Beta

Sharing a file

Sharing on a traditional cloud means granting a server permission to show your data to someone. Sharing in Opake means handing someone a key to your file. Different model, different threat profile.

How sharing works #

Sharing a file doesn't move the file. It stays right in your cabinet.

What you actually send your recipient is a small, one-of-a-kind key for that one file. The key is locked so only that specific recipient can open it. Opake calls this little key-package a Grant.

Your recipient uses their own identity to unlock the Grant, then reads the file straight from your storage. Your storage provider can't read any of it — not the file, not its name, not the key inside the Grant. They just hold scrambled bytes.

1. Sharing with a Handle #

To share a file, you just need the recipient's AT Protocol handle (e.g., @bob.bsky.social).

  1. Select a file in your cabinet.
  2. Click the Share icon.
  3. Enter the recipient's handle.
  4. Opake looks up their identity, encrypts the file's key just for them, and publishes the Grant.

2. What if my friend's handle changes? #

Handles can change. Someone might move to a different PDS provider, or just pick a new handle for a rebrand. Every account also has a permanent DID (like did:plc:z724xy...) that stays put for life. When you share a file by handle, Opake quietly resolves the handle to the DID and writes the grant against that. Even if the handle changes later, the grant still points at the right person. Nothing you need to do.

3. Revoking access #

To stop sharing a file, delete the grant record.

There's an important nuance. Once a recipient has decrypted a file, they have the plaintext locally. Deleting the grant prevents them from fetching future updates or re-downloading if they lose their copy, but it can't reach out across the network to delete what they already have on disk.