Dropbox

Dropbox

Browse, upload, and download files on Dropbox using rclone.

Backing up a pipeline/project artifact (corpus, cache, scraped raw) rather than sharing an ad-hoc file? Use the backup skill — it covers the format (per-file ZSTD vs tar.zst) and location (data/ shared lake vs pipelines/<slug>/) decisions, plus verify + audit steps.

Available remotes

• bi-dropbox: — BI/work Dropbox. Contains shared coauthor folders and data/ directory.
• personal-dropbox: — Henrik's personal Dropbox. Parts synced locally to ~/Dropbox.

Common operations

Browse:

rclone lsd <remote>:path          # list directories
rclone ls <remote>:path           # list files with sizes

Upload:

rclone copy /local/path <remote>:destination/ --progress

Download:

rclone copy <remote>:path /local/destination/ --progress

Sync (mirror local to remote):

rclone sync /local/path <remote>:destination/ --progress --dry-run  # preview first

Parsing the request

The user may say things like:

• /dropbox upload camara-MG.csv to TCEAndreiHenrik
• /dropbox what's in the data folder?
• /dropbox download the latest file from ArntzenFivaSigstad

Extract:

1. Action — browse, upload, download, or sync
2. Remote — which Dropbox account (guess from context: coauthor folders → bi-dropbox, personal shared folders like TCEAndreiHenrik → personal-dropbox)
3. Path — remote path and/or local path

Known shared folders

• bi-dropbox:data/ — shared datasets (TCEs, TSE, etc.)
• personal-dropbox:TCEAndreiHenrik/ — shared with Andrei Leite (segredo project)
• Coauthor folders on bi-dropbox follow the pattern {Surname1}{Surname2} (e.g., ArntzenFivaSigstad, ChenChoiSigstad)

Per-project Dropbox roots

When a project's path.py reads PROJECT_DATA from .env, the rclone remote equivalent lives at:

For cross-project shared data under ~/research/data/, see ~/research/data/SYNC_MAP.yaml.

Before destructive operations

Always confirm with the user before:

• rclone sync (can delete files on remote)
• Overwriting existing files
• Uploading large directories

Gotchas

• Use --progress for uploads/downloads so the user sees progress.
• Quote paths with spaces: "bi-dropbox:folder with spaces/file.csv"
• rclone copy does not delete files at destination (safe). rclone sync does (dangerous).