Syncthing

Syncthing synchronizes files between any number of computers using peer-to-peer technology and encryption.

Use In a Container

When deploying in a container, using apt-based install will pull in 400+ Mb of x11 and such libraries. Download the latest binary release from github instead.

https://github.com/syncthing/syncthing/releases

Extract and mv to /usr/bin, chown to yourself so it can update, copy a service unit file to /etc/systemd/system, and enable

[Unit]
Description=Syncthing - Open Source Continuous File Synchronization for %I
Documentation=man:syncthing(1)
After=network.target
StartLimitIntervalSec=60
StartLimitBurst=4

[Service]
User=%i
Environment="STLOGFORMATTIMESTAMP="
Environment="STLOGFORMATLEVELSTRING=false"
Environment="STLOGFORMATLEVELSYSLOG=true"
ExecStart=/usr/bin/syncthing serve --no-browser --no-restart
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=1
SuccessExitStatus=3 4
RestartForceExitStatus=3 4

# Hardening
ProtectSystem=full
PrivateTmp=true
SystemCallArchitectures=native
MemoryDenyWriteExecute=true
NoNewPrivileges=true

# Elevated permissions to sync ownership (disabled by default),
# see https://docs.syncthing.net/advanced/folder-sync-ownership
#AmbientCapabilities=CAP_CHOWN CAP_FOWNER

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
sudo systemctl enable [email protected]
sudo systemctl start [email protected]

Last modified April 6, 2026: file backup and sync addition (cbcf556)