Available now Early-stage MVP

Ephemera: a room, a code, and a conversation that leaves nothing behind

Create a short-lived room, share the code, and exchange text and images with someone in real time — no account, no message history, nothing saved once the room is gone.

Open Ephemera How it works

Ephemera is an early-stage MVP: it's capped at 3 active rooms system-wide and isn't end-to-end encrypted. See the FAQ below before relying on it for anything sensitive.

Problem & solution

Sometimes you just need to send one thing, once

Signing up for a messaging app, or emailing yourself a file, is a lot of ceremony for a single quick exchange. Ephemera skips all of it: open the page, create a room, share the code, and start talking. When you're done, close the tab — there's no account to delete because there was never one to begin with.

Features

What Ephemera does

Instant rooms

Create a room and get a short code immediately — no form, no account.

Join by code or link

Share the room code, or a direct /r/<room-id> link that auto-joins.

Real-time text and images

Messages and images up to 2 MB deliver instantly over a live WebSocket connection.

Image preview & download

Click a shared image to open a full-view preview, then copy or download it.

Nothing persisted

No database, no message history — content exists only for the life of the room.

Self-cleaning rooms

A room clears out roughly 2 minutes after the last participant leaves.

Use cases

Who Ephemera is for

Quick cross-device handoff

Send yourself a link, snippet, or screenshot from your phone to your laptop without an app.

A throwaway chat with someone new

Talk to someone without exchanging phone numbers or usernames — share a code, then it's gone.

One-off image sharing

Send a photo or screenshot to someone nearby in real time, with nothing left behind afterward.

How it works

From open tab to conversation

Create a room

Open Ephemera and click Create Room to get a short room code.

Share the code

Send the code or the room link to whoever you want to talk to.

Talk in real time

Exchange text and images instantly — everyone in the room sees them live.

It disappears

Close the tab. The room cleans up on its own a couple of minutes after everyone leaves.

Data & access

What Ephemera accesses, and why

As a web app, Ephemera doesn't install anything on your device. See the privacy policy for the full picture.

Capability	Why it's used
WebSocket connection	Delivers text and image messages between everyone currently in your room, in real time.
Clipboard (optional)	Only used if you click "copy" on a shared image — never accessed automatically.
Room registry storage	Server-side only: tracks which room codes currently exist and whether the system is at its 3-room capacity. Never stores chat content.
Accounts / sign-in	Not used. There is no login anywhere in Ephemera.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an account to use Ephemera?

No. Create or join a room with just a room code — there is no sign-in, no email, and no password.

Are Ephemera messages end-to-end encrypted?

No. Messages travel over a standard secure WebSocket connection to the server, which relays them to the room, but they are not end-to-end encrypted. Treat Ephemera as private-by-default, not as a secure-messaging tool.

Does Ephemera save my messages?

No. Messages and images are relayed live between participants and are not written to any database or persistent storage. Once a room expires, there is nothing left to recover.

What happens if I lose my room code?

There is no recovery. Ask another participant still in the room for the code, or create a new room. This is by design — recoverable rooms would require persistent storage or accounts, which Ephemera deliberately avoids.

Why does it say the app is at capacity?

Ephemera currently allows a maximum of 3 active rooms system-wide, since it's an early-stage MVP. Wait for a room to expire (rooms clean up a few minutes after everyone leaves) and try again.