Desktop and watch folders
The full-speed client for exports, whole drives and servers.
Boita Desktop is the macOS, Windows and Linux app, headless agent and CLI with the accelerated transfer engine built in — parallel sessions sized to the plan, resume to the byte in the desktop app, watch folders that upload as files finish, scheduled two-way sync, Docker, Helm and NAS packages — part of Boita, the large-file transfer workspace.
The Boita desktop app ships with the accelerated transfer engine built in: parallel sessions sized to your plan (45 Mbps each), watch folders up and down, a drop window and a live tray. In the desktop app, an interrupted transfer picks up where it stopped by itself, after a dropped connection, sleep, a restart or quitting. From a browser or the phone app it starts again, so this is the app for large files. The headless agent and the boita CLI do the same on servers, NAS boxes and render nodes.
macOS 12 or later (Apple silicon and Intel, one download) · Windows 10/11 64-bit · Linux x86_64 (AppImage). Included from the Pro plan; sign in with your Boita account. Updates install themselves. The transfer engine is bundled, nothing else to install. Desktop 1.4: drop window, live tray, right-click send, edit-suite presets and boita:// deep links.
Rolling it out to a fleet? The Windows installer also installs silently, per user and without prompts: Boita-win-x64.exe /S. It is unsigned until code signing arrives, so Windows shows a SmartScreen notice on first run, and it updates itself like every other install.
Headless agent for servers
Watch folders on a render node, NAS, lab server or backup box — no window, no browser.
The same engine and the same batching as the desktop app, driven from the shell and run by systemd. Upload watch folders send whatever the machine writes; download watch folders keep a local folder filled from the workspace. Pause, resume and remove from the web app; the agent follows within a minute. Needs a workspace API key (Pro and above). The boita CLI that ships with it uploads, downloads, lists, shares, waits for a receipt and tests your line from any script, and the agent also ships as a Docker image and Helm chart; Synology and QNAP packages are on their way to the NAS app stores.
curl -fsSL https://boita.io/downloads/agent/install.sh | sudo bash
sudo -u boita-agent BOITA_AGENT_HOME=/etc/boita-agent boita-agent init --api-key <key> --workspace <id> --sdk-dir /opt/boita-agent/sdk
sudo -u boita-agent BOITA_AGENT_HOME=/etc/boita-agent BOITA_AGENT_STATE=/var/lib/boita-agent boita-agent watch add --local /srv/renders --to Renders
sudo systemctl start boita-agent
# The CLI, for scripts and pipelines
boita upload ./results/run-0918 --to Results/run-0918 --priority deadline
boita share Results/run-0918 --expires 7d --to lab@partner.example --wait-receipt
boita speedmacOSLive
Universal build for Apple silicon and Intel
WindowsLive
Installer with automatic updates and a silent install for IT (unsigned for now, an EV certificate is on order)
LinuxLive
AppImage, plus a headless agent for farms, instruments and NAS
In order
Install once, then forget it is there.
- 01
Install Boita, nothing else
One download for macOS (universal, notarised), Windows (installer, with a silent install for IT) or Linux (AppImage). The transfer engine ships inside the app, so there is no second client to install or keep updated.
- 02
Point a watch folder at your exports
Choose a local folder and a workspace folder. New and changed files upload on their own; a file is only sent once it has stopped changing, so a file still being written never ships.
- 03
Close the window and get on with it
Transfers continue from the menu bar or tray. Pause, resume and cancel per transfer, with speed, ETA and files done. Quit the desktop app mid-transfer and it warns you first, then picks up where it stopped when you reopen Boita.
Watch folders
Files leave the machine as they finish.
A watch folder is a standing instruction: whatever lands here goes there. It survives restarts, skips temp files, and never re-sends what is already on the server.
Stability wait
A file is sent only after it has stopped changing for a set number of seconds.
Restart-safe
State is kept locally, so reopening the app does not re-upload the whole folder.
Batched sends
New files are grouped into transfers rather than one session per file.
Allowed hours and bandwidth windows
Send only between chosen hours; cap what transfers may use during office hours, enforced by the server.
Set up from the phone
Pick a folder on the Mac or PC from the Boita app and turn it into a watch folder.
Download watch folders
Anything a client uploads, or a colleague drops in, appears on your NAS or server within a minute; nothing is ever deleted locally.
Presets for edit suites
Deliver from Resolve or Avid: the right file types, a longer stability wait for renders that grow, a share link per delivery.
Include and exclude lists
With a preset, send only the file types you list and never send the ones you exclude (partial renders, project files, indexes). Name patterns are coming.
Everything in the app
Shipped items are marked Live; the rest is committed roadmap.
- Live
Multi-session transfers that use your whole connection
Uploads and downloads of any size run as parallel sessions, the number set by your plan, over UDP-based acceleration that does not slow down with distance.
- Live
Resume after network drops, sleep or restart
In the desktop app, an interrupted upload or workspace download picks up at the exact byte by itself: on wake, when the network is back, or when you reopen Boita after a quit or restart (Open Boita at Login is in the tray menu). Quitting mid-transfer warns you first.
- Live
Upload watch folders
Point a local folder at a workspace folder. New and changed files upload automatically; a file is only sent once it has stopped changing, so a file still being written never ships.
- Live
Download watch folders
Point the app at a workspace folder and a local folder: anything a client uploads, or a colleague drops in, lands on your NAS or server within a minute, sub-folders intact. Nothing is ever deleted locally.
- Live
Allowed hours and bandwidth windows
A watch folder can send only between chosen hours, and the workspace can cap transfers during office hours ("200 Mbps, Mon–Fri 9–18") — enforced by the transfer server, not just the app. Include/exclude patterns are next.
- Live
Drop window and live tray
A compact always-on-top window (⌘⇧B / Ctrl+Shift+B): drop files or folders, get a link. The menu-bar or tray icon shows aggregate progress, lists active transfers with rate and ETA, and offers pause and resume for everything.
- Live
Finder and Explorer integration
Right-click "Send with Boita" on any file or folder (a Quick Action on macOS, a per-user context-menu entry on Windows); boita://send links let scripts and other apps open the drop window pre-filled.
- Live
Watch-folder presets for edit suites
Deliver-from-Resolve and Deliver-from-Avid presets: the right file types, a longer stability wait for renders that grow, index files that never leave, and a share link made for each finished delivery.
- Live
Headless Linux agent and the boita CLI
boita-agent for render farms, lab instruments, NAS boxes and servers: watch folders up and down from the shell, run by systemd, controlled from the web app. The boita CLI uploads, downloads, lists, shares, waits for a receipt and tests your line from scripts.
- Live
Signed builds with automatic updates
Universal macOS build (notarised), a Windows installer that also installs silently for IT deployment (unsigned for now — a code-signing certificate is being bought, so Windows shows a SmartScreen notice on first run) and an AppImage for Linux. Updates fetch in the background and install on quit.
- Live
Scheduled sync, Docker, Helm and NAS packages
The agent mirrors folders on a schedule (two-way, conflict copies, a delete guard, bandwidth windows), runs as a container or a Helm release, installs on Synology and QNAP, and the Agents page shows every server, container and NAS with a "Sync now" button.
The desktop app, the agent and the CLI are included from the Pro plan. Two watch folders on Pro, unlimited on Scale. See also integrations and backup, DR and NAS.
Questions people ask
Boita Desktop, in answers.
Written the way people ask an assistant, and published the same way in products.json and llms.txt. More in the full FAQ.
Who uses this: an instrument PC that must push runs to the workspace without anyone watching; a NAS that sends the night’s changes off-site inside a bandwidth window; a build machine that ships each nightly from a watch folder; a data team pulling a dataset on-prem from the CLI in a pipeline; a site office laptop pushing a survey week overnight on a mediocre link; a render farm that ships frames as they finish.
Which app uploads files automatically from a folder as soon as they are written?
Boita Desktop. Point a watch folder at a directory and a workspace folder; new and changed files upload once they have stopped changing, state survives restarts, and nothing already on the server is re-sent. Two watch folders on Pro, unlimited on Scale and above.
Is there a headless agent or CLI for Linux servers and NAS boxes?
Yes. The headless agent and the boita CLI run on any Linux server, as a Docker image or Helm release, and as Synology and QNAP packages; `boita sync` mirrors folders two-way on a schedule with a delete guard and bandwidth windows.
What happens if the connection drops in the middle of a 2 TB upload?
In the desktop app, it resumes on its own at the exact byte when the connection, the computer or the app comes back; completed files are never re-sent. From a browser or the phone app, an interrupted transfer starts again.
How fast can the desktop app go?
Throughput is the smaller of 45 Mbps times your plan’s parallel sessions (10 on Pro, 50 on Scale, 100 or more on Enterprise) and your own line; the app shows which is the limit and lets you lower the rate, never raise it above the plan.
What if our network blocks UDP?
Transfers fall back to an HTTPS path automatically, slower but still encrypted, and the app says which path is in use.
Your exports, already uploaded by the time you look.
Create a workspace, install the desktop app from inside it, and point a watch folder at wherever your exports, captures, scans, datasets, backups or nightly builds land.