Feature Request: Shared Link Access Logs

[imanchalsingh]

Description

Track access history for shared links.

Problem

Users cannot determine who accessed shared content.

Proposed Solution

• Log access timestamps.
• Display access history to file owners.

Benefits

• Better monitoring.
• Improved security awareness.

[Kalpesh-Gawas]

Currently, when a file owner generates and shares a public or authenticated link, they cannot determine who accessed the content or when it was accessed. To provide better monitoring and improve security awareness for file owners, the system should log detailed access information and present it in a user-friendly analytics view.

Proposed Solution

1. Backend (Server-side)
   Schema Update (server/models/File.js): Modify the file schema to store an array of access logs or create a separate AccessLog model linked to the file.

Fields needed: accessedAt (Timestamp), ipAddress (Optional/Anonymized), userAgent (Browser/Device info), and accessedBy (User ID if logged in, or "Guest").

Controller Logic (server/controllers/fileController.js): Update the shared link retrieval/download endpoint so that every time a valid link is requested, it records a new log entry into the database.

API Endpoint: Expose a GET endpoint (e.g., /api/files/:id/access-history) protected by authentication to fetch logs specifically for the file owner.

2. Frontend (Client-side)
   Analytics Component (client/src/components/Home/Analytics.tsx): Integrate the API to display the access history logs.

UI Element: Render a clean, non-scrollable or paginated table displaying:

Date & Time (formatted cleanly)

Viewer Type (User profile name or Guest)

Device / Browser info extracted from the user agent string.

Technical Stack Involved
Frontend: React.js, Tailwind CSS, TypeScript

Backend: Node.js, Express.js, MongoDB (Mongoose)

Benefits
Better Monitoring: Clear visibility into link traffic.

Improved Security Awareness: File owners can verify if their data fell into unauthorized hands.

I would love to work on this feature! It fits perfectly with my skill set as a developer. Could you please assign this issue to me under Social Summer of Code (SSoC)?