WebDAV

WebDAV (Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning) extends HTTP with file management operations defined in RFC 4918. It is the standard remote file access protocol used by Nextcloud, Seafile, CloudMe, and many NAS devices. Because WebDAV runs over HTTP/HTTPS, it works through corporate firewalls and proxies that block other protocols.

AeroFTP's WebDAV implementation uses the reqwest HTTP client with quick-xml for parsing PROPFIND responses, supporting both Basic and Digest authentication, TLS certificate validation, and streaming uploads.

Connection Settings

Presets

AeroFTP includes preconfigured presets that auto-fill the endpoint path and port for popular WebDAV services. Select a preset from the dropdown, fill in your credentials, and connect.

Nextcloud Setup

Nextcloud is the most common WebDAV use case. To connect:

1. Select the Nextcloud preset.
2. Enter your Nextcloud server hostname (e.g. cloud.example.com).
3. Replace USERNAME in the path with your exact Nextcloud login name (case-sensitive).
4. For the password, generate an app password in Nextcloud: go to Settings > Security > Devices & sessions and create a new app password.

Important: Do not use your main Nextcloud password if you have 2FA enabled -- it will be rejected. App passwords bypass 2FA and are the recommended authentication method.

Seafile Setup

Seafile uses the SeafDAV extension for WebDAV access:

1. Select the Seafile preset (path auto-fills to /seafdav).
2. Enter your Seafile server hostname.
3. Use your Seafile account credentials.

Note: SeafDAV must be enabled by the Seafile server administrator. Check seahub_settings.py for ENABLE_WEBDAV_SECRET. If it is not enabled, you will receive a 404 error on the WebDAV endpoint.

CloudMe Setup

CloudMe provides direct WebDAV access at webdav.cloudme.com:

1. Select the CloudMe preset.
2. The host is auto-filled to webdav.cloudme.com.
3. Enter your CloudMe username and password.
4. 3 GB of free storage is available.

Root Boundary Enforcement

AeroFTP enforces a root boundary based on the configured WebDAV path. This means:

• Navigation is restricted to the initial path and its subdirectories.
• The cd() and cd_up() operations cannot navigate above the configured path.
• This prevents accidental access to other users' directories on multi-tenant servers.

For example, if you connect with path /remote.php/dav/files/alice/, you cannot navigate to /remote.php/dav/files/bob/ even if the server would allow it. The root boundary is enforced client-side by AeroFTP.

Authentication Methods

AeroFTP supports two HTTP authentication schemes for WebDAV:

Basic Authentication

The default method. Username and password are sent as a Base64-encoded header on each request. When used over HTTPS (recommended), this is secure because the entire HTTP conversation is encrypted.

Digest Authentication (RFC 2617)

Some WebDAV servers require Digest authentication, where the password is never sent over the wire -- instead, a hash-based challenge-response mechanism is used. AeroFTP auto-detects Digest authentication when the server responds with a 401 Unauthorized and a WWW-Authenticate: Digest header, then automatically switches to the Digest scheme.

You do not need to configure this manually. AeroFTP handles the detection and switching transparently.

Features

• PROPFIND: Directory listings are retrieved using the WebDAV PROPFIND method with Depth: 1. AeroFTP parses the XML response to extract file names, sizes, modification times, and content types.
• TLS: All HTTPS connections use the system's certificate store for validation. Self-signed certificates trigger a confirmation dialog before proceeding.
• Streaming uploads: Large files are uploaded using chunked transfer encoding, so they are streamed from disk without loading the entire file into memory.
• Create directories: The MKCOL method is used to create new directories on the server.
• Delete: The DELETE method removes files and directories (recursively for directories).
• Move/Rename: The MOVE method with a Destination header handles both moves and renames.

CLI Usage

The AeroFTP CLI supports WebDAV connections using URL syntax:

# Nextcloud -- list files
aeroftp ls webdav://user@cloud.example.com/remote.php/dav/files/user/

# Nextcloud -- download a file
aeroftp get webdav://user@cloud.example.com/remote.php/dav/files/user/Documents/report.pdf ./

# Nextcloud -- upload a file
aeroftp put webdav://user@cloud.example.com/remote.php/dav/files/user/Documents/ ./notes.txt

# CloudMe -- list root
aeroftp ls webdav://user@webdav.cloudme.com/

# Custom WebDAV server on HTTP (non-TLS)
aeroftp ls webdav://user@nas.local:5005/webdav/share/ --insecure

# Directory tree
aeroftp tree webdav://user@cloud.example.com/remote.php/dav/files/user/ -d 3

# JSON output
aeroftp ls webdav://user@cloud.example.com/remote.php/dav/files/user/ -l --json

Passwords are prompted interactively. For saved connections, use --profile "My Nextcloud" instead of URL mode.

Common Issues

Tips

• For Nextcloud, always generate an app password. This is the officially recommended method and avoids issues with 2FA, rate limiting, and account lockout policies.
• WebDAV performance depends heavily on the server. For directories with many files, SFTP is significantly faster because it avoids the XML parsing overhead.
• When using AeroSync with WebDAV, the size + modification time compare mode is recommended. WebDAV servers do not consistently provide checksums, and the getlastmodified property may have only second-level precision.
• For NAS devices (Synology, QNAP) that offer both WebDAV and SFTP, prefer SFTP for better performance and more reliable file metadata.
• CloudMe's free tier (3 GB) is one of the few remaining free WebDAV services that works without any server-side configuration.