SYNCTHING-CONFIG(5)

NAME
syncthing-config - Syncthing Configuration

SYNOPSIS

$HOME/.config/syncthing
$HOME/Library/Application Support/Syncthing
%AppData%/Syncthing
%localappdata%/Syncthing

DESCRIPTION

Syncthing uses a single directory to store configuration, crypto keys and index caches. The location defaults to $HOME/.config/syncthing (Unix-like), $HOME/Library/Application Support/Syncthing (Mac), %AppData%/Syncthing (Windows XP) or %LocalAppData%/Syncthing (Windows 7+). It can be changed at runtime using the -home flag. In this directory the following files are located:

config.xml
    The configuration file, in XML format.

cert.pem, key.pem
    The device's RSA public and private key. These form the basis for the device ID. The key must be kept private.

https-cert.pem, https-key.pem
    The certificate and key for HTTPS GUI connections. These may be replaced with a custom certificate for HTTPS as desired.

index-*.db
    A directory holding the database with metadata and hashes of the files currently on disk and available from peers.

csrftokens.txt
    A list of recently issued CSRF tokens (for protection against browser cross site request forgery).

CONFIG FILE FORMAT

The following shows the default configuration file:

<configuration version="12">
    <folder id="default" path="/Users/jb/Sync/" ro="false" rescanIntervalS="60" ignorePerms="false" autoNormalize="true">
        <device id="3LT2GA5-CQI4XJM-WTZ264P-MLOGMHL-MCRLDNT-MZV4RD3-KA745CL-OGAERQZ"></device>
        <minDiskFreePct>1</minDiskFreePct>
        <versioning></versioning>
        <copiers>0</copiers>
        <pullers>0</pullers>
        <hashers>0</hashers>
        <order>random</order>
        <ignoreDelete>false</ignoreDelete>
        <scanProgressIntervalS>0</scanProgressIntervalS>
        <pullerSleepS>0</pullerSleepS>
        <pullerPauseS>0</pullerPauseS>
        <maxConflicts>0</maxConflicts>
    </folder>
    <device id="3LT2GA5-CQI4XJM-WTZ264P-MLOGMHL-MCRLDNT-MZV4RD3-KA745CL-OGAERQZ" name="syno" compression="metadata" introducer="false">
        <address>dynamic</address>
    </device>
    <gui enabled="true" tls="false">
        <address>127.0.0.1:52620</address>
        <apikey>k1dnz1Dd0rzTBjjFFh7CXPnrF12C49B1</apikey>
    </gui>
    <options>
        <listenAddress>tcp://0.0.0.0:22000</listenAddress>
        <globalAnnounceServer>default</globalAnnounceServer>
        <globalAnnounceEnabled>true</globalAnnounceEnabled>
        <localAnnounceEnabled>true</localAnnounceEnabled>
        <localAnnouncePort>21027</localAnnouncePort>
        <localAnnounceMCAddr>[ff12::8384]:21027</localAnnounceMCAddr>
        <relayServer>dynamic+https://relays.syncthing.net/endpoint</relayServer>
        <maxSendKbps>0</maxSendKbps>
        <maxRecvKbps>0</maxRecvKbps>
        <reconnectionIntervalS>60</reconnectionIntervalS>
        <relaysEnabled>true</relaysEnabled>
        <relayReconnectIntervalM>10</relayReconnectIntervalM>
        <relayWithoutGlobalAnn>false</relayWithoutGlobalAnn>
        <startBrowser>true</startBrowser>
        <upnpEnabled>true</upnpEnabled>
        <upnpLeaseMinutes>60</upnpLeaseMinutes>
        <upnpRenewalMinutes>30</upnpRenewalMinutes>
        <upnpTimeoutSeconds>10</upnpTimeoutSeconds>
        <urAccepted>0</urAccepted>
        <urUniqueID></urUniqueID>
        <urURL>https://data.syncthing.net/newdata</urURL>
        <urPostInsecurely>false</urPostInsecurely>
        <urInitialDelayS>1800</urInitialDelayS>
        <restartOnWakeup>true</restartOnWakeup>
        <autoUpgradeIntervalH>12</autoUpgradeIntervalH>
        <keepTemporariesH>24</keepTemporariesH>
        <cacheIgnoredFiles>true</cacheIgnoredFiles>
        <progressUpdateIntervalS>5</progressUpdateIntervalS>
        <symlinksEnabled>true</symlinksEnabled>
        <limitBandwidthInLan>false</limitBandwidthInLan>
        <databaseBlockCacheMiB>0</databaseBlockCacheMiB>
        <minHomeDiskFreePct>1</minHomeDiskFreePct>
        <releasesURL>https://api.github.com/repos/syncthing/syncthing/releases?per_page=30</releasesURL>
    </options>
</configuration>

CONFIGURATION ELEMENT

This is the root element.

version
    The config version. Increments whenever a change is made that requires migration from previous formats.

FOLDER ELEMENT

<folder id="default" path="/Users/jb/Sync/" ro="false" rescanIntervalS="60" ignorePerms="false" autoNormalize="true">
    <device id="3LT2GA5-CQI4XJM-WTZ264P-MLOGMHL-MCRLDNT-MZV4RD3-KA745CL-OGAERQZ"></device>
    <minDiskFreePct>1</minDiskFreePct>
    <versioning></versioning>
    <copiers>0</copiers>
    <pullers>0</pullers>
    <hashers>0</hashers>
    <order>random</order>
    <ignoreDelete>false</ignoreDelete>
    <scanProgressIntervalS>0</scanProgressIntervalS>
    <pullerSleepS>0</pullerSleepS>
    <pullerPauseS>0</pullerPauseS>
    <maxConflicts>0</maxConflicts>
</folder>

One or more folder elements must be present in the file. Each element describes one folder. The following attributes may be set on the folder element:

id  The folder ID, must be unique. (mandatory)

path
    The path to the directory where the folder is stored on this device; not sent to other devices. (mandatory)

ro  True if the folder is read only (Master mode; will not be modified by Syncthing) on this device.

rescanIntervalS
    The rescan interval, in seconds.

ignorePerms
    True if the folder should ignore permissions.

autoNormalize
    Automatically correct UTF-8 normalization errors found in file names.

    The following child elements may exist:

device
    These must have the id attribute and nothing else. Mentioned devices are those that will be sharing the folder in question. Each mentioned device must have a separate device element later in the file. It is customary that the local device ID is included in all repositories. Syncthing will currently add this automatically if it is not present in the configuration file.

minDiskFreePct
    The percentage of space that should be available on the disk this folder resides. The folder will be stopped when the percentage of free space goes below the threshold. Set to zero to disable.

versioning
    Specifies a versioning configuration.

    SEE ALSO: versioning

copiers, pullers, hashers
    The number of copier, puller and hasher routines to use, or zero for the system determined optimum. These are low level performance options for advanced users only; do not change unless requested to or you've actually read and understood the code yourself. :)

order
    The order in which needed files should be pulled from the cluster. The possibles values are:

random
    Pull files in random order. This optimizes for balancing resources among the devices in a cluster.

alphabetic
    Pull files ordered by file name alphabetically.

smallestFirst, largestFirst
    Pull files ordered by file size; smallest and largest first respectively.

oldestFirst, newestFirst
    Pull files ordered by modification time; oldest and newest first respectively.

ignoreDelete
    When set to true, this device will pretend not to see instructions to delete files from other devices.

scanProgressIntervalS
    The interval with which scan progress information is sent to the GUI. Zero means the default value (two seconds).

pullerSleepS, pullerPauseS
    Tweaks for rate limiting the puller. Don't change these unless you know what you're doing.

maxConflicts
    The maximum number of conflict copies to keep around for any given file. The default, -1, means an unlimited number. Setting this to zero disables conflict copies altogether.

DEVICE ELEMENT

<device id="5SYI2FS-LW6YAXI-JJDYETS-NDBBPIO-256MWBO-XDPXWVG-24QPUM4-PDW4UQU" name="syno" compression="metadata" introducer="false">
    <address>dynamic</address>
</device>

One or more device elements must be present in the file. Each element describes a device participating in the cluster. It is customary to include a device element for the local device; Syncthing will currently add one if it is not present. The following attributes may be set on the device element:

id  The device ID. This must be written in canonical form, that is without any spaces or dashes. (mandatory)

name
    A friendly name for the device. (optional)

compression
    Whether to use protocol compression when sending messages to this device. The possible values are:

metadata
    Compress metadata packets, such as index information. Metadata is usually very compression friendly so this is a good default.

always
    Compress all packets, including file data. This is recommended if the folders contents are mainly compressible data such as documents or text files.

never
    Disable all compression.

introducer
    Set to true if this device should be trusted as an introducer, i.e. we should copy their list of devices per folder when connecting.

    In addition, one or more address child elements must be present. Each contains an address to use when attempting to connect to this device and will be tried in order. Accepted formats are:

IPv4 address (192.0.2.42)
    The default port (22000) is used.

IPv4 address and port (192.0.2.42:12345)
    The address and port is used as given.

IPv6 address (2001:db8::23:42)
    The default port (22000) is used.

IPv6 address and port ([2001:db8::23:42]:12345)
    The address and port is used as given. The address must be enclosed in square brackets.

dynamic
    The word dynamic means to use local and global discovery to find the device.

GUI ELEMENT

<gui enabled="true" tls="false">
    <address>127.0.0.1:8384</address>
    <apikey>l7jSbCqPD95JYZ0g8vi4ZLAMg3ulnN1b</apikey>
</gui>

There must be exactly one gui element. The GUI configuration is also used by the rest-api and the event-api. The following attributes may be set on the gui element:

enabled
    If not true, the GUI and API will not be started.

tls If set to true, TLS (HTTPS) will be enforced. Non-HTTPS requests will be redirected to HTTPS. When this is set to false, TLS connections are still possible but it is not mandatory.

    The following child elements may be present:

address
    Set the listen addresses. One or more address elements must be present. Allowed address formats are:

IPv4 address and port (127.0.0.1:8384)
    The address and port is used as given.

IPv6 address and port ([::1]:8384)
    The address and port is used as given. The address must be enclosed in square brackets.

Wildcard and port (0.0.0.0:12345, [::]:12345, :12345)
    These are equivalent and will result in Syncthing listening on all interfaces and both IPv4 and IPv6.

username
    Set to require authentication.

password
    Contains the bcrypt hash of the real password.

apikey
    If set, this is the API key that enables usage of the REST interface.

OPTIONS ELEMENT

<options>
    <listenAddress>tcp://0.0.0.0:22000</listenAddress>
    <globalAnnounceServer>default</globalAnnounceServer>
    <globalAnnounceEnabled>true</globalAnnounceEnabled>
    <localAnnounceEnabled>true</localAnnounceEnabled>
    <localAnnouncePort>21027</localAnnouncePort>
    <localAnnounceMCAddr>[ff12::8384]:21027</localAnnounceMCAddr>
    <relayServer>dynamic+https://relays.syncthing.net/endpoint</relayServer>
    <maxSendKbps>0</maxSendKbps>
    <maxRecvKbps>0</maxRecvKbps>
    <reconnectionIntervalS>60</reconnectionIntervalS>
    <relaysEnabled>true</relaysEnabled>
    <relayReconnectIntervalM>10</relayReconnectIntervalM>
    <relayWithoutGlobalAnn>false</relayWithoutGlobalAnn>
    <startBrowser>true</startBrowser>
    <upnpEnabled>true</upnpEnabled>
    <upnpLeaseMinutes>60</upnpLeaseMinutes>
    <upnpRenewalMinutes>30</upnpRenewalMinutes>
    <upnpTimeoutSeconds>10</upnpTimeoutSeconds>
    <urAccepted>0</urAccepted>
    <urUniqueID></urUniqueID>
    <urURL>https://data.syncthing.net/newdata</urURL>
    <urPostInsecurely>false</urPostInsecurely>
    <urInitialDelayS>1800</urInitialDelayS>
    <restartOnWakeup>true</restartOnWakeup>
    <autoUpgradeIntervalH>12</autoUpgradeIntervalH>
    <keepTemporariesH>24</keepTemporariesH>
    <cacheIgnoredFiles>true</cacheIgnoredFiles>
    <progressUpdateIntervalS>5</progressUpdateIntervalS>
    <symlinksEnabled>true</symlinksEnabled>
    <limitBandwidthInLan>false</limitBandwidthInLan>
    <databaseBlockCacheMiB>0</databaseBlockCacheMiB>
    <minHomeDiskFreePct>1</minHomeDiskFreePct>
    <releasesURL>https://api.github.com/repos/syncthing/syncthing/releases?per_page=30</releasesURL>
</options>

The options element contains all other global configuration options.

listenAddress
    The listen address for incoming sync connections. See the address element under the GUI Element for allowed syntax, with the addition that the address must have a protocol scheme prefix. Currently tcp:// is the only supported protocol scheme.

globalAnnounceServer
    A URI to a global announce (discovery) server, or the word default to include the default servers. Any number of globalAnnounceServer elements may be present. The syntax for non-default entries is that of a HTTP or HTTPS URL. A number of options may be added as query options to the URL: insecure to prevent certificate validation (required for HTTP URLs) and id=<device ID> to perform certificate pinning. The device ID to use is printed by the discovery server on startup.

globalAnnounceEnabled
    Whether to announce this device to the global announce (discovery) server, and also use it to look up other devices.

localAnnounceEnabled
    Whether to send announcements to the local LAN, also use such announcements to find other devices.

localAnnouncePort
    The port on which to listen and send IPv4 broadcast announcements to.

localAnnounceMCAddr
    The group address and port to join and send IPv6 multicast announcements on.

relayServer
    Lists one or more relay servers, on the format relay://hostname:port. Alternatively, a relay list can be loaded over https by using an URL like dynamic+https://somehost/path. The default loads the list of relays from the relay pool server, relays.syncthing.net.

maxSendKbps
    Outgoing data rate limit, in kibibits per second.

maxRecvKbps
    Incoming data rate limits, in kibibits per second.

reconnectionIntervalS
    The number of seconds to wait between each attempt to connect to currently unconnected devices.

relaysEnabled
    When true, relays will be connected to and potentially used for device to device connections.

relayReconnectIntervalM
    Sets the interval, in minutes, between relay reconnect attempts.

relayWithoutGlobalAnn
    When set to true, relay connections will be attempted even when global discovery is disabled. This is useful only in the case where devices are known to be connected to the same relays. The default is false.

startBrowser
    Whether to attempt to start a browser to show the GUI when Syncthing starts.

upnpEnabled
    Whether to attempt to perform an UPnP port mapping for incoming sync connections.

upnpLeaseMinutes
    Request a lease for this many minutes; zero to request a permanent lease.

upnpRenewalMinutes
    Attempt to renew the lease after this many minutes.

upnpTimeoutSeconds
    When scanning for UPnP devices, wait this long for responses.

urAccepted
    Whether the user as accepted to submit anonymous usage data. The default, 0, mean the user has not made a choice, and Syncthing will ask at some point in the future. -1 means no, a number above zero means that that version of usage reporting has been accepted.

urUniqueID
    The unique ID sent together with the usage report. Generated when usage reporting is enabled.

urURL
    The URL to post usage report data to, when enabled.

urPostInsecurely
    When true, the UR URL can be http instead of https, or have a self signed certificate. The default is false.

urInitialDelayS
    The time to wait from startup to the first usage report being sent. Allows the system to stabilize before reporting statistics.

restartOnWakeup
    Whether to perform a restart of Syncthing when it is detected that we are waking from sleep mode (i.e. a folded up laptop).

autoUpgradeIntervalH
    Check for a newer version after this many hours. Set to zero to disable automatic upgrades.

keepTemporariesH
    Keep temporary failed transfers for this many hours. While the temporaries are kept, the data they contain need not be transferred again.

cacheIgnoredFiles
    Whether to cache the results of ignore pattern evaluation. Performance at the price of memory.

progressUpdateIntervalS
    NOTE: Requires explanation.

symlinksEnabled
    Whether to sync symlinks, if supported by the system.

limitBandwidthInLan
    Whether to apply bandwidth limits to devices in the same broadcast domain as the local device.

databaseBlockCacheMiB
    Override the automatically calculated database block cache size. Don't, unless you're very short on memory, in which case you want to set this to 8.

pingTimeoutS
    Ping-timeout in seconds. Don't change it unless you are having issues due to slow response time (slow connection/cpu) and large index exchanges

pingIdleTimeS
    ping interval in seconds. Don't change it unless you feel it's necessary.

minHomeDiskFreePct
    The percentage of space that should be available on the partition holding the configuration and index.

releasesURL
    The URL from which release information is loaded, for automatic upgrades.

SYNCING CONFIGURATION FILES

Syncing configuration files between devices (such that multiple devices are using the same configuration files) can cause issues. This is easy to do accidentally if you sync your home folder between devices. A common symptom of syncing configuration files is two devices ending up with the same Device ID.

If you want to use syncthing to backup your configuration files, it is recommended that the files you are backing up are in a folder-master to prevent other devices from overwriting the per device configuration. The folder on the remote device(s) should not be used as configuration for the remote devices.

If you'd like to sync your home folder in non-master mode, you may add the folder that stores the configuration files to the ignore list. If you'd also like to backup your configuration files, add another folder in master mode for just the configuration folder.

AUTHOR
The Syncthing Authors

COPYRIGHT
2015, The Syncthing Authors