LocalSend over the internet – what to use when you leave the LAN
LocalSend is excellent. Open source, cross-platform, no account, no cloud – for moving a file between two devices in the same room, it is hard to beat, and we recommend it without reservation.
But LocalSend is built for one situation: devices on the same local network, online at the same time. A lot of searches for "LocalSend web" or "LocalSend over internet" are really asking: what do I use when that stops being true?
Where LocalSend stops
- LocalSend's web app is still same-network style. LocalSend does ship a hosted Web App, but it's still a direct, device-to-device handoff on the same network – not a hosted relay or a public expiring link.
- Your VPS is not on your Wi-Fi. A cloud box or a headless server never shows up in LocalSend's device discovery.
- Both sides must be online at once. No async handoff – you can't send now and let the other side pick it up tonight.
- No agent surface. An AI agent (Claude Code on a server, an MCP client) can't be a LocalSend peer.
What YAFL does differently
| LocalSend | YAFL | |
|---|---|---|
| Network scope | Same LAN | Anywhere with internet |
| Timing | Both online simultaneously | Async – 24h link as the buffer |
| Receiver | LocalSend app | Browser, CLI, or any MCP agent |
| Encryption | TLS between devices | End-to-end: encrypted client-side, key only in the URL #fragment – the app server never handles the bytes, storage holds ciphertext only |
| Agents / automation | – | MCP server (npx @yafldev/mcp), CLI with stable exit codes |
| Cleanup | – | Links self-destruct after 24 hours (or one-time links that burn on first download) |
| Price | Free | Free tier (100 MB) – free account to send, nothing to receive |
When to use which
- Two phones or laptops in the same room → LocalSend.
- Laptop → VPS, or any cloud machine → YAFL.
- An AI agent needs to send or receive the file → YAFL.
- The recipient is somewhere else on the planet, maybe asleep → YAFL – send the link now, it works for 24 hours.
- Want a no-account, live-code terminal option instead of a web app? See Magic Wormhole vs YAFL.
FAQ
Can LocalSend send files over the internet? LocalSend is designed for local networks; the devices must be able to reach each other directly. For transfers across the internet – to a VPS, another city, or an AI agent – use a link-based tool like YAFL: upload once (encrypted client-side), share the link, and the other side downloads within 24 hours.
Is there a LocalSend web version? Yes – LocalSend ships a hosted Web App, but it's still a direct, same-network transfer, not a public expiring link. If what you want is "drag a file into the browser, get a link anyone can open, from any network," that is exactly what yafl.dev does – a LocalSend alternative for the internet side, with end-to-end encryption and links that expire after 24 hours.
Install: npx -y @yafldev/mcp with
YAFL_API_KEY set, or the one-liner
curl -fsSL https://yafl.dev/install.sh | sh.