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webtorrent
instant.io
JavaScript2018–2020
webtorrent / instant.io

instant.io

🚀 Streaming file transfer over WebTorrent (torrents on the web)

Web DevelopmentNetworking
Explore on GitHubRead Hacker News discussions
3Distinct people
3Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
3.6KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

🚀 Streaming file transfer over WebTorrent (torrents on the web)

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use has been verified yet.

What people are saying

No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:56:07 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by month3 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2018-06-20 14:59:55 UTC to 2020-02-08 15:28:53 UTC.

012018-06-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-07-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 commentsJun 20182018-07-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-08-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-08-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-09-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-09-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-10-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-10-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-11-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-11-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-12-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-12-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-02-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2019-02-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2019-03-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-04-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2019-04-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-05-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 commentsApr 20192019-05-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-06-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2019-06-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-07-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2019-07-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-08-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2019-08-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-09-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2019-09-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-10-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2019-10-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-11-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2019-11-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-12-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2019-12-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-02-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2020-02-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 commentsFeb 2020

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
Jun 20182018-06-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-07-01 00:00:00 UTC101
Jul 20182018-07-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-08-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Aug 20182018-08-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-09-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Sep 20182018-09-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-10-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Oct 20182018-10-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-11-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Nov 20182018-11-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-12-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Dec 20182018-12-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Jan 20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-02-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Feb 20192019-02-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-03-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Mar 20192019-03-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-04-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Apr 20192019-04-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-05-01 00:00:00 UTC000
May 20192019-05-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-06-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Jun 20192019-06-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-07-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Jul 20192019-07-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-08-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Aug 20192019-08-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-09-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Sep 20192019-09-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-10-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Oct 20192019-10-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-11-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Nov 20192019-11-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-12-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Dec 20192019-12-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
Jan 20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-02-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Feb 20202020-02-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-03-01 00:00:00 UTC101

What Hacker News says

3 sources
e12e·Feb 8, 2020
Thank you. TIL: twilio runs a turn service: https://www.twilio.com/stun-turn Via https://github.com/webtorrent/instant.io/blob/master/README.... "Copy secret/index-sample.js to secret/index.js and set the Twilio API key if you want a NAT traversal service (to help peers connect when behind a firewall)." Are there any open source variants that combines browser p2p and a "permanent" seed server? I'd like to self-host a solution that let you upload (preferably via webtorrent) and share a file from a browser, but then let the server cache/host the file (preferably with http seeding support) - as well as give you a shareable magic link for classic torrent clients and a http url for browser download. As far as I can tell, most solution ion are either browser p2p only, or server to browser (download only)?
In Drop.lol – copy files over the network with WebRTC or TURN relays
thrwaway69·Dec 28, 2019
That's pretty neat. Currently I use dat, resync or ipfs to move big files around on CLI. Maybe I will try this next time I wanna share big files. Obligatory web alternatives that are peer to peer - [1]: https://github.com/kern/file.pizza https://file.pizza [2]: https://github.com/cowbell/sharedrop https://sharedrop.io [3]: https://github.com/webtorrent/instant.io https://instant.io [4]: https://github.com/RobinLinus/snapdrop https://snapdrop.net
In Ffsend – Share Files from the CLI: A Firefox Send Client Written in Rust
qrv3w·Jun 20, 2018
There are so many tools that can transfer files between two computers. I really like ones like this because you don't have to have SSH access or forward any ports to send a file from A to B. Its similar vein to other peer-to-peer utilities like zget [1], sharedrop [2], instant.io (webtorrent) [3], filepizza (webtorrent) [4], magic-wormhole [5], toss [6], dat [7], and many many others. During Hacktoberfest I also started my own, written in Go, so I could have my friends can use it without installing a Python ecosystem [8]. [1]: https://github.com/nils-werner/zget [2]: https://github.com/cowbell/sharedrop [3]: https://github.com/webtorrent/instant.io [4]: https://github.com/kern/filepizza [5]: https://github.com/warner/magic-wormhole [6]: https://github.com/zerotier/toss [7]: https://github.com/datproject/dat [8]: https://github.com/schollz
Read the rest
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In Transfer.sh – File sharing from the command line

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