Syncing a folder with your computer

A folder on the machine kept the same as a folder on your own computer, both ways, like Dropbox: the files are real files on your disk, they open with a double-click and work offline, and what you change goes back. It is done by argus-sync, a small app for macOS, Windows and Linux that needs no administrator, no SSH key and no FUSE.

Mounting shows the folder live, as long as the connection holds; syncing keeps a copy that works without one. Mount to look around a large tree; sync the folder you work in.

Connecting a folder

1. Install argus-sync from its latest release (.dmg, .exe/.msi, AppImage, .deb, .rpm). The app is not signed yet: on a Mac, right-click → Open the first time; on Windows, More info → Run anyway.
2. In Argus, the ⋮ menu of a folder → Sync to your computer…. Choose Both ways or Read only and press Make the link.
3. Press Open in argus-sync (or paste the link into it). The app asks where the folder goes on your computer, suggests a place, and starts.

The link is shown once. It carries a sync key that opens that folder alone.

What a sync key can do

read the files of its folder, and below	yes
write and delete there	only if made Both ways, and only when Argus runs with --allow-write
another folder, a terminal, a session, the settings	no
make another key	no

Argus keeps only a hash of the key. The same sheet lists Computers syncing this folder, with when each was last seen, and Take back ends a key at once.

Nothing is lost on the way: a file changed on both sides is kept twice (report (conflict from laptop …).pdf); a delete made through a key goes to a trash beside Argus's config; writes obey max_upload_bytes; a file over the app's size limit (500 MB by default) waits to be asked for.

The key travels with every request, so over plain http on a network you do not trust, use Argus over https (tls_cert), a VPN or an SSH tunnel. See Security.

The routes are /api/sync/* in the API reference.