Permanent File Links

Link rot is a quiet, expensive problem. A URL you pasted into a transactional email in March stops resolving in June because someone renamed the file, moved it to a different folder, or migrated the storage layout — and now your password-reset PDF, your invoice download, or your release binary returns a 404 to a real customer. files.link is built so that doesn't happen.

Every public file gets a permanent CDN URL the moment you confirm the upload, and that URL is bound to the file's immutable identity, not its folder path. Rename the file from logo-v2.png to logo-final.png, drag it into a different project, reorganize your whole folder tree — the public URL keeps resolving. There is nothing to re-publish and no redirect to maintain.

For private files the story is different but just as durable: instead of a public CDN URL you create a permalink (POST /p) — a fixed address of your own that, on every hit, mints a fresh short-lived signed URL behind the scenes and redirects to it. The address you hand out never changes; the actual download URL rotates on each access so it can't be hotlinked or replayed.

That gives you one stable, shareable link with signed-URL protection underneath, which is exactly what gated downloads, member-only assets, and revocable shares need. Compare this to the consumer tools people reach for first: Google Drive and Dropbox 'share' links are tied to accounts and change when you move or re-share the file; WeTransfer-style links expire in days.

None of them are safe to embed in a document you expect to live for years. Because a files.link public URL never changes, it is genuinely safe to bake into generated PDFs, README files, knowledge-base articles, RSS enclosures, and third-party apps you don't control. The link's lifetime is tied to the file existing and your account being in good standing — delete the file and the URL correctly returns 404, because the link is permanent, not the file.

If you actually want links that stop working on a schedule, that's a separate, deliberate feature; see temporary file hosting. For a one-off drag-and-drop share, the file-to-link generator wraps the same permanent-URL machinery in a single screen.