and no password is supplied, the CLI exits with a clear error message.

Running Against a Local Server

# Start the Dropall server locally (from the dropall-clone directory)
pnpm dev

# Use the CLI against it
dropall upload ./file.txt --room test --server http://localhost:3000
dropall list --room test --server http://localhost:3000
dropall download --room test --server http://localhost:3000

Development

pnpm install
pnpm build
pnpm exec tsx src/cli.ts --help

TypeScript source is in src/. The CLI uses:

• socket.io-client — signalling
• express — local HTTP file server (upload command)
• commander — argument parsing
• inquirer — interactive prompts
• chalk — terminal colours
• ora — spinners
• node-fetch — HTTP client