Syncing files using mutagen

I recommend using mutagen to sync your files between your development machine and your remote server.

Installation

First, install the required tools on your development machine using Homebrew:

brew install mutagen-io/mutagen/mutagen

Start the syncing process

mkdir ~/smallweb && cd ~/smallweb

Then, create the ~/smallweb/.mutagen.yml file with the following content:

sync:
  defaults:
    mode: two-way-resolved
    ignore:
      paths:
        - node_modules
        - .DS_Store
  example:
    alpha: <remote>:<remote-path>
    beta: <local-path>

For example, to sync the directories storing every apps running under the smallweb.run and pomdtr.me domains, I use:

sync:
  defaults:
    mode: "two-way-resolved"
    ignore:
      paths:
        - node_modules
        - .DS_Store
  pomdtr-me:
    alpha: vps:/home/pomdtr/smallweb/pomdtr.me
    beta: ./pomdtr.me
  smallweb-run:
    alpha: vps:/home/pomdtr/smallweb/smallweb.run
    beta: ./smallweb.run

Then, to start the sync session, run the following command:

mutagen project start

From now on, each time you make a change to your files, they will be automatically synced to the server, and vice-versa.

Resume the sync session on reboot

To ensure that the sync session resumes automatically after a reboot, you can use the following command:

mutagen daemon register

Diagnosing sync issues

If you encounter any issues with the sync, you can check the errors using the following command:

mutagen project list --long