rclone Bridge

AeroFTP stands on the shoulders of a giant. rclone is the gold standard in file transfer and cloud synchronization - a project that has redefined what a command-line tool can do. With 70+ backends, a thriving community, and over a decade of relentless development, rclone has set the bar for every tool in this space, including ours.

This integration is our way of building a bridge, not a wall. If you use rclone, AeroFTP welcomes you with open arms. Your configuration, your remotes, your workflow - bring it all.

What this does

AeroFTP and rclone are fully interoperable. Import and export server profiles freely between the two tools through the shared rclone.conf format.

This bridge page covers profile interoperability through rclone.conf. If you need compatibility guidance for existing encrypted rclone crypt remotes, see rclone crypt interoperability.

Import (rclone to AeroFTP)

• Reads your rclone.conf directly (auto-detected or manually selected)
• Maps rclone remote types to AeroFTP protocols
• Upgrades credential security: rclone stores passwords using reversible obfuscation (AES-256-CTR with a published key). AeroFTP de-obfuscates them and stores them in an AES-256-GCM encrypted vault with Argon2id key derivation - a significant security improvement with zero effort on your part
• Available in the GUI (Settings > Export/Import > Import from rclone) and CLI (aeroftp-cli import rclone)

Export (AeroFTP to rclone)

• Exports your server profiles to a standard rclone.conf file
• Passwords are obfuscated using rclone's own scheme for full compatibility
• OAuth profiles are exported too, for every provider with a matching rclone backend: Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, pCloud, Yandex Disk, Zoho WorkDrive and Jottacloud. Each remote is written with its client_id, client_secret and token, so it is usable and refreshable without re-authorising
• Use it to share configurations, set up rclone on a server, or simply keep a portable backup
• Available in the GUI (Settings > Export/Import > Export to rclone)

The OAuth export needs all three credentials in the vault, which is the case for a profile you authorised in AeroFTP with your own OAuth app. When one of them is missing, the remote is still written and a comment tells you to run rclone config reconnect <remote>: before use, rather than emitting a silently broken half-remote. Jottacloud is the one exception in shape: it carries an OIDC refresh token that rclone exchanges on first use, so no interactive re-login is needed there either.

Keep in mind that AeroFTP and rclone use different redirect URIs. Register both under the same app in the provider's developer console so one client_id and client_secret pair works in both tools.

Since v4.2.1 the export also covers Internxt (email + obscured password; rclone derives the rest on rclone config reconnect <remote>: - note that some Internxt plans, the free one included, do not allow rclone access), and Drime, Cloudinary and ImageKit export to and import from rclone.conf in both directions. The providers with no rclone export today are 4shared, kDrive, FileLu and Proton Drive; those entries are emitted as # manual setup required comments instead (FileLu and Proton Drive hold credentials rclone cannot use: rclone's FileLu backend signs in with the separate FileLu Rclone key, and Proton Drive is reached through Proton's own CLI without a stored password).

No vendor lock-in. Your data, your choice.

Re-import profiles imported before v4.2.1

Before v4.2.1, keys rclone writes in plain text (S3, Azure Blob, Swift and B2 keys, and the Drime, Cloudinary and ImageKit secrets) went through the reveal codec on import, and a small share was stored corrupted. Since v4.2.1 they are imported exactly as written. A profile imported from rclone that fails to sign in should be imported again.

Supported rclone backends

rclone type	AeroFTP protocol	Credentials	Notes
ftp	FTP / FTPS	Password (revealed + vault stored)	tls = true mapped to FTPS
sftp	SFTP	Password (revealed + vault stored)	SSH key auth requires manual setup in AeroFTP
s3 (AWS)	S3	Access Key + Secret (vault stored)	Region, endpoint, bucket preserved
s3 (Cloudflare R2)	S3	Access Key + Secret (vault stored)	Mapped to Cloudflare R2 provider
s3 (Backblaze B2)	S3	Access Key + Secret (vault stored)	Mapped to Backblaze B2 provider
s3 (DigitalOcean)	S3	Access Key + Secret (vault stored)	Mapped to DigitalOcean Spaces
s3 (Wasabi)	S3	Access Key + Secret (vault stored)	Mapped to Wasabi provider
s3 (MinIO)	S3	Access Key + Secret (vault stored)	Path-style access enabled
s3 (other)	S3	Access Key + Secret (vault stored)	Generic S3-compatible
webdav	WebDAV	Password (revealed + vault stored)	Nextcloud/ownCloud vendor detected
drive	Google Drive	OAuth (re-auth required)	Profile imported, re-authenticate in AeroFTP
dropbox	Dropbox	OAuth (re-auth required)	Profile imported, re-authenticate in AeroFTP
onedrive	OneDrive	OAuth (re-auth required)	Profile imported, re-authenticate in AeroFTP
mega	MEGA	Password (revealed + vault stored)	Native API mode
box	Box	OAuth (re-auth required)	Profile imported, re-authenticate in AeroFTP
pcloud	pCloud	OAuth (re-auth required)	Profile imported, re-authenticate in AeroFTP
azureblob	Azure Blob Storage	Account Key (vault stored)	Container name preserved
swift	OpenStack Swift	Password/Key (vault stored)	Auth URL, region, tenant preserved
yandexdisk	Yandex Disk	OAuth (re-auth required)	Profile imported
koofr	Koofr	Password (vault stored)	Endpoint preserved
jottacloud	Jottacloud	OAuth (re-auth required)	Profile imported
b2	S3 (Backblaze B2)	Account Key (vault stored)	Mapped to S3-compatible endpoint
opendrive	OpenDrive	Password (vault stored)	Username + password
internxt	Internxt	Password (revealed + vault stored)	Also exported by AeroFTP; needs one rclone config reconnect before use
filen	Filen	Password + CLI API key (vault stored)	Native API mode
zohoworkdrive	Zoho WorkDrive	OAuth (re-auth required)	Profile imported
drime	Drime Cloud	API token (as written)	Remotes pinned to a workspace or root folder id are skipped with the reason
cloudinary	Cloudinary	Cloud name + API key + secret (as written)	Remotes on a regional upload_prefix are skipped with the reason
imagekit	ImageKit	URL endpoint + public key + private key (as written)	Export needs the public key, which a profile created in AeroFTP does not hold

23 rclone types mapped to AeroFTP protocols, covering the most widely used cloud and server backends.

What about unsupported backends?

rclone supports 70+ backends. We currently map 23 of them. Remotes with unsupported types (e.g., fichier, compress, union, chunker) are listed in the import dialog with their type name so you know exactly what was skipped and why.

The bridge works both ways, though. AeroFTP natively supports several providers that rclone does not integrate, including GitHub and GitLab (repository and release browsing), KDrive (Infomaniak), and 4shared. We are also the first file manager to offer native integration with Immich, the open-source, self-hosted photo and video management platform. As a fellow open-source project, supporting Immich felt like a natural fit. These providers are exclusive to AeroFTP and are not part of the rclone import/export mapping.

We are actively adding support for more backends. If your favorite rclone remote type is missing, open an issue and we will prioritize it.

GUI usage

1. Open Settings > Export/Import
2. In the rclone section, click Import from rclone
3. AeroFTP auto-detects your rclone.conf - or click Browse to select it manually
4. Review the list of detected remotes, deselect any you don't need
5. Click Import - credentials are stored in your encrypted vault

For export, select Export to rclone, choose which servers to include, and save the .conf file.

CLI usage

# Auto-detect rclone.conf and scan
aeroftp-cli import rclone

# Specify path explicitly
aeroftp-cli import rclone ~/.config/rclone/rclone.conf

# JSON output for scripting and automation
aeroftp-cli import rclone --json

Filter file conversion

Beyond the server profiles in rclone.conf, rclone users often maintain --filter-from files with +/- rules that drive rclone copy / rclone sync operations. AeroFTP can convert those files into .aeroignore (gitignore syntax) so the same rules apply to aeroftp-cli sync, copy, and AeroCloud:

# Convert and inspect on stdout
aeroftp-cli import rclone-filter ~/.config/rclone/filter.txt

# Write to .aeroignore in your project root
aeroftp-cli import rclone-filter filter.txt -o /project/.aeroignore

# Pipe-friendly (read filter from stdin)
cat my-filter.txt | aeroftp-cli import rclone-filter -

# Machine-readable (status + warnings)
aeroftp-cli import rclone-filter filter.txt --json

The converter handles the first-match-wins → last-match-wins semantic gap automatically by reversing the rule order: a rule that appeared first in the rclone filter file ends up last in the generated .aeroignore, where it wins under gitignore's last-match-wins rule. + pattern includes become !pattern re-includes.

Two non-fatal warnings may be reported:

• ! reset directive: rclone clears all rules above the reset at runtime; the converter keeps them and surfaces a warning so you can prune them manually if needed.
• {a,b} brace alternation: gitignore does not support brace expansion. The pattern is preserved as-is; expand manually if needed.

See the import rclone-filter reference for full options, JSON envelope, and exit codes.

Security comparison

Aspect	rclone	AeroFTP
Password storage	AES-256-CTR with published key (reversible)	AES-256-GCM + Argon2id vault (authenticated encryption)
Config file permissions	User responsibility	Automatic 0600 + encrypted at rest
OAuth tokens	Stored in rclone.conf (plaintext JSON)	Stored in encrypted vault
Master password	Not available	Optional Argon2id-protected vault lock
Memory zeroization	Not guaranteed	Passwords cleared from RAM after use

When you import from rclone, your credentials are automatically upgraded to the stronger security model. No extra steps needed.

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rclone is a trademark of Nick Craig-Wood. AeroFTP is not affiliated with or endorsed by the rclone project. We are simply grateful users who built a bridge.