NEXTCLOUDCMD(1)

📦
version 3.16.7 · 5 versions
, in debian trixie

✨ NAME ✨

nextcloudcmd — the command line Nextcloud client tool, aka the little terminal bestie that does the whole sync thing without any GUI drama 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

nextcloudcmd [OPTIONS...] sourcedir nextcloudurl

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so, nextcloudcmd is the command line tool that comes with the Nextcloud file synchronization desktop utility. it's the same energy as the nextcloud(1) GUI client, except... plot twist: nextcloudcmd does one single sync run and then dips. that's it. one and done. no hanging around. 🫶

and fun fact, bestie: nextcloudcmd is literally the glow-up replacement for the old ocsync binary that used to do this exact job in earlier releases. we don't talk about ocsync anymore. she's retired. 👑

so what does one sync run even do? it synchronizes a single local directory using a WebDAV share on a remote Nextcloud server. that's the whole vibe.

to invoke the command line client, you just hand it the local and the remote repository:

  • the first parameter is the local directory 📁
  • the second parameter is the server URL 🌐
NOTE: before the 1.6 release of nextcloudcmd, the tool only accepted owncloud:// or ownclouds:// in place of http:// and https:// as a scheme. yes, really. it was giving ancient. see the Examples section below for the receipts. 💀

🌸 OPTIONS 🌸

  • --path — overrides the default remote root folder and points it at a specific subfolder on the server instead (e.g.: /Documents would sync the Documents subfolder on the server). slay, but for directories. 📂
  • --user, -u <user> — use user as the login name.
  • --password, -p <password> — use password as the password.
  • -n — use netrc(5) for login. let the file do the talking. 🤫
  • --non-interactive — do not prompt for questions. she will not be asking. periodt.
  • --silent, --s — inhibits verbose log output. quiet mode activated. 🤐
  • --trust — trust any SSL certificate, including invalid ones. 😭 yes, including invalid ones. we are holding your hand and also your security, be careful out here.
  • --httpproxy http://[user@pass:]<server>:<port> — uses server as HTTP proxy.
  • --exclude <file> — exclude list file.
  • --unsyncedfolders <file> — file containing the list of unsynced folders (selective sync). picky about which folders get to come along, iconic behavior honestly. 🎀
  • --max-sync-retries <n> — retries maximum n times (defaults to 3). she's persistent but not that persistent. ✨
  • -h — sync hidden files, do not ignore them. (not help, bestie. hidden. do not get it twisted. 🙈)

🌈 EXAMPLE 🌈

say you wanna synchronize the Nextcloud directory Music to the local directory media/music, through a proxy listening on port 8080 on the gateway machine 192.168.178.1. the command line would be:

$ nextcloudcmd --httpproxy http://192.168.178.1:8080 --path /Music \
              $HOME/media/music \
              https://server/nextcloud

and nextcloudcmd will enquire user name and password, unless they have been specified on the command line or -n (see netrc(5)) has been passed. no secrets, no entry. 🔐

using the legacy scheme, it would be:

$ nextcloudcmd --httpproxy http://192.168.178.1:8080 --path /Music \
              $HOME/media/music \
              ownclouds://server/nextcloud

💀 BUGS 💀

found a bug? please report bugs at https://github.com/nextcloud/client/issues. the devs want the tea, fr fr. 🍓

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

nextcloud(1), netrc(5)

👑 AUTHOR 👑

The Nextcloud developers

2013-2024, The Nextcloud developers

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this was version 3.16, dated Nov 02, 2025, straight from the Nextcloud Client Manual. go sync something iconic. 🦋✨💅

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