Files

A file chosen on one device lands in another's download folder over the same connection everything else uses, with progress and a cancel at either end. A device can also offer a file for another to fetch, which is how the clipboard carries large content.

Sending from a desktop

lpctl files send phone ~/Pictures/holiday.jpg ~/Documents/notes.pdf

The device is named by its display name, or by a prefix of its key or fingerprint as lpctl devices shows them. Several files go in one transfer; the receiver decides how many move at once (a phone takes one at a time, a desktop four), so a small file never waits behind a large one for long. The command prints the transfer id and returns; the transfer runs in the daemon.

lpctl files transfers          # what is in flight, with progress
lpctl files cancel <transfer>  # stop one; nothing partial is left on either side

Sending from the phone

Share one or several files to Send to my devices and pick the device that should receive them. A notification shows the transfer with a progress bar and Cancel, and becomes Sent at the end. Only files other apps hand over through the share sheet can be sent; the app never opens paths of its own.

Receiving

Nothing to do. A received file lands in the download folder (XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR or ~/Downloads on Linux, ~/Downloads on the Mac, Downloads on the phone) under its own name; a name already taken gets a number. The file is written to a temporary name and renamed into place only after its hash has been checked, so a half-received file never looks like a whole one. Linux announces a received file with a notification; the phone's transfer notification becomes Received, and tapping it opens the file.

Offering and fetching

Instead of pushing, a device can offer a file and let another fetch it:

lpctl files offer ~/big.iso        # prints the offer's id
lpctl files offers                 # what this device offers
lpctl files withdraw <id>

and on the other device:

lpctl files get laptop <id>              # into the download folder
lpctl files get laptop <id> --to /mnt/x  # or somewhere else

Offers live in memory: they end when the daemon stops or the connection drops. A fetch of a withdrawn id is refused.

Limits

• One connection per pair of devices carries everything, so a transfer shares the link with the clipboard and notifications; chunks are small enough that neither stalls the other.
• Files travel between your own devices only. Sharing with other people is specified but not built.
• There is no resume: a transfer that drops is started again from the beginning.