---
name: "pimsync.conf"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "pimsync"
version: "0.5.7-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pimsync.conf"
---

# pimsync.conf(5)

configuration file for pimsync(1)

## NAME

**pimsync.conf** – configuration file for [pimsync(1)](/pimsync/1.md)

## DESCRIPTION

**pimsync.conf** is divided into three main types of sections:

- GLOBAL CONFIGURATION

  Global settings for pimsync.

- STORAGE SECTIONS

  Configuration for individual storages.

- PAIR SECTIONS

  Rules for synchronising pairs of storages.

See [pimsync(1)](/pimsync/1.md) for details on the default path for the configuration file, and how to specify an alternative path.

## GLOBAL CONFIGURATION

The following settings can be set globally:

- **status\_path** *path*

  Path to a directory which will contain the status database internally used by pimsync.

## STORAGE SECTIONS

A storage describes a location where calendars or contacts are stored. Each storage is declared in its own section, and each storage section starts with a declaration of the storage name.

- **storage** *name* {…}

  Declare a storage with name *name*.

Directives are declared inside the curly braces for each section, one per line. The following directives apply to all storage types:

- **type** *type*

  Where *type* can be one of the following:

  - **vdir/icalendar**

    A directory where each subdirectory represents a calendar. Each of these subdirectories contains individual icalendar files, each representing one event (or one series of recurring events), todo or journal entry.

  - **vdir/vcard**

    A directory where each subdirectory represents an address book. Each of these subdirectories contains individual vcard files, each representing one contact.

  - **caldav**

    A CalDAV server, containing calendars with events, todos and/or journal entries.

  - **carddav**

    A CardDAV server containing address books with contacts.

  - **webcal**

    An HTTP or HTTPS resource exposing a single iCalendar file which may contain zero or more events, todos or journal entries. This storage is read-only.

  - **jmap/icalendar**

    A JMAP server with Calendar support. This storage is experimental and may still contain serious bugs!

  - **jmap/vcard**

    A JMAP server with Calendar support. This storage is experimental and may still contain serious bugs!

- **interval** *seconds*

  When monitoring a storage is not possible, check for changes every the specified amount of seconds. The default is 300 seconds.

- **read\_only**

  Do not perform any write operations on this storage. This directive takes no parameters.

Storages of type **vdir** take the following directives:

- **path** *path*

  Path to a directory storing a vdir. A leading tilde will be expanded to match the current user's home directory.

  Supports DYNAMIC PARAMETERS (see below).

- **fileext** *extension*

  Optional. File extension for items saved into this vdir. If not specified, **ics** is used for calendar storages and **vcf** is used for address book storages.

Storages of type **caldav** or **carddav** accept the following directives:

- **url** *url*

  URL of the Dav server. If this URL does not report the appropriate DAV capabilities, service discovery will be performed for this URL and its domain to find the exact location of the server and the home set collection.

  URLs must specify scheme **http**, **https**. or **unix**. URLs starting in *unix://* shall be treated as a path to a unix domain socket.

  Supports DYNAMIC PARAMETERS (see below).

- **username** *username*

  Optional. Username to use for HTTP Basic Auth.

  Supports DYNAMIC PARAMETERS (see below).

- **password** *password*

  Optional. Password to use for HTTP Basic Auth.

  Supports DYNAMIC PARAMETERS (see below).

- **collection\_id\_segment** **last** \| **second-last**

  Optional. URL path segment to use as the collection id. Valid values are **last** (the default) or **second-last**. See the advanced usage documentation for details.

Storages of type **webcal** take the following directives:

- **url** *url*

  URL of an icalendar file. This file may contain multiple calendar items. Scheme must be **http** or **https**.

  Supports DYNAMIC PARAMETERS (see below).

- **collection\_id** *name*

  Name to be used when mapping this collection to another on the other storage.

Storages of type **jmap** take the following directives:

- **url** *url*

  Base URL of the JMAP server.

  Supports DYNAMIC PARAMETERS (see below).

- **username** *username*

  Optional. Username to use for HTTP Basic Auth.

  Supports DYNAMIC PARAMETERS (see below).

- **password** *password*

  Optional. Password to use for HTTP Basic Auth.

  Supports DYNAMIC PARAMETERS (see below).

Storages of type **caldav**, **carddav**, **webcal** and **jmap** also accept the following directives:

- **user\_agent** *user\_agent*

  Optional. Set the User-Agent header to *user\_agent* for outgoing HTTP requests. The default uses “pimsync/” followed by the current version number. E.g.: *pimsync/1.0.0*.

- **tls\_root** *path*

  Optional. Use the certificate root store at *path* when checking the server's TLS certificate. Disables checking the certificate against the system certificate authorities. See **tls\_fingerprint** below.

- **tls\_fingerprint** *fingerprint*

  Optional. Accept the certificate if its fingerprint matches *fingerprint*. If specified together with the **tls\_root** directive, the certificate is verified with the specified root. If **tls\_root** is not specified, the server's certificate is not validated against any root and only a fingerprint verification is performed.

- **auth\_cert** *certificate* *key*

  Optional. Use the provided *certificate* and *key* for TLS client authentication.

- **auth\_cert** *pem\_bundle*

  Optional. Use the certificate and key from the specified bundle for TLS client authentication.

## DYNAMIC PARAMETERS

The **url**, **username**, **password**, and **path** fields may be defined in the configuration file, or may specify a block with a command to retrieve this value from an external system. When specifying an external command, instead of defining a value for the directive, specify a new block with a single **cmd** directive.

For example, to read a password via the external command *secret-store* *--get-caldav-password*, use the following syntax:

```
password {
	cmd secret-store --get-caldav-password
}
```

It is also possible to specify a shell script, which is executed via ‘sh -c’. For example:

```
password {
	shell pass show communication/migadu.com | head -1
}
```

It is recommended to store credentials and other sensitive values in a secret storage service.

## PAIR SECTIONS

A pair declares how two storages shall be synchronised to each other. Each pair section starts with a declaration of the pair name:

- **pair** *name* {…}

  Declare a pair with name *name*.

Each pair is defined by a block of directives, one per line, enclosed in curly braces:

- **storage\_a** *name*

  The  *name* of the first storage to be synchronised with another.

- **storage\_b** *name*

  The *name* of the second storage to be synchronised with the other.

- **collections** **all**

  Synchronise all collections found in both storages. Collections will be synchronised to others with a matching id on the other side. The is the recommended value if you simply want to synchronise all collections from both storages.

- **collections** **from** **a**

  Synchronise all collections found in  *storage\_a*. Each collection shall be synchronised with the collection which has the same collection id on *storage\_b*.

- **collections** **from** **b**

  Synchronise all collections found in  *storage\_b*. Each collection shall be synchronised with the collection which has the same collection id on *storage\_a*.

- **collection** *id*

  Synchronise collection with id  *id*. May be specified more than once.

- **collection** *file ...* {…}

  Synchronise collection defined by the given rules. See COLLECTION SECTIONS below. May be specified more than once.

- **on\_empty** **skip**

  When a collection is completely emptied on one side, skip it. This is the default.

- **on\_empty** **sync**

  When a collection is completely emptied on one side, empty its counterpart on the other side. Take care when using this option. If you completely delete a collection on one side, **pimsync.conf** won't restore it. Instead, it will delete the same collection (and all of its items) on the other side.

- **on\_delete** **sync**

  When a collection itself is deleted on one side, delete it on the other side. This only applies if the collection is already empty. This is the default. This is generally safe, especially when combined with **on\_empty** **skip**.

- **on\_delete** **skip**

  When a collection itself is deleted on one side, skip it.

- **one\_way**

  Synchronise items from *storage\_a* to *storage\_b* only. Changes in *storage\_b* are overwritten with the data from *storage\_a*. Items created in *storage\_b* that do not exist in *storage\_a* are deleted. This mode never produces conflicts. This directive takes no parameters.

The **conflict\_resolution** directive specifies which action should be taken if an item was modified on both sides. This directive has no effect when using synchronising one-way.

- **conflict\_resolution** **cmd** *command* \[*args*\]

  Execute *command* to resolve conflicts between both sides.  *args* will be passed as arguments, followed by the path to two files; one containing the data on storage a, and the other containing the data on storage b. The conflict will be considered resolved if and only if both files are the same when the command exits and the command exits with exit code zero.

- **conflict\_resolution** **keep** **a**

  In case of conflict, keep the version for storage a.

- **conflict\_resolution** **keep** **b**

  In case of conflict, keep the version for storage a.

## COLLECTION SECTIONS

A collections block defines a mapping between two collections that are to be synchronised; one of them in *storage\_a* and the other in *storage\_b*.

These sections are only used in advanced configurations which need to map existing collections to each other without changing their location on either side.

Each block must include an alias:

- **alias** *name*

  An alias for this pair of collections that will be used for any output.

Exactly one reference to a collection in *storage\_a* must be included:

- **id\_a** *id*

  Use collection with the id *id*.

- **href\_a** *href*

  Use collection with the path *href*.

Exactly one reference to a collection in *storage\_b* must be included:

- **id\_b** *id*

  Use collection with the id *id*.

- **href\_b** *href*

  Use collection with the path *href*.

For example, to synchronise a collection with id *work* with another at path */calendars/mine/work/*, use:

```
collection {
	alias work
	id_a work
	href_b /calendars/mine/work/
}
```

Specifying an id and an href for the same storage is not allowed.

## COLLECTION ID

The id of a collection is a concept specific to [pimsync(1)](/pimsync/1.md) and [vdirsyncer(1)](/vdirsyncer/1.md).

For **vdir** storages, the id of a collection is the name of the directory that corresponds to it.

For **caldav** or **carddav** storages, the id of a collection is the last component of its URL by default. This can be changed to use the second-to-last component via the **collection\_id\_segment** configuration directive.

For **webcal** storages, the id must be specified explicitly via the **collection\_id** configuration directive.

Unless configured otherwise, collections with the same id on both storages are synchronised with each other.

## EXAMPLES

This example synchronises two storages with address books. The first is a local set of directories which contain vCard files, the second is a remote CardDAV servers. Credentials are supplied via the hiq(1) command line tool.

```
status_path "~/.local/share/pimsync/status/"
pair contacts {
	storage_a contacts_local
	storage_b contacts_remote
	collections all
	conflict_resolution cmd nvim -d
}
storage contacts_local {
	type vdir/vcard
	path ~/.local/share/contacts/cards/
	fileext vcf
	interval 30
}
storage contacts_remote {
	type carddav
	url https://carddav.example.com/
	username hugo@example.com
	password {
		cmd hiq -dFpassword proto=carddavs username=hugo@example.com
	}
	interval 30
}
```

The following example synchronises two storages with calendar data. The first is local directories with iCalendar files, the second is a remote CalDAV servers.

```
status_path "~/.local/share/pimsync/status/"
pair calendars {
	storage_a calendars_local
	storage_b calendars_remote
	collections from b
	conflict_resolution cmd nvim -d
}
storage calendars_local {
	type vdir/icalendar
	path ~/.local/share/calendars/
	fileext ics
	interval 30
}
storage calendars_remote {
	type caldav
	url https://caldav.example.com/
	username hugo@example.com
	password {
	 cmd hiq -dFpassword proto=caldavs username=hugo@example.com
	}
	interval 30
}
```

The following example synchronises two storages with calendar data. The first is a local directory named "italki" with o calendar files, the second is an http server publishing an iCalendar file.

Note that the first storage is the same as the one above, and should be specified only once if both configurations were specified in the same file.

The exact URL to the iCalendar file exposed via http is fetched via the hiq(1) tool, used to query the himitsu(7) secret store.

```
status_path "~/.local/share/pimsync/status/"
pair study_calendars {
	storage_a calendars_local
	storage_b calendars_italki
	collection italki
}
storage calendars_local {
	type vdir/icalendar
	path ~/.local/share/calendars/
	fileext ics
	interval 30
}
storage calendars_italki {
	type webcal
	collection_id italki
	url {
		cmd hiq -dFurl proto=webcal alias=italki-mine
	}
}
```

This example synchronises two storages with calendar data. The first is a CardDAV server, reached via a Unix domain socket. The second is storage uses a local filesystem with vCard files.

```
status_path "~/.local/share/pimsync/status/"
pair unixtest {
	storage_a unix_a
	storage_b unix_b
	collections all
}
storage unix_a {
	type carddav
	url unix:///tmp/xandikos.sock
}
storage unix_b {
	type vdir/vcard
	path /tmp/test_storage/
	fileext vcf
}
```

## SEE ALSO

[pimsync(1)](/pimsync/1.md), [pimsync-migration(7)](/pimsync-migration/7.md)

The configuration file follows the scfg syntax. See: https://git.sr.ht/~emersion/scfg