/rclone

name: rclone
description: Upload, sync, and manage files across cloud storage providers using rclone. Use when uploading files (images, videos, documents) to S3, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, Google Drive, Dropbox, or any S3-compatible storage. Triggers on "upload to S3", "sync to cloud", "rclone", "backup files", "upload video/image to bucket", or requests to transfer files to remote storage.

rclone File Transfer Skill

Setup Check (Always Run First)

Before any rclone operation, verify installation and configuration:

# Check if rclone is installed
command -v rclone >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "rclone installed: $(rclone version | head -1)" || echo "NOT INSTALLED"

# List configured remotes
rclone listremotes 2>/dev/null || echo "NO REMOTES CONFIGURED"

If rclone is NOT installed

Guide the user to install:

# macOS
brew install rclone

# Linux (script install)
curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash

# Or via package manager
sudo apt install rclone  # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install rclone  # Fedora

If NO remotes are configured

Walk the user through interactive configuration:

rclone config

**Common provider setup quick reference:**

| Provider | Type | Key Settings | |----------|------|--------------| | AWS S3 | `s3` | access_key_id, secret_access_key, region | | Cloudflare R2 | `s3` | access_key_id, secret_access_key, endpoint (account_id.r2.cloudflarestorage.com) | | Backblaze B2 | `b2` | account (keyID), key (applicationKey) | | DigitalOcean Spaces | `s3` | access_key_id, secret_access_key, endpoint (region.digitaloceanspaces.com) | | Google Drive | `drive` | OAuth flow (opens browser) | | Dropbox | `dropbox` | OAuth flow (opens browser) |

**Example: Configure Cloudflare R2**

rclone config create r2 s3 \
  provider=Cloudflare \
  access_key_id=YOUR_ACCESS_KEY \
  secret_access_key=YOUR_SECRET_KEY \
  endpoint=ACCOUNT_ID.r2.cloudflarestorage.com \
  acl=private

**Example: Configure AWS S3**

rclone config create aws s3 \
  provider=AWS \
  access_key_id=YOUR_ACCESS_KEY \
  secret_access_key=YOUR_SECRET_KEY \
  region=us-east-1

Common Operations

Upload single file

rclone copy /path/to/file.mp4 remote:bucket/path/ --progress

Upload directory

rclone copy /path/to/folder remote:bucket/folder/ --progress

Sync directory (mirror, deletes removed files)

rclone sync /local/path remote:bucket/path/ --progress

List remote contents

rclone ls remote:bucket/
rclone lsd remote:bucket/  # directories only

Check what would be transferred (dry run)

rclone copy /path remote:bucket/ --dry-run

Useful Flags

| Flag | Purpose | |------|---------| | `--progress` | Show transfer progress | | `--dry-run` | Preview without transferring | | `-v` | Verbose output | | `--transfers=N` | Parallel transfers (default 4) | | `--bwlimit=RATE` | Bandwidth limit (e.g., `10M`) | | `--checksum` | Compare by checksum, not size/time | | `--exclude="*.tmp"` | Exclude patterns | | `--include="*.mp4"` | Include only matching | | `--min-size=SIZE` | Skip files smaller than SIZE | | `--max-size=SIZE` | Skip files larger than SIZE |

Large File Uploads

For videos and large files, use chunked uploads:

# S3 multipart upload (automatic for >200MB)
rclone copy large_video.mp4 remote:bucket/ --s3-chunk-size=64M --progress

# Resume interrupted transfers
rclone copy /path remote:bucket/ --progress --retries=5

Verify Upload

# Check file exists and matches
rclone check /local/file remote:bucket/file

# Get file info
rclone lsl remote:bucket/path/to/file

Troubleshooting

# Test connection
rclone lsd remote:

# Debug connection issues
rclone lsd remote: -vv

# Check config
rclone config show remote