HAMAL

Fast, private, temporary file and clipboard transfer.

What is HAMAL?

HAMAL (Turkish for porter / carrier) is a lightweight, self-hosted web application for temporary file and text transfers between devices on the same LAN / Wi-Fi network.

The idea is simple: create a temporary room, share the generated QR code or local link, and move digital cargo between devices without a cloud upload, account system, advertising, or telemetry.

HAMAL is built around short-lived transfer rooms rather than permanent storage. Rooms expire automatically, and their temporary files and text follow the room lifecycle.

How it works

1. Create a temporary room.
2. Optionally protect it with a PIN.
3. Scan the QR code or open the local room link.
4. Transfer files or send temporary text between connected devices.
5. Let the room expire automatically, or close it manually from the creator dashboard. Only the room creator can close a room.

Screenshots

The current interface uses a dark, high-contrast visual language with warm amber accents and responsive layouts for desktop and mobile.

Home / Create Room

Creator Dashboard

Temporary Text / Clipboard

Client — Desktop

Key Features

• 📋 Temporary Text / Clipboard: Send plain text, commands, logs, JSON/YAML, URLs, configuration snippets, and other technical text through the same temporary room.
• 🔄 Two-Way CLIENT ↔ CLIENT Text Sharing: Both devices can send text through the same room. Messages are labelled CLIENT and system activity is labelled SERVER.
• 📎 One-Click Copy: Every shared client message can be copied as the original plain text, preserving multiline content and formatting.
• 🚀 Zero Setup for Participants: Scan a QR code or open a local link to immediately upload/download files or use the temporary Text / Clipboard channel.
• ⏱️ Auto-Expiring Rooms: Rooms automatically expire and clean up temporary content after a configurable TTL.
• 🔒 PIN Protection: Optional 4–8 digit PIN with exponential backoff and lockout to prevent brute-force attacks.
• 📦 True Streaming I/O: Multi-gigabyte transfers stream directly to disk without exhausting server RAM.
• 🎨 Responsive HAMAL UI: Dark-first interface with warm amber accents, plus a preserved light theme for users who prefer it.
• 🔍 Interactive QR Lightbox: One-click smooth zoom for scanning QR codes from across the room.
• 🛡️ Self-Hosted & Private: Zero cloud dependencies, zero external analytics, zero tracking. All assets, including fonts, are served by your own instance; pages make no third-party requests.

Text messages are temporary and scoped to their room. They are removed with the room lifecycle; the text channel is a technical clipboard rather than a permanent chat application. Each message is limited to 64 KB (LAN_DROP_MAX_TEXT_SIZE), with up to 200 messages per room (LAN_DROP_MAX_TEXTS_PER_ROOM). System messages (labelled SERVER) share that capacity but never block user text: when a room is full, the oldest system messages are removed first. Text is stored exactly as sent, including leading indentation.

Security model

• Rooms are protected by unguessable links. The creator link controls the room; the participant link (the QR code) can upload, download and exchange text, but cannot close the room.
• The optional PIN is 4–8 digits. Until a participant has entered it, files, text and the list of connected devices are not disclosed.
• HAMAL does not encrypt files or text at rest, and it serves plain HTTP. On an untrusted network, put it behind an HTTPS reverse proxy. Files live under /data until their room expires or is closed.

Quick Start

Using Docker Compose (Recommended)

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/i1k3r/HAMAL.git
   cd HAMAL
   

2. Copy the sample environment file:

   cp compose.example.env .env
   

3. Start the container:

   docker compose up -d
   

4. Open your browser and navigate to:

   http://localhost:7700
   

Unraid Installation

1. Place unraid-template.xml into /boot/config/plugins/dockerMan/templates-user/ on your Unraid flash drive.
2. Go to the Docker tab in Unraid and click Add Container.
3. Select HAMAL from the template list.
4. Set your preferred web UI port and appdata directory path (/mnt/user/appdata/hamal), then click Apply.

Manual Binary Build (Go)

Prerequisites: Go 1.23+, GCC / CGO (for SQLite support).

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/i1k3r/HAMAL.git
cd HAMAL

# Run tests
go test ./...

# Build the executable
go build -o hamal ./cmd/lan-drop

# Run HAMAL
./hamal

Configuration

HAMAL is configured via environment variables:

Official Desktop Applications

HAMAL is available as a native, zero-cloud desktop application for multiple platforms:

• HAMAL for Windows: Native Windows desktop client packaged with MSIX and Microsoft Store distribution support.
• HAMAL for Linux: Native Linux desktop application and Snap package with WebKit2GTK engine and 20-language support.

Brand Assets

Official HAMAL vector logos and icons are available in the brand/ directory:

• brand/hamal-logo-dark.svg (Horizontal dark-mode wordmark)
• brand/hamal-logo-light.svg (Horizontal light-mode wordmark)
• brand/hamal-logo-stacked.svg (Stacked badge wordmark)
• brand/hamal-app-icon.svg (Square container icon)
• brand/hamal-monochrome.svg (Monochrome asset)
• brand/hamal-path-mark.svg (Vector path symbol)

License

HAMAL is source-available software licensed under the HAMAL Source-Available Organizational Use License.

Organizations may freely use, modify, fork, and deploy HAMAL for their own internal operations, including commercial business operations.

Commercial redistribution, resale, productization, and offering HAMAL or derivative works as a commercial service require separate permission from the copyright holder.

The bundled UI fonts (Inter, JetBrains Mono and Caveat) are third-party works licensed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1; their license texts are in internal/app/static/fonts/.