In accordance with one illustrative embodiment, when a file is moved from the background to the foreground in a peer-to-peer client, the client makes a local request for file pieces. The client sends a handshake message to itself to check for available pieces. The client then exchanges messages locally the same way it would with external peers. As an alternative approach to local message passing, the client may keep a local record of file fragments in a data structure, such as a markup language document or other data repository. The client may then query the data structure for needed file fragments before submitting a request to the peer-to-peer network. Every time a new file segment is downloaded and validated in the background, or the foreground, the peer-to-peer client may update the data structure. Then, the client may simply query the data structure for the specific segment it wishes to download.