sendback

Send files back through your SSH session.

# On any server you're SSH'd into:
sendback results.tar.gz
# → File appears in ~/Downloads on your laptop

No scp paths, no NAT issues, no firewall hassles.

Installation

Option 1: Pre-built binaries (easiest)

On your laptop (macOS/Linux, system-wide):

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yipihey/sendback/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

This installs to /usr/local/bin/sendback (requires sudo).

On servers (no sudo required):

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yipihey/sendback/main/scripts/install.sh | bash -s -- --local

This installs to ~/.local/bin/sendback. Make sure ~/.local/bin is in your PATH:

echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Option 2: Install via Cargo (crates.io)

Requires Rust (install with curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh).

cargo install sendback

Where does it install?

• Binary goes to ~/.cargo/bin/sendback
• No build files are left behind (cargo cleans up automatically)
• Make sure ~/.cargo/bin is in your PATH (rustup adds this during installation)

To update later:

cargo install sendback --force

Option 3: Clone and build manually

git clone https://github.com/yipihey/sendback.git
cd sendback
cargo build --release
# Binary is at ./target/release/sendback
# Copy it wherever you want, or run: cargo install --path .

Build artifacts: The target/ directory contains build files (~500MB). You can delete it after copying the binary, or add it to .gitignore (already done).

Quick Start

1. On your laptop — start the listener

sendback listen              # Run in a terminal (keep it open), or:
sendback service install     # Auto-start on login (background)

2. Connect to servers with the reverse tunnel

ssh -R 19283:localhost:19283 yourserver

Pro tip: Add an alias to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc:

alias sshr='ssh -R 19283:localhost:19283'

Then just use sshr yourserver.

3. Send files back

sendback file.tar.gz         # Single file
sendback *.log               # Multiple files
sendback check               # Verify tunnel works

Files appear in ~/Downloads on your laptop (configurable).

Features

• Zstd compression — faster transfers over slow connections
• Resume support — interrupted transfers continue where they left off
• Transfer history — sendback history shows past transfers
• Multi-hop friendly — works with jump hosts/bastions
• Secure — SSH-encrypted, localhost-only, checksum-verified

Troubleshooting

sendback check               # Run on server — diagnose tunnel issues
sendback doctor              # Run on laptop — health check

Common issues:

• "Nothing listening" — Start sendback listen on your laptop
• "Connection refused" — Connect with -R 19283:localhost:19283
• "Early EOF" — Version mismatch; update sendback on both machines

Configuration

sendback config --show                    # View current config
sendback config --download-dir ~/Documents
sendback config --compression false

Config file location: ~/.config/sendback/config.toml

How It Works

LAPTOP                              SERVER
┌──────────────┐                   ┌──────────────┐
│  sendback    │ ◄──────────────── │  sendback    │
│  (listen)    │   SSH reverse     │  file.tar.gz │
│  :19283      │   tunnel (-R)     │              │
└──────────────┘                   └──────────────┘

SSH's -R flag creates a reverse tunnel from server back to laptop. sendback streams files through this encrypted tunnel.

Uninstalling

If installed via cargo:

cargo uninstall sendback

If installed via install script:

rm /usr/local/bin/sendback      # system-wide install
# or
rm ~/.local/bin/sendback        # local install

Config and data:

rm -rf ~/.config/sendback       # config file
rm -rf ~/.local/share/sendback  # transfer history

Feedback

Questions, bugs, or feature requests: sendback@tomabel.org

GitHub: https://github.com/yipihey/sendback

License

MIT