Ripples

An adaptive Nextcloud sync client built for GNOME Shell and Phosh using Rust and libadwaita

Screenshots

Features

Account Options

• Direct login via Nextcloud's Login Flow v2
• Alternatively, select account from GNOME Online Accounts (including limited, experimental support for ownCloud and generic WebDAV servers)

Sync Connections

• Configure multiple local-folder to remote-folder pairs per account
• Connections can be bidirectional, upload only, or download only
• Enable/disable switch per connection

Change detection

• Local changes detected through inotify (GFileMonitor)
• Nextcloud notify_push used for instant remote change notification when the server supports it
• A cheap root-ETag check skips full crawls when nothing changed on the server where supported (Nextcloud and ownCloud)
• Polling and full crawls as fallback and for WebDAV

Correctness

• Files that look changed on both sides are compared by content hash (XXH3)
• Large files hashed in parallel 128 MiB chunks using HTTP range requests
• Local renames and moves detected by inode and replayed as a remote move instead of a delete and re-upload
• Transfers are atomic: Downloads write a temporary file then rename it, and uploads write a temporary remote object then WebDAV MOVE it into place
• Large uploads use the Nextcloud chunking API when the server supports it
• File modifications are gated by a settle time to avoid uploading a half-written file
• Executable bits survive a re-download

Conflicts

• Resolution options: Keep Local, Keep Remote, Keep Both (rename local), Keep Both (rename remote)
• Resolution dialog shows live local and remote details
• Conflicting items are re-checked every round, so further changes on either side are noticed

Exclusions

• Global glob patterns (*.tmp, node_modules) with a built-in default list
• Per-connection excluded folders
• Honors .no-sync file per directory
• Maximum file size limit

Power and network

• Optional automatic pausing of transfers on metered connections
• Optional automatic pausing of transfers in system power-saver mode
• Less frequent polling while on battery

Desktop integration

• Optional System tray icon (SNI)
• Optional launch at login, started hidden with --hidden
• Runs in background unless quit from menu or Ctrl+Q

Installing

Flatpak (recommended)

x86_64 & aarch64	aarch64 only

Limitations

• Only one active account is allowed at a time
• Interrupted transfers restart from the beginning
• POSIX permissions other than the executable bit are not synced
• Excluded-folder rules are exact paths and do not follow a rename
• Sync Connections cannot nest or overlap
• Symlinks are ignored

AI Disclaimer

This project has relied extensively on AI-assisted development, primarily Anthropic's Claude (various models), under human direction and manual testing.

Contribution Profile

Phase                    Human █                  ░ AI
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Requirements & Scope      100% ████████████████████  0%
Architecture & Design      75% ███████████████░░░░░ 25%
Implementation              5% █░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 95%
Testing                    90% ██████████████████░░ 10%
Documentation              35% ███████░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 65%

Humorous aside:
These were not the original approximations but Claude expressed that some were "generous to the human side," adding "and I can back that up from the repository." Girl came with RECEIPTS, lol.

License

GPL-3.0-or-later. See LICENSE. The bundled tray icons are from the MoreWaita icon theme (GPL-3.0).