fix: burn file items after download, not metadata fetch

Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

backend/app/api/public.py

@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 from fastapi import APIRouter, Depends, File, Form, HTTPException, Query, Request, UploadFile
 from fastapi.responses import FileResponse
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
+from starlette.background import BackgroundTask
 
+from app import db as db_module
 from app.db import get_db
+from app.models import Item
 from app.schemas import ItemCreate, ItemOut, TTLOption, WallResponse
 from app.services import items as items_service
 from app.services import storage as storage_service
@@ -72,6 +75,16 @@ def wall(
     )
 
 
+def _burn_file_after_response(item_id: int) -> None:
+    db = db_module.SessionLocal()
+    try:
+        item = db.get(Item, item_id)
+        if item is not None and item.burn_after_read and not item.burned:
+            items_service.burn_file_item(db, item)
+    finally:
+        db.close()
+
+
 @router.get("/{slug}/file")
 def download_file(slug: str, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
     item = items_service.get_file_item(db, slug)
@@ -84,11 +97,15 @@ def download_file(slug: str, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
     media_type = item.mime or "application/octet-stream"
     filename = item.file_name or path.name
     inline = media_type.startswith(_INLINE_IMAGE_PREFIXES)
+    background = None
+    if item.burn_after_read:
+        background = BackgroundTask(_burn_file_after_response, item.id)
     return FileResponse(
         path,
         media_type=media_type,
         filename=filename,
         content_disposition_type="inline" if inline else "attachment",
+        background=background,
     )
 
 

backend/app/services/items.py

@@ -134,20 +134,27 @@ def get_file_item(db: Session, slug: str) -> Item | None:
     return item
 
 
+def burn_file_item(db: Session, item: Item) -> None:
+    """Mark a file item burned and remove its bytes from disk."""
+    item.burned = True
+    path = resolve_file_path(item)
+    db.commit()
+    if path is not None:
+        try:
+            path.unlink(missing_ok=True)
+        except OSError:
+            pass
+
+
 def get_item(db: Session, slug: str) -> Item | None:
     item = db.scalar(select(Item).where(Item.slug == slug))
     if item is None or _is_unavailable(item):
         return None
 
     item.view_count += 1
-    if item.burn_after_read:
+    # File items burn on download, not metadata fetch.
+    if item.burn_after_read and item.kind != "file":
         item.burned = True
-        path = resolve_file_path(item)
-        if path is not None:
-            try:
-                path.unlink(missing_ok=True)
-            except OSError:
-                pass
     db.commit()
     db.refresh(item)
     return item

backend/tests/test_items.py

@@ -99,3 +99,23 @@ def test_reject_disallowed_extension(client):
         data={"is_public": "true", "ttl": "24h"},
     )
     assert r.status_code == 400
+
+
+def test_file_burn_after_download_not_metadata(client):
+    files = {"file": ("secret.txt", b"top-secret", "text/plain")}
+    data = {"is_public": "true", "ttl": "24h", "burn_after_read": "true"}
+    r = client.post("/api/items/upload", files=files, data=data)
+    assert r.status_code == 200
+    slug = r.json()["slug"]
+
+    meta = client.get(f"/api/items/{slug}")
+    assert meta.status_code == 200
+    assert meta.json()["file_name"] == "secret.txt"
+    assert meta.json()["burn_after_read"] is True
+
+    first = client.get(f"/api/items/{slug}/file")
+    assert first.status_code == 200
+    assert first.content == b"top-secret"
+
+    assert client.get(f"/api/items/{slug}/file").status_code == 404
+    assert client.get(f"/api/items/{slug}").status_code == 404