☕ FileCoffee

FileCoffee is a secure, real-time, peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing application. It allows you to share files of any size directly between devices without ever storing them on a server.

The application uses WebRTC for direct data transfer and a lightweight Rust backend for signaling. The frontend is built with React, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS for a modern, responsive user experience.

✨ Features

• Peer-to-Peer Transfer: Files go directly from the sender to the receiver. No intermediate storage.
• Privacy First: Since the server doesn't store files, your data remains private.
• Real-time: Instant connection and transfer start.
• Password Protection: Secure your file transfers with a password (optional).

🏗 Architecture

FileCoffee operates on a P2P architecture:

1. Signaling: The Rust backend (warp) acts as a signaling server. It helps two peers (browsers) find each other and exchange connection details (SDP offers/answers and ICE candidates).
2. Connection: Once signaled, a direct WebRTC Data Channel is established between the two browsers.
3. Transfer: The file is chunked and streamed directly over the WebRTC channel.

🚀 Getting Started

Follow these instructions to get a copy of the project running on your local machine.

Prerequisites

• Rust: Install via rustup.rs (Ensure cargo is available).
• Node.js: Install the latest LTS version (Ensure npm is available).

1. Setup Backend

The backend handles the WebSocket signaling to connect peers.

# Navigate to the backend directory
cd backend

# Run the server
cargo run

The backend server will typically start on http://127.0.0.1:3030 (or similar, check console output).

2. Setup Frontend

The frontend provides the user interface for uploading and downloading files.

# Open a new terminal and navigate to the frontend directory
cd frontend/filecoffee-frontend

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Start the development server
npm run dev

The frontend will start on http://localhost:5173 (by default).

🐳 Docker

You can also run the entire application (Backend + Frontend + COTURN) using Docker Compose.

Development Mode

This runs the application in development mode with hot-reloading enabled for the frontend.

docker-compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml up --build

• Frontend: http://localhost:8080
• Backend: http://localhost:3030
• COTURN: Running on standard ports (3478, etc.)

Note: The Docker setup includes a local COTURN server to ensure P2P connections work reliably in isolated container networks.

⚙️ Configuration

The backend is configured via environment variables (or a .env file in the backend/ directory).

Variable	Description	Default
PORT	The port the backend server listens on.	3030
TURN_URL	The URL of your TURN server (e.g., turn:your-turn-server:3478).	turn:127.0.0.1:3478
TURN_SECRET	The shared secret for TURN authentication.	development_secret_key
TURN_REALM	The realm for the TURN server.	localhost

📖 Usage

1. Sender: Open the app, select a file to upload.
2. Sender: (Optional) Set a password for the transfer.
3. Sender: Copy the generated share link.
4. Receiver: Open the link in a different browser or device.
5. Receiver: (If applicable) Enter the password.
6. Receiver: The download starts immediately via WebRTC!

Note: For P2P to work across different networks (not just localhost), you may need a STUN/TURN server configuration in your WebRTC setup. The default STUN servers (like Google's) usually work for most consumer NATs.