VaultSync

Snapshot · Back up · Understand · Recover

A cross-platform backup and recovery manager for project folders, workspaces, external storage, and NAS workflows. VaultSync helps you inspect what is stored, verify that backup data is still readable, and understand what a restore would do before changing your files.

Download VaultSync · Website · Documentation · Community

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Why VaultSync?

A completed backup job only proves that a process finished. It does not necessarily prove that the stored data is still readable, matches the expected project state, or can be restored safely.

VaultSync is built to answer the questions that come afterward:

• What changed?
• What is actually stored?
• Can the stored bytes still be read?
• Do they match the snapshot?
• What would happen if I restored them?

VaultSync combines snapshots, backups, verification, browsing, comparison, restore simulation, retention planning, and recovery guidance in one desktop application.

The three core concepts

• A snapshot records the state of a project and tracks what changed.
• A backup stores the project data at a configured destination.
• A recovery drill reads bounded stored data, verifies it against snapshot hashes, and previews the restore plan without modifying the live project.

flowchart LR
    A[Project folder] --> B[Snapshot]
    B --> C[Backup destination]
    C --> D[Browse and compare]
    C --> E[Verify stored bytes]
    D --> F[Restore plan]
    E --> F
    F --> G[Restore with confidence]

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See VaultSync in action

Recovery readiness

VaultSync evaluates recent backup coverage across tracked projects, highlights protection gaps, and shows which recovery points are currently reachable.

Recovery drill evidence

Recovery drills verify stored data against snapshot hashes without modifying the live project. Results expose what was checked, what passed, and what still needs attention.

History and recovery timeline

Review snapshots, restore points, metadata events, backup changes, and recovery activity over time.

Snapshot comparison

Compare restore points by added, modified, and deleted files, with readable text previews for supported formats.

Themes and appearance

VaultSync includes curated dark and light visual presets with optional advanced tuning.

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Key features

Back up

• Create manual or scheduled backups from the desktop application.
• Route each project to an automatic, specific, or multi-destination configuration.
• Back up to local disks, external drives, pre-mounted storage, SMB shares, and supported NAS workflows.
• Use full, incremental, compressed, imported, encrypted, or plain backup workflows.
• Create a fresh snapshot automatically when a backup starts.
• Apply bandwidth limits and quiet hours.
• Continue using VaultSync headlessly through its CLI and JSON output.

Understand

• Browse available backup contents with Snapshot Explorer without restoring everything.
• Compare snapshots and navigate added, modified, deleted, and unchanged files.
• Inspect supported text files with line-by-line diffs.
• Organize restore points with labels, notes, tags, and protected Keep status.
• Filter history across projects, backup types, encryption states, and source machines.
• Synchronize metadata across machines through .vaultsync/meta.
• Track imported backups discovered from metadata or destination scans.

Prove recoverability

• Read stored backup bytes directly from the destination.
• Verify stored files against the hashes captured by the snapshot.
• Run bounded recovery drills without modifying the live project.
• Simulate the restore plan and show what will happen before restoration begins.
• Review restore-readiness summaries and actionable recovery recommendations.
• Evaluate backup coverage with integrated 3-2-1 guidance.
• Detect missing, unreadable, changed, or mismatched recovery data.

Maintain and diagnose

• Apply retention policies while preserving protected backups.
• Simulate retention before deleting data.
• Clean up orphan snapshots when related backups are pruned.
• Detect destination availability problems, including sleeping or disconnected NAS devices.
• Run startup integrity checks and guided Doctor repair workflows.
• Review metadata conflicts before accepting changes.
• Receive destination quota suggestions and schedule maintenance jobs.
• Export support bundles and inspect strict patch compatibility diagnostics.
• Copy the exact running build identity from Settings, or print the same machine-readable record with vaultsync --version --json.
• Prepare optional, fully reviewable crash-report email drafts. Nothing is uploaded or sent automatically.

Encrypt

• Configure global or per-project encryption policies.
• Store credentials through the operating system's secure credential store.
• Encrypt archive backups locally before they reach the destination.
• Require the backup password before encrypted content can be opened or restored.
• Use automatic lock timeouts or manually select Lock now.

See Backup encryption for setup, behavior, and recovery guidance.

Smart presets

Presets define which files should be included or excluded, similarly to .gitignore.

Included presets cover:

• Unity
• Unreal Engine
• Godot
• GameMaker
• .NET and C#
• Node.js
• Python
• Rust
• Java
• Go
• Blender
• Video editing
• Music production and DAWs
• VS Code
• JetBrains tools
• Docker
• General project workflows

Choose No preset to include everything, or configure your own exclusion rules. Development presets remove disposable build output, package caches, test caches, logs, and machine-local IDE state while preserving Git control files and shareable editor configuration. Live .git internals remain excluded until full-repository backup consistency and restore safeguards are available. VaultSync rules are exclusion-only; ! negation rules from .gitignore are not supported.

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Download VaultSync

Desktop builds are published on the repository's Releases page.

Platform	Available packages
Windows	Desktop installer
macOS	.dmg for Apple Silicon and Intel
Linux	AppImage x64, .deb x64/arm64, tar.gz x64/arm64

Windows users may also install VaultSync through the Microsoft Store when the current Store release is available.

Installer signing notice

Direct-download desktop installers are intentionally unsigned because paid platform signing programs are outside the project's release budget. This can cause Windows SmartScreen or macOS Gatekeeper to display a warning. Signing is not a release gate; official-source and SHA-256 verification are the supported trust controls.

Download only from the official ATAC-Helicopter/VaultSync release page and compare the asset's published SHA-256 digest before bypassing an operating-system warning. VaultSync's updater also rejects installer and patch downloads whose trusted GitHub digest or exact size is missing or mismatched.

Release packages also publish SPDX 2.3 SBOMs and GitHub artifact attestations for the final downloadable bytes. Online and offline verification commands are documented in the release guide.

Windows SmartScreen instructions

1. Open the downloaded installer.
2. Select More info.
3. Select Run anyway.

Only continue when the installer came from the official VaultSync repository or website.

macOS Gatekeeper instructions

1. Open the downloaded .dmg.
2. Drag VaultSync into Applications.
3. Close the disk image.
4. Open Applications.
5. Right-click VaultSync and select Open.

If Gatekeeper still blocks the application, clear the quarantine attribute from the canonical app bundle:

sudo xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/VaultSync.app"

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Desktop quick start

1. Install and open VaultSync.
2. Select the folder where your projects or workspaces are stored.
3. Add a backup destination.
4. Create or import a project.
5. Choose a preset or use No preset.
6. Create the first snapshot and backup.
7. Open the backup history to browse, compare, verify, or restore it.

The desktop application provides guided setup and does not require CLI commands.

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Network storage

SMB

VaultSync supports SMB auto-mounting on Windows and macOS through configured credential profiles.

A destination can also use an existing system mount by enabling Pre-mounted and disabling Auto-mount.

NFS on macOS

VaultSync does not auto-mount NFS shares on macOS because mounting requires elevated privileges. Mount the share through macOS first, then configure VaultSync to use the local mount path.

Example:

mkdir -p "$HOME/Library/Application Support/VaultSync/mounts/nfs-backups"

sudo /sbin/mount_nfs -o rw,resvport \
  192.168.1.100:/export/backups \
  "$HOME/Library/Application Support/VaultSync/mounts/nfs-backups"

Then configure the destination:

Path: ~/Library/Application Support/VaultSync/mounts/nfs-backups/Projects
Pre-mounted: Enabled
Auto-mount: Disabled

Replace the server address, export, and destination folder with values from your own environment.

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CLI

The VaultSync CLI supports snapshots, synchronization, verification, scripting, automation, and headless environments.

Install from source

Requirements:

• Git
• .NET 10 SDK

git clone https://github.com/ATAC-Helicopter/VaultSync.git
cd VaultSync

dotnet pack src/VaultSync.CLI -c Release

export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.dotnet/tools"

dotnet tool install \
  --global \
  --add-source src/VaultSync.CLI/bin/ToolPackages \
  vaultsync.cli

Update the installed CLI:

dotnet tool update --global vaultsync.cli

CLI quick start

vaultsync init
vaultsync add-project Demo ~/Projects/Demo --preset unity
vaultsync snapshot Demo
vaultsync sync Demo ~/Backups/Demo
vaultsync verify Demo ~/Backups/Demo --full

Useful commands

Command	Description
vaultsync init	Initialize the configuration and database
vaultsync add-project <name> <path>	Register a project
vaultsync list-projects	Show all tracked projects
vaultsync snapshot <name>	Create a project snapshot
vaultsync sync <name> <dest>	Mirror a project to a destination
vaultsync verify <name> <dest>	Hash-compare a project and backup
vaultsync history <name>	Show snapshot history
vaultsync diff <name>	Compare snapshots
vaultsync prune <name>	Remove old snapshots
vaultsync restore <name> <dest>	Restore a recorded folder backup; use the desktop app for archives or encryption
vaultsync doctor	Check the local environment

Watch mode

vaultsync watch Game \
  --dest /Backups/Game \
  --sync \
  --verify \
  --debounce-ms 2500

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Updates

VaultSync checks GitHub Releases according to the selected update channel and interval.

• Stable follows production releases.
• Beta can include prerelease builds from the Dev branch.
• Compatible versions may receive smaller platform-specific delta updates.
• Unsupported or older versions fall back to the full installer rather than attempting an unsafe patch.

The CLI follows the stable release line. Run the following after a release to update it:

dotnet tool update --global vaultsync.cli

See Updater documentation for release manifests, packaging, patch compatibility, and platform-specific behavior.

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Documentation

• Documentation overview
• Wiki and how-to guides
• Recovery guide
• Encryption guide
• Recoverability engine
• Disaster-recovery design
• Updater details
• Privacy
• Roadmap
• Changelog
• Download statistics
• Security policy
• Contributing
• Code of Conduct

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Community and support

• Join r/VaultSync for updates, feedback, questions, and roadmap discussions.
• Use GitHub Discussions for longer technical or product conversations.
• Report reproducible problems through GitHub Issues.
• Read SECURITY.md before reporting a security vulnerability.

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Project activity

Additional repository links

• Latest release
• All releases and prereleases
• Persistent download history
• Open issues
• Pull requests

GitHub badge counters can lag because of third-party caching. Use the download-statistics history for persistent release totals.

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Contributing

Contributions, bug reports, documentation improvements, translations, testing, and product feedback are welcome.

Read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request. Community participation is governed by the Code of Conduct.

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License

VaultSync is licensed under the MIT License.

Bundled helper tools may use separate licenses. See THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

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Credits

Created by Flavio Giacchetti with contributions from the VaultSync community.