unison ☆

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Description:
File synchronization tool

Type: Formula | Tracked Since: Dec 28, 2025

Links: Homepage | formulae.brew.sh

Category: Productivity

Tags: sync file-sync backup cli

Install: brew install unison

About:
Unison is a robust file-synchronization tool that allows bidirectional updates between two replicas of a file set. Unlike simple mirroring tools, it detects conflicts where both replicas have been modified independently and prompts the user for resolution. It is resilient to failures, ensuring that the file system state remains consistent even if the process is interrupted.

Key Features:

Bidirectional file synchronization
Conflict detection and resolution
Resilient to crashes and interruptions
Cross-platform support (Unix, macOS, Windows)

Use Cases:

Syncing work between a desktop and a laptop
Backing up files to an external drive or server
Maintaining identical codebases across multiple development machines

Alternatives:

rsync – Unison performs bidirectional sync and handles conflicts, whereas rsync is primarily one-way mirroring.
Syncthing – Syncthing is continuous and decentralized, while Unison is typically run manually or via cron and relies on SSH.

Version History

Detected	Version	Rev	Change	Commit
Sep 11, 2025 11:33pm		0	VERSION_BUMP	3dfa47a5