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rsync

Included in pluginshared-skillsView on GitHub ↗

Files

SKILL.mdagentsreferences

Install

Install the containing plugin
/plugin install shared-skills@llm-skills
Invoke this skill after installation
/shared-skills:rsync
Download rsync-skill.zip
This skill is bundled inside shared-skills. Install the plugin once, then Claude Code can use any of its included skills. Browse the full plugin repository at github.com/alisonaquinas/llm-shared-skills.

SKILL.md

name: rsync description: > Synchronise files and directories locally or over SSH with rsync for efficient, resumable, and checksum-verified transfers. Use when the agent needs to mirror a directory tree, back up files to a remote host, transfer large files with progress reporting, exclude patterns from a copy, or perform a safe dry-run before a destructive sync.

rsync

Efficiently synchronise files and directories locally or over SSH with delta transfer, checksum verification, and fine-grained exclusion control.

Quick Start

  1. Verify availability: rsync --version
  2. Dry-run a local sync: rsync -avn src/ dest/
  3. Live sync: rsync -av src/ dest/

Intent Router

  • references/cheatsheet.md — Common flags, local and remote sync, dry-run, exclusions, and progress output
  • references/advanced-usage.md — Archive mode, checksums, bandwidth limits, partial transfers, hardlinks, and daemon mode
  • references/troubleshooting.md — Trailing slash pitfalls, SSH key setup, permission errors, and interrupted transfer recovery

Core Workflow

  1. Always dry-run first: rsync -avn src/ dest/ to preview what will change
  2. Add -a (archive) to preserve permissions, timestamps, symlinks, and ownership
  3. Use --exclude or --exclude-from to skip unwanted paths
  4. Add --delete only after confirming the dry-run output — it removes files from dest not in src
  5. Review the summary line (sent X bytes … speedup Y) to confirm the expected volume transferred

Quick Command Reference

rsync -avn src/ dest/                               # Dry-run: show what would change
rsync -av src/ dest/                                # Local sync with verbose output
rsync -az src/ user@host:/remote/dest/              # Remote sync over SSH with compression
rsync -av --delete src/ dest/                       # Mirror: delete files absent from src
rsync -av --exclude='*.log' src/ dest/              # Exclude pattern
rsync -av --exclude-from=.rsyncignore src/ dest/    # Exclude from file
rsync -avP src/ dest/                               # Show per-file progress
rsync -av --checksum src/ dest/                     # Force checksum comparison (skip mtime)
rsync -av --bwlimit=5000 src/ dest/                 # Limit bandwidth to 5 MB/s
rsync -av --partial --progress src/ dest/           # Resume interrupted transfers
rsync -av -e "ssh -i ~/.ssh/key" src/ user@host:/d/ # Custom SSH key
rsync --version                                     # Check installed version
man rsync                                           # Full manual

Safety Notes

AreaGuardrail
Always dry-run firstrsync -n (or --dry-run) never writes. Run it before every destructive or large sync.
Trailing slash on sourcersync src/ dest/ syncs the contents of src into dest. rsync src dest/ syncs the directory src itself into dest. This is the single most common rsync mistake.
--delete is destructiveFiles in dest that do not exist in src are permanently removed. Only use after dry-run confirms the deletion list is correct.
Remote host trustSyncing to a remote host modifies files on that system. Confirm hostname, user, and path before running a live sync.
Permissions and ownership-a preserves ownership, which may fail if running as non-root on the destination. Use --no-owner --no-group when ownership mapping is not needed.
SSH accessEnsure SSH key auth is set up before scripting. Password prompts will cause automated syncs to hang.

Source Policy

  • Treat man rsync and rsync --help as runtime truth.
  • Run rsync --version to confirm protocol version and capabilities before using advanced flags.
  • Prefer rsync over cp -r for anything larger than a few files — it is resumable and verifiable.

See Also

  • $cp for simple local copies where rsync overhead is unnecessary
  • $ssh for the underlying transport used in remote syncs
  • $mv for relocating rather than mirroring
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