DotSync

A lightweight macOS menu bar app that automatically syncs your config files between your Macs using iCloud Drive — no manual effort required.

Overview

DotSync runs quietly in your menu bar and keeps your dotfiles and config files in sync across all your Macs. It uses iCloud Drive as the sync backend, so there's no extra account or service to set up — just iCloud, which you already have.

Features

• Menu bar app — lives in your system status bar and stays out of the way
• Automatic syncing — syncs your files every 5 minutes in the background
• Manual sync — trigger a sync at any time from the menu bar
• Smart conflict resolution — compares file modification dates and syncs the newest version; automatically backs up the older file before overwriting
• Safe sync — never overwrites a non-empty file with an empty one
• Start at login — optional Launch Agent support to start syncing automatically when you log in
• macOS notifications — get notified when files are downloaded or the initial sync completes
• Configurable file list — add or remove any files you want to keep in sync via the Settings window

Default Files Synced

Out of the box, DotSync will sync the following files:

File	Description
~/.zshrc	Zsh shell configuration
~/.zprofile	Zsh login profile
~/.gitconfig	Git global configuration
~/.vimrc	Vim configuration
~/.ssh/config	SSH client configuration

You can add or remove files in Settings.

How It Works

DotSync stores your files in a dedicated folder inside iCloud Drive:

~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/DotSync/

When a sync runs, each configured file is compared between your local machine and iCloud:

• Local is newer → uploads to iCloud (backs up the cloud copy first)
• Cloud is newer → downloads to local (backs up the local copy first)
• Cloud has content, local is empty/missing → downloads from iCloud
• Local has content, cloud is empty/missing → uploads to iCloud
• Same modification date → no action taken

Requirements

• macOS 13 (Ventura) or later
• iCloud Drive enabled

Installation

1. Download the latest release from the Releases page
2. Move DotSync.app to your /Applications folder
3. Launch the app — it will appear in your menu bar
4. (Optional) Open Settings and enable Start at Login to have DotSync run automatically on every login

Usage

Click the ↺ icon in the menu bar to access the following options:

Menu Item	Description
Sync Now	Immediately sync all configured files
Open Settings…	Open the Settings window to manage files and preferences
Open iCloud Folder	Open the DotSync folder in iCloud Drive in Finder
Quit	Quit the app

Settings Window

In the Settings window you can:

• Add files — type a file path (e.g. ~/.bashrc) and click Add
• Remove files — click the trash icon next to any file to stop syncing it
• Reset to Defaults — restore the default list of files
• Start at Login — toggle the Launch Agent to start DotSync automatically on login

Building from Source

This project is built with Swift and SwiftUI using Xcode.

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/BitForger/config-sync.git

2. Open dotsync.xcodeproj in Xcode
3. Select your target Mac and press ⌘R to build and run

License

This project is open source. See LICENSE for details.