Magpie 🐦

Elixir client for the Dropbox API v2, built on Req.

Like the bird, Magpie collects and stashes your things — in your Dropbox.

Installation

def deps do
  [
    {:magpie, "~> 0.7.1"}
  ]
end

No configuration is required. Endpoint URLs, retry controls and extra Req options can be configured per client and per Storage operation, with config :magpie, ... as a fallback — see the configuration guide. See the testing guide for isolated offline tests and optional real Dropbox contract checks.

Quick start

# A refresh token keeps the client working indefinitely — Magpie mints
# access tokens as needed (see the OAuth guide)
client =
  Magpie.Client.new(
    refresh_token: System.fetch_env!("DROPBOX_REFRESH_TOKEN"),
    app_key: System.fetch_env!("DROPBOX_APP_KEY"),
    app_secret: System.fetch_env!("DROPBOX_APP_SECRET")
  )

# For a quick script, a static access token works too (Dropbox expires it in ~4h)
client = Magpie.Client.new("DROPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN")

alias Magpie.Storage

{:ok, %Magpie.FileMetadata{size: size}} =
  Storage.put(client, "/Backup/report.pdf", {:file, "priv/report.pdf"}, verify: true)

{:ok, contents} = Storage.get(client, "/Backup/report.pdf")
{:ok, url} = Storage.url(client, "/Backup/report.pdf")

# Large downloads stream directly to disk instead of living in BEAM memory
{:ok, "tmp/report.pdf"} =
  Storage.download(client, "/Backup/report.pdf", "tmp/report.pdf", mkdir_p: true)

Every call returns {:ok, result} on success or an error tuple. Dropbox API errors are %Magpie.Error{} values with the HTTP status, Dropbox's error_summary, full body and request_id; expected transport failures are also returned instead of raising from normal Storage calls. Files, folders and deleted entries come back as Magpie.FileMetadata, Magpie.FolderMetadata and Magpie.DeletedMetadata structs:

for %Magpie.FileMetadata{name: name, size: size, server_modified: at} <- entries do
  "#{name}: #{size} bytes, modified #{DateTime.to_date(at)}"
end

Features

• Simple storage API — Magpie.Storage covers the common path with put, get, download, delete, copy, move, mkdir, exists?, stat, list, stream, concurrent batches and temporary URLs. Upload a local file, binary/iodata or arbitrary stream; verify content, skip unchanged objects, protect writes with if_rev, observe transfer progress, and stream large downloads atomically to disk.
• Production reliability — selected Dropbox file reads (download, metadata, temporary links, listings, revisions and search) retry 429 and transient 5xx/transport failures with Retry-After or exponential backoff; mutating calls are never retried blindly. Telemetry covers request start, stop, exception and retry events, plus transfer progress.
• Isolated client configuration — HTTP timeouts, read retry policies and execution budgets per client or operation. API errors include attempt counts, retry timing and safe diagnostic maps; known scopes can be checked locally.
• Complete coverage — all current user-scoped routes of the Dropbox API v2 (files, sharing, file_properties, file_requests, users, account, auth, check, contacts, openid), verified against the official dropbox-api-spec. Dropbox Business (/team/*) routes are out of scope.
• Typed metadata — the files endpoints decode Dropbox's metadata into structs with DateTime timestamps and a first-class content_hash, and Magpie.Metadata.content_hash/1 computes the same hash locally to verify a transfer
• OAuth 2 & token refresh — authorization URL, PKCE, code exchange, and a supervised Magpie.Auth.TokenServer that keeps access tokens fresh (proactively, and on expired_access_token) with single-flight refreshes. Store tokens wherever you want by implementing Magpie.Auth.TokenProvider.
• High-level flows — Magpie.Files.upload_file/4 picks single request or chunked upload session by size and streams from disk; Magpie.Pager hides cursor pagination behind a lazy Stream; Magpie.Async.await/4 polls async batch jobs with exponential backoff.
• Phoenix & LiveView uploads — Magpie.LiveView.UploadWriter streams a LiveView upload straight into a Dropbox upload session (no disk spooling), and Magpie.LiveView.presign_upload/4 lets the browser post directly to Dropbox. Magpie does not depend on :phoenix_live_view.
• Offline testing — route every request to Req.Test stubs with config :magpie, req_options: [plug: {Req.Test, Magpie}].

Runnable examples

These small applications show how Magpie fits into a longer workflow. Each has an offline demo, tests, and commands for running against your own Dropbox app.

• Order inbox: import supplier CSV files, reject invalid orders, and resume report/archive work after a restart without importing the same orders again.
• Verified backup: upload a directory, run a complete restore drill before publishing its manifest, restore recorded revisions, and review a retention plan.
• Document search: index text and Markdown in SQLite, search ranked excerpts tied to Dropbox revisions, and keep results current through saved cursors and deletions.

Clone this repository and follow each example's README. The examples use the local Magpie checkout and need no credentials for their offline demos.

Documentation

The API reference lives on HexDocs, along with the guides:

• Examples — the complete Magpie.Storage workflow plus recipes for lower-level uploads, downloads, lazy listing, batch jobs, shared links, error handling and testing your app
• OAuth 2 & token refresh — getting a refresh token, the web redirect flow, PKCE, running the token server, persisting tokens and custom providers
• Phoenix & LiveView uploads — controllers, UploadWriter, direct browser → Dropbox uploads
• Configuration and diagnostics — isolated clients, execution budgets, retries, write contracts and permissions
• Testing — offline helpers and optional Dropbox checks
• Upgrading — 0.7 contracts and every 0.4 call whose result changed with typed metadata

Development

The default suite uses Req.Test stubs and a loopback HTTP server; it needs no Dropbox credentials. The optional real-account test is excluded by default.

mix test            # run the suite
mix coveralls       # run with coverage report

Origin

Magpie started as a fork of sger/elixir_dropbox, which is no longer maintained. It has since been rewritten on top of Req/Jason with a new offline test suite. Credit and thanks to the original Elixir Dropbox contributors.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.