File sharing and chat over onion services
OnionShare
Send a file, receive one, or host a page without any server in between.
- License
- GPL-3.0
- Onion support
- Built on onion services
- Reaches the network
- Only through the gateway's Tor
What it is for
Turns your own machine into a temporary onion service, so the person on the other end connects to you through Tor and nobody else holds your files.
- 01Share files and folders by handing someone an address and a key.
- 02Receive files from a source who only needs Tor Browser to upload.
- 03Host a small static website, or open a private chat room, from your own desktop.
Why it helps your privacy
No third party holds the data
Files travel from your machine to theirs through Tor. There is no upload to a cloud host that could log, scan or hand them over.
Both ends stay hidden
The service address is an onion address, so the recipient never learns your IP and you never learn theirs.
Gone when you stop
Closing the share takes the address offline. Nothing is left on a server to delete later.
Private by key
By default a visitor needs both the address and a private key, so a guessed or leaked address alone opens nothing.
Onion services
Built on onion services
Every share is a v3 onion service. Visitors reach it with Tor Browser; it never needs a clearnet address.
How it is set up in Ombra
- How it reaches Tor
- The desktop has no Tor of its own. OnionShare asks the gateway to publish the service through a restricted control-port broker.
- What the broker allows
- Only ADD_ONION and DEL_ONION, on ports 17600 to 17659, pointing back at the desktop. Nothing else on the gateway is reachable.
- Where files land
- Received files are saved under the OnionShare folder in your home directory.