Thirty years ago, we already knew how this should work
A short history of moving files — and why we built RocketBucket.
1996
FTP was the internet's common language
And CuteFTP was the tool of its era: your machine on the left, the remote server on the right, drag across the middle and the file went up. No manual, no command flags — you understood it at a glance. Many people's first website, first backup, first file delivered to a client left through that dual-pane window.
2006
The rules were rewritten
On March 14, 2006, AWS launched S3. Twenty years on, it is no longer just a service — it is the de facto standard for cloud storage. Cloudflare R2, Google Cloud Storage's XML API, Backblaze B2, MinIO: nearly every object store you can name today speaks the same language.
Today
The protocol changed. The tools didn't keep up.
Now we have CLIs, SDKs, and web consoles that want three pages of documentation before you can upload a single file. Fast — but no longer something you understand at a glance.
So we built RocketBucket.
Drag in to upload. Drag out to download.
Not one habit you formed thirty years ago needs to change.
FAQ
Which services does RocketBucket work with?
Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, MinIO, and any other endpoint that implements the S3 API. Local folders are first-class endpoints too, so local↔cloud and cloud↔cloud pairings all work the same way.
Does my data pass through your servers?
No. Transfers go directly from your Mac to your storage endpoint over TLS. There is no relay, no account with us, and no analytics.
Where are my credentials stored?
Secret access keys are stored in the macOS Keychain — never written to configuration files on disk. You can also sign in through IAM Identity Center (AWS SSO) for short-lived credentials with no long-term secret at all.
Is it really like CuteFTP?
The layout is: two panes, your source on the left, your destination on the right, drag between them. What changed underneath is the protocol — SigV4-signed S3 requests with parallel multipart transfers instead of FTP — and the security model: sandboxed, keys in the Keychain.
When can I get it?
RocketBucket is coming to the Mac App Store. This page will carry the download button the day it is live.