---
title: "Tardigrade"
description: "Rclone docs for Tardigrade"
---

{{< icon "fas fa-dove" >}} Tardigrade
-----------------------------------------

[Tardigrade](https://tardigrade.io) is an encrypted, secure, and
cost-effective object storage service that enables you to store, back up, and
archive large amounts of data in a decentralized manner.

## Setup

To make a new Tardigrade configuration you need one of the following:
* Access Grant that someone else shared with you.
* [API Key](https://documentation.tardigrade.io/getting-started/uploading-your-first-object/create-an-api-key)
of a Tardigrade project you are a member of.

Here is an example of how to make a remote called `remote`. First run:

rclone config

This will guide you through an interactive setup process:

### Setup with access grant

```
No remotes found - make a new one
n) New remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / Tardigrade Decentralized Cloud Storage
\ "tardigrade"
[snip]
Storage> tardigrade
** See help for tardigrade backend at: https://rclone.org/tardigrade/ **

### Setup with API key and passphrase

Choose an authentication method.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("existing").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
1 / Use an existing access grant.
\ "existing"
2 / Create a new access grant from satellite address, API key, and passphrase.
\ "new"
provider> new
Satellite Address. Custom satellite address should match the format: `<nodeid>@<address>:<port>`.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("us-central-1.tardigrade.io").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
1 / US Central 1
\ "us-central-1.tardigrade.io"
2 / Europe West 1
\ "europe-west-1.tardigrade.io"
3 / Asia East 1
\ "asia-east-1.tardigrade.io"
satellite_address> 1
API Key.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
api_key> your-api-key-for-your-tardigrade-project
Encryption Passphrase. To access existing objects enter passphrase used for uploading.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
passphrase> your-human-readable-encryption-passphrase
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
type = tardigrade
satellite_address = 12EayRS2V1kEsWESU9QMRseFhdxYxKicsiFmxrsLZHeLUtdps3S@us-central-1.tardigrade.io:7777
api_key = your-api-key-for-your-tardigrade-project
passphrase = your-human-readable-encryption-passphrase
access_grant = the-access-grant-generated-from-the-api-key-and-passphrase
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK (default)
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y
```

## Usage

Paths are specified as `remote:bucket` (or `remote:` for the `lsf`
command.) You may put subdirectories in too, eg `remote:bucket/path/to/dir`.

Once configured you can then use `rclone` like this.

### Create a new bucket

Use the `mkdir` command to create new bucket, e.g. `bucket`.

rclone mkdir remote:bucket

### List all buckets

Use the `lsf` command to list all buckets.

rclone lsf remote:

Note the colon (`:`) character at the end of the command line.

### Delete a bucket

Use the `rmdir` command to delete an empty bucket.

rclone rmdir remote:bucket

Use the `purge` command to delete a non-empty bucket with all its content.

rclone purge remote:bucket

### Upload objects

Use the `copy` command to upload an object.

rclone copy --progress /home/local/directory/file.ext remote:bucket/path/to/dir/

The `--progress` flag is for displaying progress information.
Remove it if you don't need this information.

Use a folder in the local path to upload all its objects.

rclone copy --progress /home/local/directory/ remote:bucket/path/to/dir/

Only modified files will be copied.

### List objects

Use the `ls` command to list recursively all objects in a bucket.

rclone ls remote:bucket

Add the folder to the remote path to list recursively all objects in this folder.

rclone ls remote:bucket/path/to/dir/

Use the `lsf` command to list non-recursively all objects in a bucket or a folder.

rclone lsf remote:bucket/path/to/dir/

### Download objects

Use the `copy` command to download an object.

rclone copy --progress remote:bucket/path/to/dir/file.ext /home/local/directory/

The `--progress` flag is for displaying progress information.
Remove it if you don't need this information.

Use a folder in the remote path to download all its objects.

rclone copy --progress remote:bucket/path/to/dir/ /home/local/directory/

### Delete objects

Use the `deletefile` command to delete a single object.

rclone deletefile remote:bucket/path/to/dir/file.ext

Use the `delete` command to delete all object in a folder.

rclone delete remote:bucket/path/to/dir/

### Print the total size of objects

Use the `size` command to print the total size of objects in a bucket or a folder.

rclone size remote:bucket/path/to/dir/

### Sync two Locations

Use the `sync` command to sync the source to the destination,
changing the destination only, deleting any excess files.

rclone sync -i --progress /home/local/directory/ remote:bucket/path/to/dir/

The `--progress` flag is for displaying progress information.
Remove it if you don't need this information.

Since this can cause data loss, test first with the `--dry-run` flag
to see exactly what would be copied and deleted.

The sync can be done also from Tardigrade to the local file system.

rclone sync -i --progress remote:bucket/path/to/dir/ /home/local/directory/

Or between two Tardigrade buckets.

rclone sync -i --progress remote-us:bucket/path/to/dir/ remote-europe:bucket/path/to/dir/

Or even between another cloud storage and Tardigrade.

rclone sync -i --progress s3:bucket/path/to/dir/ tardigrade:bucket/path/to/dir/

{{< rem autogenerated options start" - DO NOT EDIT - instead edit fs.RegInfo in backend/tardigrade/tardigrade.go then run make backenddocs" >}}
### Standard Options

Here are the standard options specific to tardigrade (Tardigrade Decentralized Cloud Storage).

#### --tardigrade-provider

Choose an authentication method.

- Config: provider
- Env Var: RCLONE_TARDIGRADE_PROVIDER
- Type: string
- Default: "existing"
- Examples:
- "existing"
- Use an existing access grant.
- "new"
- Create a new access grant from satellite address, API key, and passphrase.

#### --tardigrade-access-grant

Access Grant.

- Config: access_grant
- Env Var: RCLONE_TARDIGRADE_ACCESS_GRANT
- Type: string
- Default: ""

#### --tardigrade-satellite-address

Satellite Address. Custom satellite address should match the format: `<nodeid>@<address>:<port>`.

- Config: satellite_address
- Env Var: RCLONE_TARDIGRADE_SATELLITE_ADDRESS
- Type: string
- Default: "us-central-1.tardigrade.io"
- Examples:
- "us-central-1.tardigrade.io"
- US Central 1
- "europe-west-1.tardigrade.io"
- Europe West 1
- "asia-east-1.tardigrade.io"
- Asia East 1

#### --tardigrade-api-key

API Key.

- Config: api_key
- Env Var: RCLONE_TARDIGRADE_API_KEY
- Type: string
- Default: ""

#### --tardigrade-passphrase

Encryption Passphrase. To access existing objects enter passphrase used for uploading.

- Config: passphrase
- Env Var: RCLONE_TARDIGRADE_PASSPHRASE
- Type: string
- Default: ""