🔐 BurnAfterRead

Privacy-first, end-to-end encrypted, self-destructing data sharing.

BurnAfterRead lets you securely share sensitive data (text for now) using links that expire after being read.

No accounts. No tracking. No server-side access to your secrets.

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✨ Features

• 🔐 End-to-end encryption (AES-GCM) — data is encrypted in your browser
• 🔑 Zero-knowledge architecture — server never sees the decryption key
• 💣 Burn after read — data is destroyed after access
• ⏳ Time-based expiration (TTL)
• 🔁 Limited views
• 🧠 Atomic reads via Durable Objects
• 🕶️ Paranoid mode — minimal metadata, no logs

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🧠 How it works

Encryption flow

plaintext → (browser) → encrypt → ciphertext → server

Decryption flow

ciphertext → (browser + key from URL) → decrypt → plaintext

Key detail

https://app/d/<id>#k=<secret-key>

• id → sent to server
• key → stays in browser (URL fragment, never sent)

👉 The server cannot decrypt your data, even if compromised.

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🏗️ Architecture

• Frontend: React + Web Crypto API

• Backend: Cloudflare Workers

• Storage:

  • D1 → metadata
  • R2 → encrypted blobs

• Concurrency control: Durable Objects

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🔁 Read lifecycle

1. Client requests /api/drops/:id

2. Worker delegates to Durable Object

3. Durable Object:

   • checks TTL
   • checks remaining views
   • decrements counter atomically

4. If last read → deletes:

   • D1 record
   • R2 object

5. Returns ciphertext

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🚀 Local development

1. Install

npm install

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2. Run database migration

npx wrangler d1 execute burnafterread-db --local --file=./migrations/0001_init.sql

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3. Build frontend

npm run build

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4. Start dev server

npx wrangler dev

Open:

http://localhost:8787

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🧪 API

Create drop

POST /api/drops

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🧰 CLI

BurnAfterRead also provides a CLI tool for secure sharing directly from your terminal.

Install

npm install -g burnafter

Or use without installation:

npx burnafter

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Usage

burnafter send <file>
burnafter send --text "secret message"

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Options

• --text <text> — send raw text instead of file
• --ttl <seconds> — time to live (default: 86400)
• --views <number> — number of allowed views (default: 1)
• --paranoid — delete immediately after first access

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Examples

burnafter send secret.txt

burnafter send --text "my password"

burnafter send config.env --ttl 3600 --views 1

burnafter send archive.zip --paranoid

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How it works

• Data is encrypted locally (AES-GCM) before upload
• The server stores only encrypted data
• The decryption key is included in the URL fragment (#k=...)
• The server never sees or stores the key

👉 The CLI provides the same zero-knowledge guarantees as the web app.

Body:

{
  "ciphertext": "...",
  "ttl_seconds": 86400,
  "views": 1,
  "kind": "text",
  "size_bytes": 123,
  "paranoid": true
}

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Read drop

GET /api/drops/:id

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⚠️ Security notes

• Encryption happens only on the client
• The server stores ciphertext only
• Decryption key is never transmitted
• No authentication → links are the only access control
• If you lose the link → data is gone forever

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🧭 Roadmap

• [Х] File support (up to 5MB)
• [Х] CLI tool (burnafter)
• QR sharing
• Dead-man switch
• Multi-part secrets

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📜 License

MIT

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💡 Philosophy

Built by a human, for humans. No tracking. No data harvesting. No bullshit.