𝙿𝙲𝚃𝚁𝙽

Phone → PC in seconds. No app. No cloud. No WhatsApp Web.

Scan a QR code, tap a button, and your photo, PDF or text lands in a folder on your PC.

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😤 The problem

Getting one file from your phone to your laptop shouldn't feel like a side quest.

• WhatsApp Web takes ages to load, then ages to download.
• Cable? Never within reach, and the driver is never happy.
• Sync apps want you to install something on your phone.
• Email yourself, wait, open the inbox, download... for a single photo.

💡 The fix

PCTRN turns your laptop into a tiny private upload page. Your phone just opens it in the browser.

• 📷 Live camera that takes one photo or a whole stack of them (great for multi-page documents)
• 🖼️ Gallery picker for photos and videos
• 📁 Any file such as PDFs, docs and zips
• 📝 Text to PC that goes straight to your PC clipboard and also saves a .txt
• 🔗 Links (https://…, http://… or www.…) you send as text can be opened on the PC, but only after you confirm and enter a PIN at the PC
• 🔌 Session-ended screen: if PCTRN stops on the PC, your phone tells you instead of failing silently

Everything travels over your own Wi-Fi or hotspot and never touches the internet.

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⚙️ How it works

Click the below image to check-out the demo video.

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1. You type pctrn in a terminal.
2. It finds your PC's current address, starts a small HTTPS server, and prints a QR code. A new address (hotspot, new Wi-Fi) is no problem, because the QR is regenerated every run.
3. You scan it. The page opens on your phone with nothing installed.
4. Whatever you send is saved in your folder with a timestamp in the name, so nothing is overwritten.
5. When you're done, press Ctrl+C, or let it close itself after the session timeout (20 minutes by default). Your phone shows Session ended within about 10 seconds.

Why HTTPS? Phones only allow in-browser camera access on secure pages. PCTRN makes a self-signed certificate once, so your phone shows a "not secure" warning the first time. Tap Advanced → Proceed. The certificate is your own, is stored in ~/.pctrn/, and never leaves your PC.

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📥 Download

Pick one.

Option A: Git

git clone https://github.com/ankush-cloud3/PCTRN.git
cd PCTRN

Option B: ZIP (no Git needed)

1. On the repo page, click Code → Download ZIP.
2. Right-click the ZIP → Extract All into a permanent folder, for example C:\Tools\pctrn. The installer adds this folder to your PATH, so don't move it afterwards.
3. Open the folder and check that pctrn.py sits directly inside it, not inside a second nested folder.

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🚀 Install

Requirements: Windows and Python 3.8 or newer.

1. Check Python

python --version

If this fails, install Python from python.org and tick "Add Python to PATH" in the installer.

2. Create your settings file

copy .env.example .env

Open .env and edit as needed. Every setting is optional, but set PCTRN_SAVE_DIR to your preferred folder path.

3. Run the installer

Double-click install.bat (or run it from a terminal in the project folder). It:

• installs the libraries from requirements.txt (flask, cryptography, qrcode, python-dotenv)
• adds the project folder to your user PATH so pctrn works from anywhere

Wait for Done, then close that window.

4. Start it from a NEW terminal

PATH changes only apply to terminals opened after the install.

pctrn          # start
pctrn --pin    # start with a random 4-digit PIN the phone must enter

5. Connect your phone

1. Put the phone on the same Wi-Fi as the PC (or connect the PC to the phone's hotspot).
2. Scan the QR code in the terminal, or type the printed https://… address.
3. Accept the one-time certificate warning (Advanced → Proceed).
4. If Windows Firewall asks about Python, allow it on Private networks.

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⚙️ Settings (.env)

All settings are optional. Copy .env.example to .env to change them.

Setting	Default	What it does
PCTRN_SAVE_DIR	~/pctrn_received	Set this to the folder you want. Everything from your phone is saved there. Created automatically if missing.
PCTRN_PORT	5000	Port the server uses.
PCTRN_LINK_PIN	(empty)	Your own PIN, typed on the PC to open a link sent from your phone in texts. Empty = links are never opened.
PCTRN_SESSION_MINUTES	20	Auto-shutdown timer. 0 means run until Ctrl+C.

Example .env:

PCTRN_SAVE_DIR=D:\Transfers
PCTRN_PORT=5000
PCTRN_LINK_PIN=
PCTRN_SESSION_MINUTES=20

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✅ Why you'll like it

• Nothing to install on the phone, because it's just a web page.
• Fast, since transfers stay on your local network with no cloud round-trip.
• Private, as nothing goes through a server you don't own.
• Works on any network, because the QR is fresh each run (home Wi-Fi, phone hotspot, hotel).
• Optional PIN for shared networks, with a lockout after 5 wrong tries.
• Multi-shot camera to take several photos, then Send all in one go.
• Clear status: the phone shows a live connection indicator and a Session ended screen when the PC stops.
• Self-cleaning and self-closing, so you don't leave a server running by accident.

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🛡️ Good to know

• Phone and PC must be on the same network. If a hotel or office Wi-Fi blocks device-to-device traffic, use your phone's hotspot.
• Use it on networks you trust, and use pctrn --pin on shared ones.
• Auto-cleanup: each time PCTRN starts, it deletes files it saved earlier (names starting with a timestamp) that are older than 1 hour. Move anything you want to keep out of the save folder.
• Auto-stop: PCTRN shuts itself down after PCTRN_SESSION_MINUTES (20 by default).
• Session ended: the phone checks in with the PC every few seconds. After about 10 seconds without an answer it shows the Session ended screen. Start PCTRN again and scan the new QR code.
• Links: only http://, https:// and www. links are detected. Bare domains like example.com are ignored on purpose.

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🧰 Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
pctrn is not recognized	Open a new terminal after install.bat. Still failing? Run python pctrn.py from inside the project folder.
"Port 5000 is already in use"	An older PCTRN window is still open. Close it (or press Ctrl+C there), or set a different PCTRN_PORT.
Phone can't open the page	Same Wi-Fi? Allow Python through Windows Firewall on Private networks. Try the phone hotspot if the network isolates devices.
Camera button does nothing	Open the page via the https:// address and accept the certificate warning.
Phone shows Session ended	PCTRN was stopped or timed out. Run it again and rescan.
Link in my text didn't open	Set PCTRN_LINK_PIN in .env, restart, then confirm y and enter the PIN in the PC terminal within 30 seconds.

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🗑️ Uninstall

1. Close PCTRN if it's running (Ctrl+C).
2. Delete the project folder.
3. Delete the certificate folder ~/.pctrn/ (on Windows: C:\Users\<you>\.pctrn).
4. Remove the project folder from your user PATH: Start → "Edit environment variables for your account" → Path → select the entry → Delete.

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📁 What's in the box

pctrn/
├── pctrn.py            # the server and the upload page
├── pctrn.bat           # makes the "pctrn" command work
├── install.bat         # one-time Windows setup
├── requirements.txt    # Python dependencies
├── .env.example        # copy to .env and edit
├── .gitignore
├── LICENSE
└── assets/             # README image

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📄 License

MIT. See LICENSE.

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Made so that sending one photo to your PC takes one scan and not ten steps. ⚡