WalkieTalkie

*still in development, fully functional currently*

Walkie:

  What it does:  Drop files. Send messages. Anyone on your WiFi running walkie sees each other automatically. No IP addresses, no setup, no cloud middleman.
  - auto-discovery - finds everyone on your network
  - drag & drop files - they land in receiver's Downloads folder automatically
  - DM or broadcast - send to one person or everyone
  - custom handles - click to change your name
  - markdown - *italic* **bold** ***both***
  - always on top - stays visible while you work
  - optional windows level alerts

  the vision
  No accounts. No upload limits. No "generating share link..." No more remembering some obscure URL that worked once.  You're ten feet apart on the same network. The bits should just... go there.

  ---

  Before you Download

  This runs on your local network only (WiFi). A few things to check before starting up:

  Both machines need:

  - Same WiFi network (same router, same subnet)
  - Network set to Private (not Public) in Windows settings
  - No VPN/proxy/tunnel routing (Tailscale, Hamachi, etc. can hijack broadcasts)

  First run:

  - Run as admin once - walkie tries to add its own firewall rules
  - If discovery still fails, see troubleshooting below

  Troubleshooting:

  - Can't see each other? Double check network set to Private on BOTH machines
  - One-way only? Firewall on the receiving end - run as admin or add port rules manually (walkie will try automatically in admin)
  - Check network connections adapters for Ethernet or Virtualbox or other tunneling indicators and disable them

  Ports used: 52525 (UDP discovery), 52526 (TCP messages/files)

  Client/AP Isolation (Walkie will not work easily in these setups)

  - Most public WiFi (hotels, coffee shops, airports)
  - Guest networks on home routers (almost always isolated)
  - Some mesh systems (Eero, Google Wifi, Orbi)
  - Xfinity xFi "Advanced Security" mode