Blog

Writing about Campsend.

File delivery, running your own software, and what I'm building. Subscribe by RSS, or read my longer essays on Substack.

  1. Building a file-sharing service with Rails 8 and SQLite

    One server, four SQLite files and fourteen gems. How Campsend is built, why Rails 8 removed most of the services it would otherwise run, and where SQLite stops being the right answer.

  2. Send Campsend download updates to Slack with Zapier

    Use Zapier to check Campsend for newly downloaded deliveries and post each one to Slack, with a read-only API token and no custom integration.

  3. Why I built an open source alternative to WeTransfer

    Campsend is an open-source, self-hostable alternative to services like WeTransfer, built for people who want control over how their files are stored and delivered.

  4. The best way to send finished files to clients

    Attachments, a transfer service, a shared drive or a delivery tool. What each one costs you, and the question that decides which one you want.

  5. How to know if a client downloaded a file

    Whether you can find out depends on how you sent it. What an attachment, Drive, Dropbox and WeTransfer each tell you, and what it takes to get a straight answer.

  6. Sending a file to a client from a script

    Campsend could send a file from Claude before it could send one from a shell script. Three curl calls, and one of them goes straight to storage.

  7. A Firefox Send alternative that’s still running

    Firefox Send shut down in 2020. Campsend keeps the three things it got right, and is honest about the one it doesn’t.

  8. A Google Drive alternative for sending one file to one person

    Drive manages permanent access to files. A delivery has an end, so it needs a link that expires by itself.

  9. A Dropbox alternative for sending finished work

    Dropbox keeps a folder in sync forever. Handing over finished work is a different job, and it needs a different tool.