Show HN: ShadowCat – file transfer through QR Codes in a Browser

Summary

A fully offline, single-file HTML page for moving data between two devices via QR codes — intended for old phones whose radios (BLE, NFC, etc.) arevdead but whose cameras and browsers still work. Generate — encode text into a single QR code. Scan — decode a single QR via the camera. Send file — pick a file, choose chunk size / FPS / ECC, hit Start. Cycles through [header, chunk1…chunkN] forever at the chosen FPS. Pause / Resume / Stop. Start from — begin the loop at a chosen frame index; it then continues forward and wraps back to the header normally. Show frame + Show / − / + — display exactly one frame static, for resending a specific missing chunk. The number matches the chunk index shown in the receiver's missing-chunks grid (0 = header). Receive file — start the camera and point at the sender. Header autodetects, progress bar fills in, missing-chunks grid shows which ones haven't arrived yet. When complete, the file's CRC is verified and a Download button appears. Header: QRX1|H|<total>|<filename>|<sizeBytes>|<crc32hex> Data: QRX1|D|<idx>|<base64chunk> (1-indexed) Base64 alphabet has no |, so parsing is just split('|'). Receiver tracks chunks by index, ignores duplicates, dedupes header by CRC. Practical notes for old phones Camera needs HTTPS or localhost — file:// won't grant getUserMedia permission. Serve with python3 -m http.server 8000 and visit http://<your-laptop-ip>:8000/qrcode.html over the local network. iOS Safari additionally requires HTTPS for cross-device access — for a LAN setup, caddy or a self-signed cert helps. If render fails on a frame ("code length overflow"), drop chunk size or drop ECC level. 500 chars × 3 fps ≈ 1.1 KB/s base64 ≈ 0.83 KB/s raw. A 100 KB file is roughly 2 minutes per loop; receiver typically needs 1-2 loops. If old devices struggle to decode: lower FPS, raise ECC to Q, shrink chunk to ~300 chars — produces smaller, less dense QRs.