meownow

A private clipboard for people who already know each other.
Copy here. Paste there. Sealed in the browser before a byte leaves.

Invite-only. Passkeys, no passwords. Each account is that person's devices — not a shared tray. You host it.

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What you get

Text, links, images, files	Notes are markdown in this browser; the store is ciphertext of the source. Type :smile: for emoji. Paste a photo on the page. Edit a text or link in place; the 30-day clock stays. Text ≤ 64 KB. A stored file ≤ 100 MB.
Sealed on the device	AES-256-GCM in the page. Filename, type, and preview go in the same envelope.
The server is a courier	It sees owner, size, time, and kind. Not the text, the name, or the picture.
Live only	Skip the store. Needs another device that is live. A refresh drops it.
Sync	On (default) writes text and links when a network exists, and queues them here when it does not. Off holds them on this browser until you tap Sync. Files never wait.
This browser	Account holds Sync, clip long notes, tap to copy, Tab indents, which panes show, and Reset deadlines (thirty days from today for stored notes). ⌘\ / Ctrl \ cycles write, the tray, or both.
Playground	/play. Five text, link, or image notes in this browser. Not a seat. Join drops that store.
Offline	After this browser has the clipboard and has loaded once online: open and write text and links. Files need a network.
Install	Optional. Puts the app on the home screen. Android can share text and links into it. iOS cannot — paste here.

There is no public signup and no password fallback. A browser cannot watch the clipboard in the background.

What you run

Piece	Code	Job
Next.js app	apps/web	Identity, invites, metadata. Never file bytes.
Cloudflare Worker	apps/edge	/ws hub, /upload, /dl, nightly prune.
Neon Postgres	packages/db	Users, invites, text/link ciphertext.
R2 bucket	meownow-blobs	File ciphertext. Private. No public access.

Local pnpm dev starts the Next app on :3000 and the Worker on :8787.

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You need

• Node 22 or newer
• pnpm 11 (packageManager is pnpm@11.22.0)
• A Neon project (Postgres)
• A Cloudflare account with Workers and R2
• A place to host Next.js 15 — Vercel is what this repo is wired for
• HTTPS for passkeys. http://localhost:3000 is fine on your machine.

Stay inside free tiers if you can. Invites have no numeric cap; a large group will leave those tiers.

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Environment

Required — Next.js (apps/web/.env.local and Vercel)

Name	What
DATABASE_URL	Neon pooled URL. postgres:// or postgresql://.
APP_URL	Public origin of the Next app. Passkeys bind to this hostname.
SESSION_SECRET	≥ 32 characters. HMAC for challenge cookies.
ADMIN_ENROLL_SECRET	≥ 16 characters. Unlocks /enroll once.

openssl rand -base64 32   # SESSION_SECRET, HUB_SECRET
openssl rand -base64 16   # ADMIN_ENROLL_SECRET

Required for live send, files, and the hub

Same HUB_SECRET on the web app and the Worker.

Name	Where	What
HUB_SECRET	Web + Worker	≥ 32 characters. WS tickets and fan-out.
EDGE_URL	Web	Public Worker origin, e.g. https://meownow-edge.<account>.workers.dev. Local: http://localhost:8787.
HUB_URL	Web	Optional. Hub only, if it is not EDGE_URL.
CAPABILITY_TOKEN_PRIVATE_KEY	Web only	Ed25519 JWK JSON, including d.
CAPABILITY_TOKEN_PUBLIC_KEY	Worker only	Same pair, public JWK. No d.
APP_URL	Worker var	Must match the web origin.
APP_ORIGINS	Worker var	Optional. Extra /ws and CORS origins, comma-separated.

Mint the capability pair (Node 22, no extra packages):

node --input-type=module -e "
const pair = await crypto.subtle.generateKey({ name: 'Ed25519' }, true, ['sign', 'verify']);
const publicJwk = await crypto.subtle.exportKey('jwk', pair.publicKey);
const privateJwk = await crypto.subtle.exportKey('jwk', pair.privateKey);
console.log('PUBLIC');
console.log(JSON.stringify(publicJwk));
console.log('PRIVATE');
console.log(JSON.stringify(privateJwk));
"

Put PRIVATE on the web app. Put PUBLIC in apps/edge/.dev.vars (local) or wrangler secret put (production). Never commit d. Never put the private JWK on the Worker.

Optional — web push

pnpm --filter @meownow/web exec web-push generate-vapid-keys

Name	What
VAPID_PUBLIC_KEY	From that command.
VAPID_PRIVATE_KEY	From that command.
VAPID_SUBJECT	mailto: or https: URL.

A notification names the account, not the paste. Skip these and the app still works; devices that are open still see notes.

Local Worker file apps/edge/.dev.vars:

HUB_SECRET=...
CAPABILITY_TOKEN_PUBLIC_KEY={...public jwk...}

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Install locally

git clone https://github.com/CodeDotJS/meownow.git
cd meownow
pnpm install
cp .env.example .env
cp .env.example apps/web/.env.local
cp apps/edge/.dev.vars.example apps/edge/.dev.vars

pnpm db:migrate and pnpm db:seed read the repo-root .env. Next.js reads apps/web/.env.local. Put the same values in both, including the secrets above.

Create a Neon database. Set DATABASE_URL. Change the admin handle before seed if you do not want rishi:

# in .env and apps/web/.env.local
SEED_ADMIN_HANDLE=yourname
SEED_ADMIN_DISPLAY_NAME=Your Name

Handle is [a-z0-9_], 2–32 characters. /enroll must use that same handle.

pnpm db:migrate
pnpm db:seed
pnpm dev

Open http://localhost:3000/enroll. Username = seeded handle. Enroll secret = ADMIN_ENROLL_SECRET. Create a passkey. Write down the 12 words when they appear. That screen is once.

After that, /enroll is dead. Everyone else needs an invite from Invites.

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Production

Do this in order. The Worker must know your web origin. The web app must know the Worker origin.

1. Neon

Create the project. Run migrate and seed against production DATABASE_URL from your machine:

DATABASE_URL='postgresql://…' pnpm db:migrate
DATABASE_URL='postgresql://…' SEED_ADMIN_HANDLE=yourname SEED_ADMIN_DISPLAY_NAME='Your Name' pnpm db:seed

2. R2

In the Cloudflare dashboard, create a private bucket named meownow-blobs (or change bucket_name in apps/edge/wrangler.toml).

Do not attach a bucket-wide object expiry. Nightly cron at 03:00 UTC is the expiry path. A 7-day lifecycle would delete objects the product still needs.

3. Worker

cd apps/edge
npx wrangler deploy --var APP_URL:https://YOUR_WEB_ORIGIN
npx wrangler secret put HUB_SECRET
npx wrangler secret put CAPABILITY_TOKEN_PUBLIC_KEY

package.json has a deploy script aimed at https://meownow.vercel.app. Do not use it unless that is your origin. If you also open the app from localhost against this Worker, set:

npx wrangler deploy --var APP_URL:https://YOUR_WEB_ORIGIN --var APP_ORIGINS:http://localhost:3000

A GET on the Worker root returns meownow-edge.

4. Vercel

Import the repo. Root directory: apps/web. vercel.json already runs pnpm install and pnpm --filter @meownow/web build from the monorepo root.

Set the web env vars, including APP_URL = the real https://… origin, EDGE_URL = the Worker origin, and the private capability JWK as one JSON string.

Deploy. Then open https://YOUR_WEB_ORIGIN/enroll once.

If you add a custom domain later, change APP_URL on both sides and redeploy both. Passkeys issued under the old hostname will not work on the new one.

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After it is up

1. Sign in. Open Invites. Send a /join?t= link. An unused invite is the only way in. Ask on the home page only leaves an email. Playground is /play: five text, link, or image notes in this browser, not a seat.
2. Text and links do not need file permission. Images and files do. A member requests space from the menu; an admin grants 25–100 MB on Requests.
3. Pair a second browser from Add a device / Show a code. Both sides check a six-digit fingerprint. The 12 words are only if every device is gone (/recover).
4. Account is per browser: Sync, how notes open, and which panes show. Reset deadlines sets every stored note for that account to 30 days from today. New notes still last 30 / 7. If you do not reset, they leave at their deadline.
5. After a deploy, a cat chip asks this browser to reload. A normal reload is enough.

Kind	Where	How long
Text, link	Neon	30 days
Image, file	R2	7 days
Live only	Nowhere	Until refresh

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Do not

• Log tokens, recovery phrases, or plaintext.
• Put CAPABILITY_TOKEN_PRIVATE_KEY on the Worker.
• Set an R2 lifecycle that deletes the whole bucket after 7 days.
• Point a production Neon DATABASE_URL at a localhost Worker (or the reverse) unless you mean two different hubs.
• Expect iOS to appear in the share sheet. Paste in the installed app.

Day-to-day ops (revoke a device, rotate the capability pair, restore Neon): docs/RUNBOOK.md.

The spec is docs/SPEC.md.

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License

Copyright © 2026 Rishi Giri

meownow is released under the MIT License