desync(1) desync(1)

desync-tar - Store a directory tree in a catar archive or index

desync tar <catar|index> <source> [flags]

Encodes a directory tree into a catar archive or alternatively an index file with the archive chunked into a store. Use '-' to write the output, catar or index to STDOUT.

If the desired output is an index file (caidx) rather than a catar, the -i option can be provided as well as a store. Using -i is equivalent to first using the tar command to create a catar, then the make command to chunk it into a store and produce an index file. With -i, less disk space is required as no intermediary catar is created. There can however be a difference in performance depending on file size.

By default, input is read from local disk. Using --input-format=tar, the input can be a tar file or a stream from STDIN with '-'.

--ca-cert="" trust authorities in this file, instead of OS trust store

-r, --cache-repair[=true] replace invalid chunks in the cache from source

-m, --chunk-size="16:64:256" min:avg:max chunk size in kb

--client-cert="" path to client certificate for TLS authentication

--client-key="" path to client key for TLS authentication

-n, --concurrency=10 number of concurrent goroutines

-e, --error-retry=3 number of times to retry in case of network error

-b, --error-retry-base-interval=500ms initial retry delay, increases linearly with each subsequent attempt

-h, --help[=false] help for tar

-i, --index[=false] create index file (caidx), not catar

--input-format="disk" input format, 'disk' or 'tar'

--no-time[=false] set file timestamps to zero in the archive

-x, --one-file-system[=false] don't cross filesystem boundaries

-s, --store="" target store (used with -i)

--tar-add-root[=false] pretend that all tar elements have a common root directory

-t, --trust-insecure[=false] trust invalid certificates

--config="" config file (default $HOME/.config/desync/config.json)

--digest="sha512-256" digest algorithm, sha512-256 or sha256

--verbose[=false] verbose mode

  desync tar documents.catar $HOME/Documents
  desync tar -i -s /path/to/local pics.caidx $HOME/Pictures

desync(1)

5-Sep-2026 Auto generated by spf13/cobra

Sep 2026 desync