dbx-ignore

Prevent Dropbox from syncing unwanted files in your development projects.

What it does

dbx-ignore adds platform-specific markers to files that tell Dropbox to skip syncing them. Perfect for keeping build artifacts, dependencies, and temporary files local-only.

Key Features

• 🚀 Smart defaults - Run without arguments in a git repo to automatically process all git-ignored files
• 📁 Batch operations - Mark multiple files/directories with wildcards (*.log, node_modules/)
• 👁️ Watch mode - Daemon that continuously monitors and maintains ignore markers
• 🔄 Cross-platform - Works on macOS, Linux, and Windows
• 🛡️ Safe - Built-in protections against marking too many files accidentally

Quick Start

# In a git repository - automatically marks all git-ignored files
dbx-ignore

# Mark specific files or directories
dbx-ignore node_modules/ target/ *.log

# Start watching for new files matching patterns
dbx-ignore --watch "*.log" "*.tmp"

# Check what's marked
dbx-ignore --status

Installation

macOS/Linux

# Quick install with script
curl -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thomastheyoung/dbx-ignore/main/install.sh | sh

# Or with Cargo
cargo install dbx-ignore

Windows

Download from GitHub Releases or:

cargo install dbx-ignore

For more installation options, see INSTALL.md. For complete API documentation, see API.md.

Usage

Basic Commands

# Process all git-ignored files (default in git repos)
dbx-ignore

# Mark specific files/directories
dbx-ignore file.txt dir/ *.log

# Remove markers
dbx-ignore --reset file.txt

# Start watch daemon
dbx-ignore --watch

# Check status
dbx-ignore --status

Working with Patterns

# Wildcards
dbx-ignore "*.log"              # All .log files
dbx-ignore "**/*.tmp"           # All .tmp files recursively
dbx-ignore "test[0-9].txt"      # test0.txt through test9.txt

# Watch for future files
dbx-ignore --watch "*.log"      # Monitors and marks new .log files

# Process current directory
dbx-ignore .                    # All non-hidden files in current dir

Options

• -r, --reset - Remove ignore markers
• -w, --watch - Start daemon to monitor files
• -u, --unwatch - Stop daemon
• -s, --status - Show status
• -n, --dry-run - Preview changes
• -v, --verbose - Detailed output
• -q, --quiet - Suppress output

How It Works

Dropbox respects platform-specific markers that indicate files should not be synced:

• macOS: Extended attributes (com.dropbox.ignored)
• Linux: Extended attributes (user.com.dropbox.ignored)
• Windows: Alternate Data Streams

The tool automatically:

1. Detects your platform
2. Finds files to mark (via git integration or your specifications)
3. Adds the appropriate markers
4. Optionally monitors for new files (watch mode)

Common Use Cases

Development Projects

# In your project root
cd my-project
dbx-ignore    # Marks all git-ignored files

# This typically includes:
# - node_modules/
# - target/, dist/, build/
# - *.log, *.tmp
# - .env files

Watch Mode

# Method 1: Mark and watch in one command
dbx-ignore --watch "*.log" "build/**"

# Method 2: Mark patterns, then watch
dbx-ignore "*.log" "build/**"
dbx-ignore --watch

# Stop watching
dbx-ignore --unwatch

Specific Files

# Large datasets
dbx-ignore data/*.csv

# Build outputs
dbx-ignore dist/ build/ target/

# Temporary files
dbx-ignore "*.tmp" "*.cache" "*.log"

Advanced Features

State Management

The tool maintains state in .dbx-ignore/:

• tracked_files.json - Files you've explicitly marked
• Automatically added to .gitignore to prevent committing

Safety Features

• Prevents marking entire directory without proper git setup
• Validates file existence before processing
• Handles permission errors gracefully

Exit Codes

• 0 - Success
• 1 - Error (invalid arguments, missing files, etc.)
• 101 - Platform not supported

Contributing

Issues and pull requests welcome at GitHub.

License

MIT - see LICENSE file