New live cases: - regression B113: files renamed and moved while sync is paused upload without a conflict copy. - regression B88: pdfs mkdir, rename and rm by local path, the mount-root guard, a path outside every mount, and the refusal in a mirrored folder. - pdfs output into a closed pipe exits 0 and prints nothing on stderr. - open B114 and open B115 check two bugs that are still open. While one reproduces, its case ends as "known", which is listed but does not fail the run. The console output names the pdfs version, the storage and the daemon state of each target, and prints one aligned line per case, with its details beneath. A failed case points to its docs/BUGS.md entry. The run ends with a summary table, the slowest cases, the known issues and the numbered failures. A queue wait now fails at once on a parked op instead of waiting out its timeout. docs/BUGS.md records B114, B115 and B116, which the first live run found, and marks B113 and B88 as verified live.
Proton Drive for Linux
Proton Drive on the Linux desktop. Your files as a folder that downloads on demand, synced local folders, Photos, sharing, and a native GTK4 app with tray and search launcher, plus a scriptable CLI.
Important
This is an unofficial, community-built client. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by Proton AG. "Proton" and "Proton Drive" are trademarks of Proton AG, used here only to describe what the software talks to. Try it with data you have another copy of first, and read what survives a lost machine before you rely on it.
Features
Files
- Your Drive as a folder.
~/ProtonDriveworks with every program. Files download when they are opened, a block at a time, so a video starts playing and a large archive can be read without fetching all of it. - Available offline. Keep chosen files and folders fully downloaded; everything else is cached within a size limit you set.
- Synced folders. Back up folders such as
~/Documentsunder your computer in Proton Drive, as a full two-way copy or online only. Gitignore-style.pdfsignorerules, conflict copies instead of overwrites, pause and bandwidth limits. - Safe writes. Changes are staged on disk and queued before they are acknowledged, so they survive a lost connection, a crash or a reboot and upload when they can.
Desktop app
- Browse My files, Shared with me, Shared by me, Computers and Trash, with thumbnails (including camera RAW), drag and drop, details and version history.
- Photos. Timeline with favorites, albums, and Places on a map; RAW+JPEG pairs shown as one photo; duplicate finder; slideshow; import from Google Photos (Takeout).
- Sharing. Invite people as viewer, editor or admin, create public links with password and expiry, accept invitations.
- Sync overview. What is uploading, what is waiting, what failed and why, and a history of what happened.
- Tray icon with status, pause and quick actions, and a search launcher (
pdfs-prompt) that searches Proton Drive and your home folder together, as its own window, through fuzzel, rofi or wofi, or live infzf. - Restore a computer. Continue a backup on a new machine and bring its folders back in one step.
- Sign-in with two-factor authentication and CAPTCHA; the session is kept in the system keyring.
- Available in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Polish and Brazilian Portuguese.
Command line
- About 55
pdfscommands cover files, sync, sharing, Photos, Trash, versions and diagnostics. Query commands print JSON with--json.
Install
| Distribution | Package |
|---|---|
| Debian, Ubuntu 24.04 or newer | .deb from the latest release |
| Fedora 44 or newer | .rpm from the latest release |
| Arch Linux | proton-drive-for-linux (also -bin and -git) in the AUR |
| Anything else | Build from source |
sudo apt install ./proton-drive-linux_*.deb # Debian, Ubuntu
sudo dnf install ./proton-drive-linux-*.rpm # Fedora
paru -S proton-drive-for-linux # Arch
Then open Proton Drive from your applications menu and sign in. The app starts the background
service, and your files appear in ~/ProtonDrive.
Signing in from a terminal instead? pdfs login stores the session but does not start the
service. Enable it once:
pdfs login
systemctl --user enable --now proton-drive.service
pdfs status
docs/INSTALL.md has the requirements, optional extras (tray on GNOME, RAW and video thumbnails), headless use and uninstalling.
Documentation
| User guide | Everything the app, tray and launcher do |
| Command-line reference | Every pdfs command and scripting with --json |
| Configuration | config.json, file locations, environment variables, the service |
| Troubleshooting | Diagnosing problems and fixing common ones |
| Recovering on a new computer | Getting your synced folders back after a reinstall or a lost machine |
| Changelog | What changed in each release |
For contributors: development guide, architecture, testing, translating, roadmap and the bug ledger. The documentation index lists everything.
Screenshots
![]() My files |
![]() Photos |
![]() Places |
![]() Computers |
![]() Sync |
![]() Sync history |
![]() Search launcher |
![]() Search launcher in fzf |
![]() Sign in |
How it works
A background service (proton-drive.service, the pdfs daemon command) holds your session,
mounts ~/ProtonDrive through FUSE, runs the upload queue and the sync engine, and follows
Proton's event stream for changes made elsewhere. The app, the tray, the launcher and the CLI are
clients of that service over a local socket. Everything is end-to-end encrypted with your Proton
keys before it leaves the machine, through a Rust implementation of Proton's Drive SDK.
Files you open are decrypted into a local cache so programs can read them. What that means for the security of the machine is spelled out in the threat model.
Contributing
Bug reports, translations and patches are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for the workflow and the checks CI runs, and SECURITY.md to report a vulnerability privately.
License
Released under the MIT License.
The Places map uses GeoNames data (CC BY 4.0) and Natural Earth outlines (public domain). The optional street map comes from OpenFreeMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Proton Drive is a service of Proton AG. This project is an independent client and carries no affiliation with or endorsement from Proton AG.







