windrop
A lightweight CLI drag-and-drop utility for Windows.
100% Native Win32 / OLE • Single Standalone Binary • Peak Working Set < 3MB • Zero Background Bloat / Zero Services
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/872c8631-a4ee-4f3e-ae3a-3ed750afc4c6
> [!NOTE]
> Demo video on version v2.0.0
windrop lets you initiate native Windows drag-and-drop operations directly from your terminal or scripts without running background daemons or heavy electron wrappers.
PS C:\Stuff> windrop report.pdf
# Move cursor over Discord, Chrome, VS Code, Explorer, Slack, etc.
# Press [F8] to drag -> press [F8] or left-click to drop!
Drop completed (Copy).
How to Use
1. The Command
windrop
windrop --verbose
windrop --version | -v
windrop --help | -h
# Check version
windrop --version
# View help
windrop --help
# Verbose output with control instructions
windrop --verbose photo.png
# Single file
windrop photo.png
# Multiple files
windrop report.pdf notes.txt data.csv
# Wildcards & spaces
windrop *.jpg "C:\My Documents\report.xlsx"
2. Controls & Actions
| Action | How to Trigger |
|---|
| Keyboard Drag & Drop | Hover cursor over target window and press F8 to drag → press F8 or left-click to drop |
| Mouse Drag & Drop | Grab and drag the floating card widget directly into any window |
| Dismiss / Cancel | Press Escape or Right-Click the card anytime |
Features
- True Standalone Binary: Pure C++17 compiled against native Windows APIs (
ole32, shell32, user32). Starts instantly, exits immediately after drop, uses 0 background resources.
- No internet access, not even sockets/network libs anywhere in
CMakeLists.txt or source.
- 2-Step Keyboard Drag (
F8): Hover over any destination window, press F8 to engage drag (target lights up with visual drop cues), and press F8 or left-click to drop.
- Floating Acrylic Card: Sleek dark card with 32x32 native shell file icon for direct mouse drags.
- Multi-Widget Staging: Run
windrop multiple times from your CLI — cards automatically cascade (+30px offset) across your desktop.
- Multi-Format Shell Payload:
CF_HDROP: Native shell file lists for File Explorer, 7-Zip, Discord, Slack.CFSTR_PREFERREDDROPEFFECT: Explicit copy / move negotiation.CF_UNICODETEXT & CF_TEXT: Newline-separated file paths for text editors, IDEs, and terminals.CFSTR_SHELLURL: file:/// URLs for web browsers and Electron web applications.
- Safe Global Hotkey Handling (F8):: Uses standard Win32
RegisterHotKey on an isolated worker message loop instead of low-level keyboard hooks (WH_KEYBOARD_LL), eliminating false-positive antivirus / Defender flags.
- Byte-for-Byte Reproducible Builds: Configured with deterministic compiler and linker flags (
/experimental:deterministic, /Brepro, /PDBALTPATH:%_PDB%), ensuring bit-identical binaries across builds.
- Per-Monitor V2 DPI Aware: Crisp, sharp rendering on 4K and high-DPI displays.
Target Compatibility
| Application | Supported Drops | Status |
|---|
| Discord / Slack / Teams | File uploads, channel attachment sharing | Full Support |
| Chrome / Edge / Firefox / Brave | File upload inputs, Gmail, web applications | Full Support |
| VS Code / Cursor / Visual Studio | Editor split view, file explorer drop | Full Support |
| Windows File Explorer | File copy and move operations | Full Support |
| Notepad / Sublime / Text Editors | File paths pasting | Full Support |
| Photoshop / Illustrator / GIMP | Direct image canvas drop | Full Support |
Build Instructions
Requirements
- Windows 10 / 11 (x64)
- Visual Studio 2019 or 2022 (C++ Desktop workload)
- CMake 3.16+
Build via PowerShell (2 lines)
cmake -B build -S . -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64
cmake --build build --config Release
The compiled binary will be located at:
build/Release/windrop.exe
Technical Details
For internal architecture, COM data object implementation, and state machine diagrams, see Architecture.md.
Privacy & Security Policies
Windrop Privacy Policy and Security Policy.
License
MIT License. Copyright © 2026 Dastageer Siddiqui.