DEV Community: TiniDrop

How to share a ZIP or PDF with a link (and upload via API)

TiniDrop — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 15:02:23 +0000

You finish a build. You have a ZIP, a PDF deck, or a small HTML folder. Someone needs it today — a client, a teammate, a reviewer.

Opening a Git repo for that is overkill. Emailing a 40 MB attachment is how files get lost in spam and forwards.

Here is a practical how-to: turn the file into a link, optionally see if it was opened, and (if you automate builds) upload it with a short API call.

I built this flow into TiniDrop because I kept hitting the same wall as a founder in Würzburg: the work was done, the handoff was the painful part.

When a link beats Git (and email)

Use a share link when:

The other person is not living in GitHub
You are handing off a finished ZIP / PDF / prototype, not an ongoing repo
You want a simple “did they open it?” signal
You might want a password or an expiry on that one link

Keep Git for real source control. Use a link for the handoff.

How to share a file in three steps

Open tinidrop.com and sign in (a free account is enough to try).
Drop your PDF, ZIP, HTML, or image onto the upload area.
Copy the link. Send that in email, Slack, or Teams — not the attachment.

The recipient opens it in the browser. You keep the original file.

That is the whole loop for most people. No deploy pipeline. No “please make a GitHub account.”

Optional: password and expiry

For a deal round or a client preview, tighten the link:

Add a password if the URL might get forwarded
Set an expiry if the round has an end date

You do not need enterprise software for that. You need a link that matches the conversation you are having.

Optional: upload from a script (API)

If your artifact already exists after CI, skip the UI and upload from a shell step.

Generate an API key from your TiniDrop dashboard (available on Solo / Pro), then:

curl -X POST https://tinidrop.com/api/upload \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@dist.zip"

The JSON response includes a shareable URL. Example shape:

# pseudo: capture URL from the response, then notify
URL=$(curl -sS -X POST https://tinidrop.com/api/upload \
  -H "x-api-key: $TINIDROP_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@dist.zip" | jq -r '.url')

echo "Build ready: $URL"

Useful for:

Nightly build ZIPs
Client-ready PDF exports after a docs job
Distributing a small static preview without opening a new repo

Put the key in your CI secrets. Never commit it. Rotate it if it leaks — same hygiene as any other token.

PDF decks: send a link, then follow up with context

Pitch decks and proposals die in attachment land. A cleaner habit:

Upload the PDF
Send the link before the call
After the call, check whether it was opened
Follow up with a specific next step — not “just checking if you got this”

You still cannot stop screenshots. You can stop blindly shipping the original into every inbox.

ZIP of a small site

Got a folder with index.html? Zip it, upload, share the link. Handy for prototypes and client previews when “clone this repo” is the wrong ask.

Quick FAQ

Do recipients need an account?

No. They open the link.

Is this a replacement for GitHub Releases?

No. Releases win for ongoing open-source versioning. This wins for fast handoffs and non-Git audiences.

What about huge files?

Start on free for small ZIPs/PDFs. Step up a plan when you need larger uploads or longer-lived links. Pricing is on tinidrop.com/pricing.

Where do I start?

tinidrop.com → drop a file → copy the link. Wire the API later if your builds are already automated.

I am Santosh, co-founder of TiniDrop. If attachments keep failing your workflow — CI artifacts, client ZIPs, pitch decks — say what you are sending in the comments and we can compare notes.

Document rooms that tell you who opened the file

TiniDrop — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 16:12:49 +0000

A data room used to mean a vendor, a week of setup, and a folder tree nobody wanted to maintain.

Founders still need the same job: put the important files in one place, send one link, know who went in.

That is a document room. Not a second Dropbox. A room with a pulse.

One room. Many files. One story.

In TiniDrop a room holds the files for a deal, a hire, a client, or a round.

You do not email five attachments and hope they land in the same thread. You send the room. The other side opens what they need. You see which files they opened, how long they stayed, and whether they came back.

That changes the follow-up:

They spent twelve minutes on the model and skipped the deck → talk numbers.
They never opened the NDA → do not pitch the product yet.
They returned twice after the call → they are still in.

Controls that belong on the link, not in a PDF

Rooms only work if the link is not a zip of copies.

On a TiniDrop room you can:

keep files view-only
password the link
expire access when the process ends
separate who can see which file
watch activity instead of guessing

The file never has to leave. The room can be unplugged.

Who this is for

Not "enterprise content platforms."

a founder sending a round
an agency handing a delivery
a lawyer sharing a draft
a hiring manager sending a take-home that should not leak

If you have more than one file and you care who opened it, you already have a room. You are just running it in Gmail.

Start with one deal

Pick the next process that would hurt if the files leaked or sat unread.

Put them in a room. Send the link. Watch what happens after you send.

tinidrop.com

View-only sharing — they can read it. They don't get the original.

TiniDrop — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 16:06:27 +0000

Most "secure sharing" still gives the other person a file.

They click. The browser downloads. Now there are two copies. Then twenty, if they forward it.

View-only sharing is the opposite idea: the document renders in the browser. The original stays with you.

What view-only actually does

On TiniDrop, view-only means we hide the download control on the shared link (Solo and above). The recipient reads the PDF in the viewer. They do not get a one-click .pdf.

What it does not do:

stop a screenshot
stop someone photographing the screen
stop a determined person with developer tools

Anyone who claims otherwise is selling you a feeling. We would rather be precise.

View-only is for the common case: a founder, a lawyer, an agency client, a hiring manager. People who will not reverse-engineer your viewer. People who will hit Download if you put the button there.

Why the viewer has to be the product

If the fallback is "download to open," view-only is fake.

The link has to open a real reading experience:

PDFs in the browser
HTML and ZIP sites as a live page
images without a save prompt as the first action

Then the share is a session, not a file transfer. Analytics attach to that session. Password and expiry attach to that session. You can kill the link without asking anyone to delete an attachment they already have.

When I turn it on

fundraising decks
unreleased product specs
contractor briefs
anything I would regret seeing in a Slack screenshot tomorrow with my filename on it

When I want a signature, I do not use view-only as the close. I send an agreement on the same file. Read, then sign. Still one link.

Try the difference

Upload a PDF you would normally attach. Share the link. Turn download off.

They can read it. They don't get the original.

tinidrop.com

What happens after you send the deck

TiniDrop — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 15:59:31 +0000

You send the pitch. Then you wait.

Was it opened? Did they skim slide one and bounce? Did they come back at 11pm and sit on the financials?

Email cannot tell you. Drive "anyone with the link" cannot tell you. WhatsApp definitely cannot tell you.

Silence is not a signal. Silence is missing data.

The file is not the product. The session is.

A shared document has a life after send:

first open
time on page
which pages they actually read
whether they came back
whether they downloaded a copy

That is the conversation. The PDF is just the medium.

TiniDrop records that session on every shared link. You see when someone opened it. On higher plans you see page-level time, email alerts when they show up, and who came through a personalised link.

You follow up because they read it — or you stop chasing because they did not.

A link you can unplug

Attachments cannot be recalled. Links can.

If the round closed, the contractor finished, or the wrong person got the URL, you expire it. You password it. You turn download off.

View-only is not a vault. A determined person can still photograph a screen. Treat it as friction: enough that a casual forward does not hand over the original.

That is the correct security model for a deck, not theatre.

After you send, you should know

The product thesis is one sentence:

Share a file. See who opened it. Keep it view-only.

Everything else — rooms, signatures, watermarks — is that sentence under more pressure.

If you send work that matters, stop treating "delivered" as "read."

Start here: tinidrop.com

I stopped attaching the file. I send a link instead.

TiniDrop — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 15:58:31 +0000

Every important file I sent used to leave as an attachment.

Pitch deck. Proposal. Contract. A ZIP of a prototype.

The other person got a copy. I lost the original the moment I hit send. If they forwarded it, I would never know. If they never opened it, I would sit in the dark and follow up anyway.

That is a bad way to run a deal. It is also how almost everyone still shares work.

The attachment is the product leaving the building

An email attachment is not a share. It is a handoff.

Once the PDF sits in someone else's Downloads folder, you cannot:

see whether they opened it
see how long they stayed
stop a casual download
take the link back if the round moved on

You can send a newer version. They will still have the old one. You can write "confidential" on slide one. That does not make the file confidential.

I built TiniDrop for the moment after send — the part most tools ignore.

One link. The file stays with you.

The workflow is intentionally small:

Drop a PDF, ZIP, HTML page, or image.
Get a short link.
Share the link. Not the file.

The recipient opens it in the browser. You keep the original.

On paid plans you can turn the link view-only, add a password, set expiry, and see who opened it. Free is enough to feel the difference: a live URL in seconds, a view count, no infrastructure.

What I refused to build

I did not want another "all-in-one workspace."

Founders do not need a CMS to send a deck. Agencies do not need a VPS to show a client a page. Students do not need Git to host an HTML assignment.

They need a clean URL, a viewer that actually renders, and a way to know the other side showed up.

TiniDrop is document intelligence for that moment:

Share — a link instead of an attachment
Track — opens, time on page, return visits
Control — view-only, password, expiry, document rooms

Try it

Upload something you would normally attach.

tinidrop.com

If the link feels better than the attachment, you already understand the product.