WarpBox

WarpBox is a small, self-hosted file sharing app with temporary upload boxes, simple download links, optional passwords, ZIP downloads, and a very deliberate retro desktop mood.

It is meant to feel quick: pick files, choose how long the box should live, upload, and share the link.

flowchart LR
    A[Choose files] --> B[Create box]
    B --> C[Upload to box]
    C --> D[Share link]
    D --> E[Download files or ZIP]
    E --> F[Expire or one-time cleanup]

Features

• Multi-file uploads through a browser UI.
• Temporary boxes with configurable retention choices.
• Optional password protection per box.
• Individual file downloads or a single ZIP download.
• One-time download mode for ZIP-only handoff.
• Background thumbnails for image files.
• Plain filesystem storage, with JSON manifests next to uploaded files.
• No database required.

How It Fits Together

flowchart TB
    Browser[Browser UI]
    Server[Go HTTP server]
    Manifest[Box manifest JSON]
    Files[Uploaded files]
    Thumbs[Generated thumbnails]

    Browser -->|create box / upload / poll| Server
    Server --> Manifest
    Server --> Files
    Server --> Thumbs
    Thumbs -->|preview URLs| Browser
    Files -->|downloads / ZIP| Browser

Quick Start

Requirements:

• Go 1.22 or newer.

Run the app:

go run ./cmd run

Then open:

http://localhost:8080

To listen somewhere else:

go run ./cmd run --addr :3000

Configuration

WarpBox mostly works with defaults. These environment variables tune polling and thumbnail generation.

Variable	Default	Minimum	What it does
WARPBOX_BOX_POLL_INTERVAL_MS	5000	1000	Browser polling interval for box/file status updates.
WARPBOX_THUMBNAIL_BATCH_SIZE	10	1	Number of pending thumbnails processed per worker pass.
WARPBOX_THUMBNAIL_INTERVAL_SECONDS	30	1	Delay between thumbnail worker passes.

Example:

WARPBOX_BOX_POLL_INTERVAL_MS=2000 \
WARPBOX_THUMBNAIL_BATCH_SIZE=20 \
WARPBOX_THUMBNAIL_INTERVAL_SECONDS=10 \
go run ./cmd run --addr :8080

Storage

Uploads are stored locally under:

data/uploads/

Each box gets its own directory containing the uploaded files and a .warpbox.json manifest. Image thumbnails are stored inside a box-local .thumbnails directory.

data/uploads/
+-- <box-id>/
    +-- .warpbox.json
    +-- file.txt
    +-- .thumbnails/
        +-- <file-id>.jpg

Project Layout

cmd/            CLI entrypoint
lib/server/     HTTP handlers and server setup
lib/routing/    Route registration
lib/boxstore/   Box storage, manifests, downloads, thumbnails
lib/helpers/    Small shared helpers
lib/models/     Shared request/response models
templates/      Server-rendered HTML
static/         CSS, JavaScript, fonts, icons, and images
docs/           Project documentation

Notes

WarpBox is intentionally simple. It uses the local filesystem as its backing store, relies on generated box IDs for share links, and keeps most behavior easy to follow from the Go handlers and the small browser scripts.

For a short implementation overview, see docs/tech.md.