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
• 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)

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

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

17 rclone types mapped to 13 AeroFTP protocols, covering the most widely used cloud and server backends.

What about unsupported backends?

rclone supports 70+ backends. We currently map 17 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.