LocalServer

A local file sharing server with a desktop UI, Cloudflare tunnel for external access, and real-time activity monitoring. Drop a file in via browser, double-click the filename in the menu, and the share link is on your clipboard.

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How it works

Flask backend (server.py) — serves files on port 713. Each uploaded file gets a random 8-character ID. Upload is restricted to localhost only; download and preview are public via the tunnel URL. Routes:

• POST /upload — saves file, writes metadata JSON entry
• GET /files/<id> — share link, logs access event, redirects to preview
• GET /preview/<id> — preview page with download + inline view
• GET /download/<id> — direct download
• DELETE /files/<id> — removes file + metadata entry
• GET /api/files — JSON list of all files
• GET /api/activity — recent access log

On startup, reconcile_upload_folder() diffs the uploads folder against metadata and removes orphans in both directions — prevents ghost entries after crashes.

Tunnel (tunnel_runner.py) — spawns cloudflared as a subprocess, watches stdout for the trycloudflare.com URL, writes it to tunnel_url.txt. The menu and server read from that file whenever they need the current public URL.

Menu app (menu_app.py) — CustomTkinter window. Polls server status and tunnel_url.txt every 5 seconds in a background thread. File list shows the 10 most recent uploads; double-click copies <tunnel_url>/files/<id> to clipboard. Activity log tracks uploads, link copies, tunnel URL changes, and access events live.

Upload handler (upload_handler.py) — handles chunked uploads from the browser and shows a Windows toast notification on completion.

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Setup

The project expects to live at C:\LocalServer. menu_app.py and tray_app.py both have self.server_dir = Path("C:/LocalServer") hardcoded. If you put it somewhere else, edit those two lines.

1. Clone or copy the project to C:\LocalServer
2. Install cloudflared — it's expected at C:\Program Files (x86)\cloudflared\cloudflared.exe. If yours is elsewhere, edit line 9 of tunnel_runner.py.
3. Install dependencies:

   pip install flask requests pyperclip plyer customtkinter psutil pystray pillow

4. Run the menu:

   python menu_app.py

5. Click Start Server — Flask starts on port 713, tunnel comes up within ~10 seconds
6. Click Upload Files to open the browser upload page
7. Double-click any file in the list to copy its share link

Optional — right-click context menu (right-click any file → "Share to My Server"):

python context_menu.py --install
# to remove:
python context_menu.py --uninstall

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Security model

Route	Access
POST /upload	Localhost only
DELETE /files/<id>	Localhost only
GET / (file list)	Localhost only
GET /api/files, /api/activity	Localhost only
GET /files/<id>, /preview/<id>, /download/<id>	Public (via tunnel)

"Localhost only" is enforced by checking for the absence of the Cf-Connecting-Ip header — Cloudflare always adds this, so tunnel traffic is blocked from upload/delete/listing routes.

Share links are public by design, but each file gets a random 8-character ID (secrets.choice from 62 chars). There's no file enumeration endpoint exposed publicly.

Access logging — data/access_log.json records the IP, user agent, and event type for every download/preview/share link open. This file stays local and is excluded from the repo via .gitignore.

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Files

File	Purpose
server.py	Flask server, routes, metadata, access logging
menu_app.py	CustomTkinter desktop UI
tray_app.py	Alternative system tray UI
tunnel_runner.py	Cloudflare tunnel subprocess + URL extraction
upload_handler.py	Chunked upload handler + toast notifications
context_menu.py	Windows context menu integration
cleanup_orphans.py	Standalone orphan file cleaner
menu_ui.py	CustomTkinter UI with full server logic (themed version)
menu_ui_demo.py	Theme test demo — UI only, no server logic
menu_ui_original.py	Original tkinter menu (kept for comparison)
config.json	Port, storage paths, auto-delete settings
templates/	Upload page + file preview page (HTML)
static/	CSS + JS for the web UI

~3,100 lines across 10 Python modules.