Sync Rsync

Real-time file sync from VSCode to remote servers — works on save, watches external edits (AI agents, CLI tools), and supports right-click sync for files and folders.

No WSL. No Cygwin. No background daemons.

Why this extension exists

Every other sync extension misses one or more of these:

	SFTP	sync-rsync (old)	Sync Rsync
Sync on Ctrl+S	✅	✅	✅
Watch external edits (Claude Code, Cursor…)	❌	❌	✅
Right-click folder sync	❌	❌	✅
Teleport (tsh) native	❌	✅ (WSL only)	✅ native
Standard SSH / scp	✅	✅	✅
Windows — no WSL required	❌	❌	✅

The external file watcher is the key feature. When an AI coding agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot Workspace) edits files outside VSCode, this extension detects the change and syncs it to the server automatically — no manual trigger needed.

Quick Start

1. Add sites to your workspace settings

"sync-rsync.sites": [
  {
    "name": "my-server",
    "localPath": "C:/projects/myapp/",
    "remotePath": "root@myserver:/opt/myapp/"
  }
]

2. Configure your transfer binary

Standard SSH (scp):

"sync-rsync.tshPath": "scp"

Teleport (tsh):

"sync-rsync.tshPath": "tsh.exe"

That's it. Save a file — it syncs.

Features

Sync on Save

Every Ctrl+S uploads the saved file to the matching remote path. Scoped per site — saving a file in myapp/ only syncs to myserver, not all sites.

External File Watcher

Files modified by any tool outside VSCode — Claude Code, shell scripts, git operations — are detected and synced automatically. 400ms debounce prevents redundant transfers.

Right-Click Sync

Right-click any file or folder in the Explorer:

Sync Up → Server — upload to remote
Sync Down ← Server — download from remote

Folder sync is recursive (-r).

Delete Remote on Local Delete (opt-in)

When you delete a local file, it can be removed from the server too. Disabled by default — enable per site:

{
  "name": "my-server",
  "localPath": "C:/projects/myapp/",
  "remotePath": "root@myserver:/opt/myapp/",
  "deleteRemoteOnLocal": true
}

Configuration

Global settings

Setting	Default	Description
`sync-rsync.tshPath`	`tsh.exe`	Path to `tsh.exe`, `tsh` (Linux/Mac), or `scp`
`sync-rsync.nativeSyncOnSave`	`true`	Sync on Ctrl+S
`sync-rsync.watchExternal`	`true`	Watch external file changes
`sync-rsync.deleteRemoteOnLocal`	`false`	Delete remote on local delete
`sync-rsync.autoShowOutputOnError`	`true`	Show output panel on error

Site options

Option	Default	Description
`name`	required	Display name
`localPath`	required	Local folder (`C:/...` or `/mnt/c/...`)
`remotePath`	required	`user@host:/path/`
`enabled`	`true`	Disable without removing
`deleteRemoteOnLocal`	`false`	Override global setting per site
`exclude`	`[".git", "node_modules", ...]`	Patterns to skip

Teleport Setup

If your servers are behind Teleport, set tshPath to your tsh binary and make sure you're logged in:

tsh login --proxy=your-teleport-proxy --user=youruser

No SSH config needed. No WSL. tsh scp handles authentication and routing.

Compatibility

Windows — native, no WSL required
macOS / Linux — set tshPath to tsh or scp
localPath — accepts both Windows (C:/path/) and WSL (/mnt/c/path/) formats
Config — compatible with existing sync-rsync extension site definitions

License

MIT

Sync Rsync EP

Epid