Orb — Zero-Trust Folder Tunneling Tool

Orb is a secure, terminal-first utility that allows you to share a local folder across the internet using end-to-end encryption. No accounts, no cloud storage, no port forwarding required.

Demo

Sharing a Folder

Share a folder with a single command - encrypted end-to-end

Browsing Shared Files

Interactive TUI browser for secure file access

Features

• Zero-Trust Architecture: The relay server never sees plaintext data
• Strong Cryptography: Argon2id for key derivation, Noise Protocol for handshake, ChaCha20-Poly1305 for transport encryption
• Cross-Platform: Works on Linux, macOS, and Windows
• NAT-Safe: All connections are outbound, works behind firewalls
• TUI File Browser: Interactive terminal interface for browsing and downloading files
• No Long-Term Secrets: Sessions expire automatically
• Secure by Design: Path sanitization, symlink protection, replay protection

Quick Start

Install

# Download the binary for your platform
curl -L https://github.com/Zayan-Mohamed/orb/releases/latest/download/orb-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m) -o orb
chmod +x orb
sudo mv orb /usr/local/bin/

Or build from source.

Share a Folder

orb share ./myfolder

Output:

Session ID: abc123def456
Passcode: secure-random-passcode
Relay: ws://localhost:8080

Share these credentials securely with the recipient.
Waiting for connection...

Connect to a Shared Folder

orb connect 7F9Q2A

Prompts for passcode, then opens an interactive file browser.

Commands

orb share <path>

Share a local directory over an encrypted tunnel.

Options:

• --relay <url>: Relay server URL (default: http://localhost:8080)
• --readonly: Share folder in read-only mode

Example:

orb share ./documents --readonly

orb connect <session-id>

Connect to a shared session.

Options:

• --relay <url>: Relay server URL
• --passcode <code>: Session passcode (prompts if not provided)
• --tui: Use TUI file browser (default: true)
• --mount <path>: Mount point for FUSE (Linux/macOS only)

Example:

orb connect 7F9Q2A --passcode 493-771 --tui

orb relay

Start a relay server.

Options:

• --listen <addr>: Listen address (default: :8080)

Example:

orb relay --listen 0.0.0.0:8080

Security Features

Cryptography

• Key Derivation: Argon2id with 64MB memory, 3 iterations
• Handshake: Noise Protocol Framework with X25519 key exchange
• Transport: ChaCha20-Poly1305 authenticated encryption
• Random Generation: Cryptographically secure random numbers

Protection Against

• Passcode brute force (Argon2id memory-hard function)
• Replay attacks (unique nonces per packet)
• Man-in-the-middle (Noise Protocol mutual authentication)
• Path traversal (path sanitization and validation)
• Symlink attacks (symlink resolution and boundary checking)
• Session hijacking (rate limiting and session locking)
• Relay compromise (end-to-end encryption, relay is blind)

Filesystem Security

• All paths are sanitized and validated
• Symlinks pointing outside the shared directory are blocked
• No execution of files remotely
• Configurable read-only mode
• Automatic session expiration

Architecture

Orb consists of three components:

1. CLI: User interface for sharing and connecting
2. Relay Server: Blind byte pipe that forwards encrypted data
3. Encrypted Tunnel: End-to-end encrypted communication channel

┌─────────┐                  ┌───────────┐                  ┌─────────┐
│ Sharer  │◄────encrypted────►│   Relay   │◄────encrypted────►│Receiver │
│  (CLI)  │                  │  Server   │                  │  (CLI)  │
└─────────┘                  └───────────┘                  └─────────┘
     │                              │                              │
     │                              │                              │
     └──────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────┘
              All encryption happens at the edges
              Relay never sees plaintext data

Building from Source

Prerequisites

• Go 1.22 or later
• Make (optional, but recommended)

Build

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Zayan-Mohamed/orb.git
cd orb

# Install dependencies
go mod download

# Build for current platform
make build-local

# Or build for all platforms
./build.sh

Cross-Platform Builds

# Build for all platforms
./build.sh

# Binaries will be in build/
ls build/
# orb-linux-amd64
# orb-linux-arm64
# orb-darwin-amd64
# orb-darwin-arm64
# orb-windows-amd64.exe

Development

Run Tests

make test

Code Coverage

go test -cover ./...

Run Relay Server Locally

make relay

Run Sharer

make share

Run Receiver

SESSION=<session-id> make connect

Configuration

Orb uses sensible defaults and requires no configuration files. All settings are passed via command-line flags.

Documentation

For comprehensive documentation, visit the Orb Documentation:

• Getting Started

  • Installation Guide
  • First Steps
  • Usage Examples

• User Guides

  • Sharing Files
  • Connecting
  • TUI Browser
  • Troubleshooting

• Security

  • Cryptography Details
  • Best Practices
  • Threat Model

• Deployment

  • Relay Server
  • Production
  • Docker

• Development

  • Building from Source
  • Contributing
  • API Reference

Building Documentation Site

# Install MkDocs
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Serve locally
mkdocs serve

# Build static site
mkdocs build

Platform-Specific Notes

Linux

• TUI mode works out of the box
• Install: Use provided binaries or build from source

macOS

• TUI mode works out of the box
• Install: Use provided binaries or build from source

Windows

• TUI mode works out of the box
• Install: Use provided binaries or build from source

Limitations

• Maximum file size: Limited by available memory (10MB per read operation)
• Sessions expire after 24 hours
• Maximum 5 failed passcode attempts before session lock
• Read-only access (no file upload/modification)

Security Disclosure

If you discover a security vulnerability, please email [email protected]. Do not create public issues for security vulnerabilities.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read Contributing Guide for guidelines.

Acknowledgments

• Noise Protocol Framework
• ChaCha20-Poly1305 (RFC 8439)
• Argon2id (RFC 9106)
• Bubble Tea TUI framework
• Go crypto libraries