In this tutorial you install Syncophant, connect one storage, and upload a file. At the end, the file shows On your box · verified in Finder, and you know what each step did.

It takes about ten minutes. You need:

A Mac with macOS 26 or later.
Storage you can sign in to: an SFTP server, a Hetzner Storage Box, WebDAV, S3-compatible storage, an SMB share, or a cloud drive. If you are not sure what your storage needs, read Storage requirements first.

Syncophant is an early build. Use a test folder for this tutorial, and keep another copy of anything you can’t lose.

1. Install the app

Download Syncophant.dmg from the latest release, open it, and drag Syncophant to Applications.

Or, on an Apple silicon Mac, install it with Homebrew:

brew install --cask syncophant-app/tap/syncophant

Open Syncophant from Applications. Its icon appears in the menu bar and its window opens. With nothing connected yet, the window says Connect your storage to start.

2. Add your storage

Choose Add Storage.
Paste anything that points at your storage: a server address such as user@example.com, a URL that starts with https://, s3:// or smb://, a Storage Box address such as u123456.your-storagebox.de, or a Hetzner API token.

Syncophant works out the type from what you paste and tells you what it needs next. If it can’t, pick a type under Or choose a type.

For your storage type, the guides have the details:

3. Let the checks run

Before anything is saved, Syncophant checks the connection. For an SFTP server you see:

Reach the server
Confirm its fingerprint: compare the picture and the SHA-256 text with what your provider publishes, then choose Trust This Key.
Sign in
Test safe reads and writes: Syncophant writes a 1 MB test file in a new folder, reads it back, checks that the server refuses to overwrite it, and deletes the folder.

Connect unlocks when every check passes. Choose it. Syncophant saves the sign-in to your Keychain and adds the storage to Finder.

If a check fails, the step says what went wrong. Troubleshooting has fixes for the common ones.

4. Open your storage in Finder

Open a Finder window. Your storage is in the sidebar, under its name.

The files you see there take no space on your Mac yet. Each one shows On your box: it is on your storage, and Syncophant downloads it when you open it.

5. Upload a file

Drag a small file from your Desktop into the storage in Finder. Watch its status:

Uploading 42%: the file is being sent.
Verifying on your box: Syncophant works out the file’s SHA256 checksum on your storage and compares it with your copy.
On your box · verified: the checksums match. The file on your storage is exactly the file you sent.

You can also upload with Upload Files… in the app, or by dropping files on the menu bar icon.

What you did

You installed Syncophant and connected one storage. Its password or key is in your Keychain, nowhere else.
Syncophant proved the server can store files safely before it saved the connection.
You uploaded a file and saw Syncophant prove it arrived intact.

Next steps

File status explains every status a file can show.
How uploads stay safe explains verification and conflict copies.
To keep a file on your Mac when you’re offline, right-click it in Finder and choose Keep Downloaded.