Single-use codes, or a peer you keep.
Magic Wormhole moves files with a single-use code that someone types on the receiving machine, from the command line. KEIBIDROP keeps saved peers so there is no code to pass along, it has a GUI as well as a CLI, and it can mount the other machine's folder so you browse it and pull one file.
| KEIBIDROP | Magic Wormhole | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | GUI and CLI | CLI and a Python library |
| Per-transfer code | No, saved peers | Yes, single-use, typed by hand |
| Browse the other side | Yes, it mounts | No |
| Open a file without receiving the folder | Yes | No |
| Account | None | None |
| File bytes through a public relay | Only through the bridge, when direct fails | Through the transit relay, when direct fails |
| Works on one local network with the server down | Yes, multicast discovery | No, every code comes from the mailbox server |
| Resume after a drop | Per chunk | No, the transfer starts over |
| Encryption | End to end, X25519 with ML-KEM-1024 | End to end, PAKE |
| Source code | Open, AGPL-3.0 | Open, MIT |
| Scriptable | JSON line per command | Python library |
The two sides exchange an 86 character fingerprint once and connect on it afterwards, so a folder you use every week costs nothing to reopen. A Magic Wormhole code is single use and someone has to read it out and type it in.
During pairing each side leaves an encrypted note on the relay and fetches the other side's note. No file bytes pass through it: they go direct when the two machines can reach each other, and through the bridge when they cannot. On one local network the peers find each other by a multicast announcement and the relay is not involved. A session that is already open keeps running if the relay goes down. Magic Wormhole's mailbox server issues the code for every transfer and its transit relay forwards the bytes when a direct connection fails, so nothing starts while the mailbox server is unreachable. Both of its servers can be self-hosted. The paths are described in Network paths.
KEIBIDROP tracks each file per chunk in a sidecar next to it, so a pull that drops continues from the chunks that already arrived. Magic Wormhole starts an interrupted transfer over; a restart is the most reacted request in its issue tracker.
KEIBIDROP mounts the other machine's folder as a folder on yours, and a read pulls only the bytes it touches, so you open the one file you came for instead of receiving a whole directory. It is a real filesystem, so Premiere, Resolve, Blender, grep and git open a path on it the way they open a local one.
KEIBIDROP is AGPL-3.0, so anyone can confirm the key exchange is X25519 with ML-KEM-1024, and a recording taken today has to break both halves to be read once quantum hardware exists.
No. KeibiDrop peers exchange an 86 character fingerprint once and connect on it afterwards. Magic Wormhole codes are single use and typed on the receiving machine.
Yes, and a CLI with a JSON line per command for scripting and agents. Magic Wormhole is a command line tool and a Python library.
Yes. KeibiDrop mounts the folder, so you browse it and pull only the files you open.
A session that is already open keeps running, because the relay carries no file bytes. Peers on one local network still find each other by multicast. A new pairing across networks waits until the relay answers again.
No. KeibiDrop tracks each file per chunk in a sidecar next to it, so a pull that drops continues from the chunks that already arrived.
Compared with Blip · Compared with LocalSend · Compared with croc · Network paths · Install