quickdrop

Instant file transfers over LAN or internet — no accounts, no cloud, no friction, secure.

quickdrop receive
quickdrop send ./photos --to AB3C4D7E:X9K2

Install

npm install -g quickdrop

Or run without installing:

npx quickdrop help

How it works

On the receiving machine:

$ quickdrop receive ./downloads

 quickdrop · receive
────────────────────────────────────────────
  LAN code       AB3C4E7E:X9K2  ← same network
  Tunnel code    quick-fox-42:X9K2  ← anywhere
  Password       X9K2  ← new every session
────────────────────────────────────────────
  Waiting for sender…  (Ctrl+C to stop)
  On sender:   quickdrop send <dir> --to AB3C4E7E:X9K2

On the sending machine — paste the combined code, zero prompts:

$ quickdrop send ./photos --to AB3C4E7E:X9K2

 quickdrop · send
────────────────────────────────────────────
  3 files found in /photos
────────────────────────────────────────────
  ✓ DSC_001.jpg  (4.20 MB, 11.3 MB/s)
  ✓ DSC_002.jpg  (3.85 MB, 12.1 MB/s)
  ✓ raw/DSC_003.cr2  (18.40 MB, 11.8 MB/s)
────────────────────────────────────────────
  ✓ 3 files  •  26.4 MB  •  2.3s  •  11.7 MB/s

The combined code AB3C4E7E:X9K2 encodes the address and password in one string — no prompts at all on the sender side.

Commands

quickdrop receive [dir] [options]

Start listening for an incoming transfer. Saves files into dir (defaults to the current directory). Exits after one transfer.

| Option | Description | |--------|-------------| | --keep | Keep waiting for more transfers after each one |

quickdrop send <dir> [options]

Send all files in dir to a receiver.

| Option | Description | |--------|-------------| | --to <code\|contact> | Combined code AB3C4E7E:X9K2 (no password prompt), LAN code AB3C4E7E, tunnel subdomain quick-fox-42, or saved contact name mypc | | --password <pw> | Provide password separately (skips prompt; not needed with combined code) |

quickdrop contacts

List all saved contacts.

quickdrop contacts                        # list
quickdrop contacts remove <name>          # delete
quickdrop contacts rename <old> <new>     # rename

Contacts are stored in ~/.quickdrop/contacts.json.

quickdrop help

Print full usage information.

quickdrop --version

Print the installed version.

Address types

| What you type | Meaning | |---------------|---------| | AB3C4E7E:X9K2 | Combined LAN code + password — paste from receiver, zero prompts | | quick-fox-42:X9K2 | Combined tunnel code + password | | AB3C4E7E | LAN code only (IP + port encoded as 8 base-36 chars) | | quick-fox-42 | Internet tunnel subdomain | | mypc | Saved contact name |

Connectivity

| Scenario | What's used | |----------|-------------| | Same WiFi / LAN | Direct TCP — fast, no internet required | | Different networks | localtunnel WebSocket tunnel — works anywhere |

Quickdrop automatically sets up both and shows you both codes. Use whichever applies.

After a transfer

The sender will offer to save the address as a named contact:

Save "192.168.1.42" as a contact? Name (Enter to skip): mypc
  ✓ Saved! Next time: quickdrop send ./folder --to mypc

On the next transfer you can just do:

quickdrop send ./folder --to mypc --password X9K2

Or save the combined code if the receiver uses a persistent tunnel subdomain.

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• No other dependencies beyond ws and localtunnel

Security

All transferred data is encrypted end-to-end with AES-256-GCM, which provides both confidentiality and integrity (any tampering is detected and the transfer is aborted).

The session password is never sent over the wire. Instead, both sides derive a 256-bit key from the password using scrypt (N=16384, r=8, p=1), which makes brute-force attacks expensive even against the short 4-character password. Authentication is done via an HMAC-SHA256 proof-of-key handshake — the receiver rejects the connection if the proof doesn't match.

Each encrypted message uses a fresh random IV, so identical files produce different ciphertext every time.

The password changes every session (shown as X9K2 in the examples). If you use the combined code AB3C4E7E:X9K2, it encodes both the address and the one-time password, so nothing needs to be typed manually.

License

ISC