scratch-sync 0.1.0

Sync private scratch/ folders across machines using Syncthing over Tailscale

scratch-sync

Sync private scratch/ folders across multiple machines using Syncthing over Tailscale.

The Problem

Working across multiple machines (Linux workstation, Mac laptop, Windows desktop) with code repositories in different locations:

Machine	Example Repo Paths
Linux	~/code/sleap-io, ~/repo1
Mac	~/sleap-io, ~/code/my-repo
Windows	D:\sleap-io, C:\Users\me\code\repo1

Each repo has a scratch/ subfolder that's .gitignored — notes, experiments, temp files, WIP that shouldn't be in version control but should sync privately across machines.

Solution

• Sync scratch/ folders without git
• Single CLI command to add folders to sync
• Works across Linux, macOS, and Windows
• Uses Tailscale for secure direct connections (no cloud relay)
• Minimal ongoing maintenance

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Tailscale installed and connected on all machines
• All machines on the same Tailnet

Install

curl -LsSf https://scratch.tlab.sh/install.sh | sh

Usage

# Inside a git repo with a scratch/ folder
scratch-sync init

# Add a specific scratch folder
scratch-sync add ~/code/myrepo/scratch

How It Works

Syncthing folder IDs just need to match across devices. The actual filesystem paths can be different:

• scratch-sleap-io on Linux at ~/code/sleap-io/scratch
• Same folder ID on Windows at D:\sleap-io\scratch

┌─────────────────┐     Tailscale      ┌─────────────────┐
│  Linux Box      │◄──────────────────►│  Mac Laptop     │
│ ~/code/sleap-io │                    │ ~/sleap-io      │
│   └── scratch/  │   folder-id:       │   └── scratch/  │
│                 │  "scratch-sleap-io"│                 │
└────────┬────────┘                    └────────┬────────┘
         │            Tailscale                 │
         └──────────────┬───────────────────────┘
                        ▼
              ┌─────────────────┐
              │  Windows PC     │
              │ D:\sleap-io     │
              │   └── scratch/  │
              └─────────────────┘

Documentation

Full documentation at scratch.tlab.sh.

License

MIT