DeadDrop

Encrypted delay-tolerant networking for computers that are not always online at the same time.

Install it on a machine at home. Install it on a laptop. Send a file. When the two machines can reach each other — same Wi‑Fi, a USB stick, a visit later — the file moves. Neither side has to stay connected.

No account. No cloud. No assumption that both endpoints are up at once.

Store it.  Carry it.  Discover.  Exchange.  Forward.

flowchart LR
  subgraph home [Home PC]
    A[dd send]
  end
  subgraph path [Existing path]
    L[LAN TCP]
    U[USB stick]
  end
  subgraph other [Laptop]
    B[dd receive]
  end
  A --> L --> B
  A --> U --> B

The machines never need a simultaneous live session for the application to queue work. Delivery happens on the next contact: a TCP session on your LAN, or a .ddrop file you copy onto a stick.

Install

crates.io (Rust toolchain):

cargo install deaddrop-app --locked

SDK: deaddrop-sdk · docs.rs. CLI crate: deaddrop-app. Also deaddrop-core, deaddrop-net.

GitHub Releases (Linux, Windows, and macOS, x86_64 and ARM64): latest. Archives include dd, dd-daemon, dd-relay, and dd-sim, SHA-256 checksums, an SPDX SBOM, and Sigstore bundles.

# from a release (needs cargo-binstall)

cargo binstall --git https://github.com/theworker02/deaddrop deaddrop-app


# Homebrew formula attached to the release (not homebrew-core)

brew install --formula https://github.com/theworker02/deaddrop/releases/latest/download/deaddrop.rb

Windows: download the x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip or the winget/ manifests from the same release and run winget install --manifest <dir>.

From this repo:

git clone https://github.com/theworker02/deaddrop

cd deaddrop

cargo install --path crates/deaddrop-app --locked

Or run in place:

cargo run -p deaddrop-app --bin dd -- --help

Binaries: dd, dd-daemon, dd-relay, dd-sim.

Two computers on a home network

Computer A (the one that will listen, e.g. the desktop):

dd --data-dir ./home init

dd --data-dir ./home daemon start --listen 0.0.0.0:7947

dd --data-dir ./home daemon install   # optional: start at login (systemd user / LaunchAgent / Windows logon task)

Copy ./home/identity.pub.ddcontact to the other computer (shared folder, email to yourself, USB — anything).

Computer B (the one that sends, e.g. the laptop):

dd --data-dir ./laptop init

dd --data-dir ./laptop import ./identity.pub.ddcontact --name home

dd --data-dir ./laptop send ./photo.jpg --to home

dd --data-dir ./laptop connect --to home

If beacons are blocked, pass the home PC LAN IP: dd connect --peer 192.168.1.20:7947. Windows: ipconfig. macOS/Linux: ip addr or ifconfig.

dd peer list shows imported contacts plus any live LAN address the daemon is advertising.

Computer A, after the session:

dd --data-dir ./home receive

The payload is end-to-end encrypted. The listening node decrypts only if it is the recipient. A machine that merely forwards or carries a Drop cannot read a private file.

dd connect is an alias of dd sync. With the daemon running on the other computer it can pick up the LAN beacon and skip typing an IP.

No network? USB sneakernet

On the sender:

dd --data-dir ./laptop export pending --output E:/pending.ddrop

Walk the stick to the other computer:

dd --data-dir ./home import E:/pending.ddrop

dd --data-dir ./home receive

That is the same protocol object as a LAN transfer — stored, carried, imported, decrypted.

What this is (and is not)

Works today	Not in this tree
Encrypted Drops, content-addressed chunks	Bluetooth / BLE
TCP sessions on your LAN	Wi-Fi Direct
UDP LAN beacons when the daemon is running	A required cloud
USB / folder `.ddrop` carriers	Anonymity
Resume at chunk boundaries	WASM routing plugins

Wire protocol: DDP/2. Crate version: 2.6.0.

Application  →  deaddrop-sdk  →  deaddrop-net  →  deaddrop-core

Architecture

flowchart TB
  App[Your command or app]
  SDK[DeadDrop SDK]
  Net[Networking: TCP, LAN beacons, routing]
  Core[DDP core: identity, encrypt, chunk, store]
  App --> SDK --> Net --> Core

Delay-tolerant path — none of these hops need to exist at the same moment:

sequenceDiagram
  participant Alice
  participant Stick as USB stick
  participant Home as Home PC
  Alice->>Alice: encrypt + store Drop
  Alice->>Stick: export .ddrop
  Note over Stick: hours or days later
  Stick->>Home: import
  Home->>Home: decrypt if recipient

CLI

dd init | status | identity | peer | send | receive
dd daemon start | stop | status | install | uninstall
dd connect | dd connect --to NAME | dd sync --peer HOST:7947
dd export pending | import
dd peer list | radar | doctor [--repair] | inspect | completion

Every command has --help. Machine output: --json. Completions: dd completion powershell (also bash, zsh, fish).

SDK

let dd = deaddrop_sdk::DeadDrop::open_dir(std::path::Path::new("./home"))?;
dd.send(deaddrop_sdk::Recipient::from("laptop"), b"hello").await?;

Applications should depend on deaddrop-sdk only.

Docs and spec

License

MIT OR Apache-2.0

deaddrop-core 2.6.0