Go-drop

Note: Last devlog for this project. This started as a small personal tool to quickly transfer files, but it turned into a (kinda, lol) CLI application. Along the way I learned a lot about Go, a bittt of networking and TUI. The project definitely grew more complex than I initially expected :D

Added/Fixed:

• QR generation moved fully into the terminal UI
• Prints warning if the terminal window is too small
• Properly respects the noqr CLI flag
• Displays truncated file list before transfer preparation
• Cleans up printed lines correctly after preparation
• Active transfer tracking added (server now waits for compleating all the downloads before shutdown)
• Added text preview support (there was a bug, bruh)
• Fixed CSS word-wrap issues for long filenames
• Linux clipboard support improved with “xsel” fallback
• Fixed filename collision logic in receive mode
• Wrote the README (with AI help)
• Created all the executables (I can’t test on MacOS, hope it works, ye)
• Minor internal fixes and cleanup
• Tested if everything works (Windows and Linux (Arch))

Next:

• SHIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

Added/Fixed:

• File preview system implemented (for images and PDFs)
• Supports sharing entire directories (auto-zip)
• Flag to share text (transformed into a .txt file)
• Flag to specify a custom filename for the shared content
• Version Flag
• Progress spinner added for longer operations (zipping / preparation)
• Download flow changes and refactor (for the success page)
• Web success page added to trigger the download
• Dark mode added to pages
• Internal improvements, little changes and refactors

Next:

• Fix bugs and everything
• Build for every OS
• Shippppppppppppppppppppp

Added/Fixed:

• Online tunnel support implemented (exposes local server to the public internet) (tunnel.go)
• Clipboard integration (all kind of URL automatically copy to clipboard)
• Public URL displayed in the TUI and copied to clipboard too
• Compact QR rendering (+ UI updated to show public QR)
• Download page: displays filename, file size, and detected MIME type
• Minor internal refactors related to tunnel stuff and UI updates

Note: I initially wanted to use ngrok for public exposure, but it ended up being more complex than expected (auth setup and other flow complications). Implementing the localhost.run tunnel flow turned out to be cleaner and simpler. I honestly thought this would be much harder to implement tho.

Next:

• File preview in browser before downloading (images, text, PDF)
• Folder support (auto-zip)
• Dark mode for web pages
• Fix bugs and everything
• Build for every OS
• Shippp

Added/Fixed:

• Optional HTTPS mode implemented (generates self-signed certificate automatically and then uses TLS listener)
• Command-line Arg: enable TLS
• Displays certificate fingerprint in UI foe verification
• File collision handling in receive mode (Prevents overwriting existing files)
• Silenced default server logs (prevents UI bugs)
• Minor internal refactors related to TLS setup

Next:

• Public share (public URL)

Added/Fixed:

• Integrated Bubble Tea TUI (ui.go)
• UI now surfaces progress, status updates, and errors in real time
• Upload progress streamed into the UI via events
• Download completion, limits reached, and errors now emit UI messages
• Moved QR generation to a dedicated function
• Cleaner separation between server logic and UI (sometimes not, but I tried :/)
• Added browser “success page” after upload (redirect flow)
• Minor flow and stability fixes related to event handling
• Bugs and problem fixes (a lot)

Note: This was honestly really difficult. I lost a lot of time understanding how Bubble Tea works and restructuring everything around events, I’m not fully happy with the result, but it works and it’s fine for now ig

Next:

• Certificates
• Public share (public url)?????????????????????? I’m so cooked…

Added/Fixed:

• Receive mode implemented to accept file uploads
• Command-line args: flag to enable receive mode and save uploaded files save path
• Web ‘upload’ interface added: “drag and drop” support and progress bar
• Prints (in console) upload progress (transfer)
• Same QR code generation func for receive mode webpage

Next:

• UI
• Certificates?
• Public share (public url)?????????????????????? I’m so cooked…

Added/Fixed:

• Multi file sharing support via, saved in RAM, ZIP archive (automatically creates a ZIP when multiple input paths are provided)
• Command-line Arg: configurable archive name for generated ZIP
• Transfer size and file listing feedback
• Logging improvements: prints client IP and transfer activity, prints waiting/progress messages

Next:

• Upload mode (receive files from other devices)
• UI…

Added/Fixed:

• Token access control for downloads
• Command-line Arg: password protection layer (POST form (web.go) authentication before download)
• Command-line args: IP download limiting and timeout auto shutdown
• Shutdown reason codes (completed, timeout, error)

Next:

• Allow sharing multiple files
• Maybe a UI? lol

Added/Fixed:

• Command-line args: custom port selection, download limit control and option to disable QR code output
• Server shuts down automatically after reaching the specified download (fixed the behaviour for implementing the new args func)
• Improved CLI output clarity (colored status messages)
• Explicit display of the download URL
• Added cache control headers to prevent unwanted caching (this one fixed the automatic shutdown)

Next:

• A password for accessing download
• Allow sharing multiple files

Note: This project started as a quick personal tool to transfer files without external services, and as a way to learn Go, ehe, I’m not really good at this language

Added/Fixed:

• Temporary HTTP file sharing implemented
• Automatic host IP detection
• Terminal QR code generation (trough this package: go-qrcode)
• Server automatically stops after the file is downloaded once

Next:

• Add optional flags like port selection for example
• Some kind of status of the file on host
• A password for accessing download
• Allow sharing multiple files