plumefile 0.1.1

Plume is a command-line file-sharing tool. Before a file leaves your machine it runs a pre-flight intelligence pass - an offline scan for secrets and personal data, a lightweight data/text profile, and sentiment - then turns those signals into a risk level and a suggested link lifetime. It serves the file over a self-destructing link (LAN out of the box, or a free internet tunnel) with a QR code and a neat browser download page.

No accounts. No third-party storage. No API keys. The intelligence pass is fully offline.

pipx install plumefile          # or: uv tool install plumefile
plume share q3-report.pdf       # scans it, then prints a code, a link and a QR

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See it work

plume scan inspects a file and prints one insight card. Here it is on a config file with a planted AWS key, a Stripe key and a private key block:

And on a clean CSV of product reviews - it profiles the table and reads the tone instead:

Want a live recording? Install VHS and run vhs assets/readme/demo.tape to generate assets/readme/demo.gif from the real CLI.

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Install

pipx install plumefile          # isolated, recommended
uv tool install plumefile       # if you use uv
pip install plumefile           # into the current environment

All three give you two equivalent commands: plume (short) and plumefile.

From source:

git clone https://github.com/1mystic/plumefile
cd plumefile
uv venv .venv
uv pip install --python .venv/Scripts/python.exe -e ".[dev]"   # Windows
# uv pip install --python .venv/bin/python -e ".[dev]"         # macOS / Linux

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Quickstart

# 1. Inspect a file without sharing it
plume scan customers.csv

# 2. Share a file. Plume scans it, suggests an expiry, prints a code, a link and a QR.
plume share report.pdf
plume share ./project-folder            # a folder is zipped into one archive
plume share a.txt b.txt notes/          # several paths become one archive
plume share secrets.env --tunnel        # also expose a free public URL (needs cloudflared)

# 3. Receive on another machine, by link or by code
plume get http://192.168.1.7:8737/amber-otter-42
plume get amber-otter-42 --host 192.168.1.7:8737 --out ./downloads

Or just open the link in a browser: you get a countdown page with a download button and a QR.

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Command reference

plume scan <path>

Run the pre-flight intelligence pass and print the insight card. Pure local, no networking.

Flag	Description
--quiet, -q	Skip the banner.

plume share <paths...>

Scan, then seed the file(s) over a self-destructing link with a QR code. One file is served as-is; multiple paths or a folder are zipped into a single archive first (the staged zip is deleted when the link closes).

Flag	Default	Description
--expire, -e	the scan's suggestion	Link lifetime: 2m, 5m, 10m, 1h, or a value like 45s.
--port, -p	8737	Port to seed on.
--tunnel, -t	off	Also expose a free public *.trycloudflare.com URL (needs cloudflared).
--no-scan	off	Skip the pre-flight scan.
--yes, -y	off	Do not prompt to tighten the expiry when the scan wants a shorter one.

plume get <url|code>

Download a shared file with a progress bar and an ETA.

Flag	Description
--host, -h	host:port to use when you pass a bare code instead of a URL.
--out, -o	Directory to save into (default: current directory).

plume serve

Run a persistent serving host for any shares already registered on this machine.

Flag	Default	Description
--port, -p	8737	Port to listen on.

plume version

Print the installed version.

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The pre-flight intelligence pass

Every scan (and every share of a single file) produces one insight card. The whole pass is offline and degrades per signal: anything that does not apply to a file is skipped, never fatal.

Signal	What it does
Secret / PII scan	Regex ruleset for private keys, cloud keys (AWS, Google, Stripe), GitHub and Slack tokens, JWTs, password assignments, emails, IPs and Luhn-checked card numbers. Findings are redacted before display.
Data profiling	CSV / TSV / JSON records get row and column counts, dtypes and null counts (pandas / numpy).
Text profiling	Any text file gets line and word counts and a readability score.
Sentiment	Offline VADER lexicon sentiment for prose (skipped on data and code).
Risk + expiry	A deterministic cascade maps the signals to low / medium / high and a suggested link lifetime. A live-looking credential forces high and a 2 minute default.

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How sharing works (free, over the network)

• LAN, out of the box. plume share starts a small local server and prints a link on your LAN address plus a QR. Anyone on the same network opens it in a browser or with plume get.
• Internet, optionally, for free. --tunnel shells out to cloudflared to open a public *.trycloudflare.com URL: no account, no cost, no Plume-run servers. If cloudflared is not installed, Plume says so and stays LAN-only.
• Self-destructing. The link stops working at its expiry, with a 15 minute grace window so a slow or in-flight download still finishes. Share state is disk-backed, so a restart does not lose live shares.
• Chunked. Files stream in 256 KB chunks; a 1.5 GB size cap guards against accidents.

Nothing is uploaded to a third-party server. The file is served straight from your machine.

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Try it locally

Two terminals on the same machine, both pointed at localhost:

# terminal 1 - start sharing (short expiry so it self-destructs quickly)
plume share README.md --expire 2m -y

# copy the printed link, then in terminal 2 - download it
plume get http://127.0.0.1:8737/<the-printed-code> --out ./downloads

Open the same link in a browser to see the receiver page: a live countdown, a download button and a QR. Let the timer run out to watch the link self-destruct.

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Development

uv pip install --python .venv/Scripts/python.exe -e ".[dev]"
.venv/Scripts/python.exe -m pytest -q          # the full test suite

House rules: every user-visible string uses plain hyphens (never em dashes); every fix ships with a regression test; transfer changes are verified against a real running server.

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Releasing (maintainers)

uv build                                        # builds sdist + wheel into dist/
uv publish                                      # upload to PyPI (needs a token)
# then cut a GitHub release and attach dist/* as assets:
gh release create v0.1.0 dist/* --generate-notes

The receiver web page ships inside the wheel, so an installed plume serves the same UI.

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Privacy note

Plume warns you about secrets before you share, but it is a convenience scanner, not a guarantee. It does not scan inside archives, and no regex catches everything. Review the card, and prefer a short expiry (or keep --tunnel off) for anything sensitive.

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License

MIT licensed. See LICENSE.