PROJECTDROPIT

A menu-driven peer-to-peer encrypted file transfer CLI for your local network.

• 🛰 Auto-discovery on the LAN (zeroconf / mDNS)
• 🔒 End-to-end encryption every session — X25519 ECDH + AES-256-GCM
• ✅ SHA-256 integrity verification on every transfer
• ⚡ Zero setup — no internet, no cloud, no accounts, no admin/root, no pre-shared passwords
• ✨ Premium TUI — rich panels, live discovery, progress, speed, ETA
• 🔄 Auto-update check on launch (via PyPI, non-blocking)
• 🐧 Linux + 🪟 Windows + 🍎 macOS, Python 3.8+

Install

pip install projectdropit

Or from source:

pip install .

Run

projectdropit -start

(projectdropit, projectdropit start, and projectdropit --start all work too.)

On first launch you must enter a device name — that's how others on the LAN will see you. Settings can be changed later from the menu.

Menu

1. Discover Devices     — live list of online peers on your LAN
2. Send a File          — pick a peer or enter a direct IP/port
3. Incoming Transfers   — accept / reject offers, view history
4. Settings             — name, download folder, diagnostics & health, update check
5. Quit

Received files land in ~/projectdropit_files/ by default.

How it works

• Discovery: zeroconf broadcasts <device-name>._projectdropit._tcp.local. with your TCP port and a name TXT record. If mDNS is blocked by router or firewall, manual Direct IP/Port mode is automatically available as a fallback.
• Transport: a fresh TCP socket per session with bounded concurrency (up to 4 concurrent transfers).
• Handshake: X25519 ECDH → HKDF-SHA256 → 32-byte AES key.
• Stream: each frame is [12-byte nonce][4-byte length][AES-256-GCM ciphertext].
• Atomic staging & Integrity: incoming files are streamed into a temporary .part file. Receiver pre-checks available disk storage before accepting. Sender streams a SHA-256 of the file; receiver verifies the hash upon completion. Only verified files are atomically promoted to the destination folder; aborted or mismatched files are wiped immediately.

Windows firewall

The first time you run projectdropit, Windows shows the standard "Allow an app to communicate" dialog. Click Allow on private networks. No admin password is ever required. The app prints a friendly heads-up before opening its socket.

CLI flags

Non-goals

No internet transfers. No accounts. No GUI. No admin requirement. No pre-shared passwords. No cloud.

© 2026 Zenith Open Source Projects. All Rights Reserved. Zenith is an Open Source Project Idea by @roshhellwett