rclone4gdrive is an open-source tool for seamless, automated, and transparent two-way Google Drive backup on Linux.
rclone4gdrive eliminates the hassle of configuring and maintaining routinely cloud syncs by providing true "set-and-forget" synchronization directly from your Linux filesystem to your personal Google Drive.
Notable added features:
One-command setup for rclone remote and local sync directory
Installs and manages systemd user units for scheduled syncs
Automated detection and handling of rclone failures (token expiry, resync required, etc.)
Automatic OAuth token refresh and config update
Dry-run and status commands for safe testing and monitoring
Ignores all Google Office Suite files during backup to avoid issues with the Linux filesystem
All scripts are POSIX shell compatible (no Bash required)
This is a project I built in my free time, and it’s one of my first contributions to the open-source community. I would be interested in integrating rclone4gdrive features into main rclone features if you would like.
rclone4gdrive looks solid—systemd sync + auto token refresh fixes the usual rclone headaches, and skipping Google Docs avoids FUSE issues. perfect “set-and-forget” for Linux.
Thank you, I appreciate you liked it! I've since put out an updated version (v1.0.0) with quite a few improvements, such as:
Near zero-config setup — a single rclone4gdrive init now checks/installs dependencies (rclone, jq, user lingering), runs the Google OAuth flow, verifies the connection, and wires up the systemd units. No manual rclone config or
unit-file editing anymore.
Headless/server support — a paste-a-token flow for machines without a browser, alongside the normal desktop browser flow.
Defaults to rclone's shared OAuth credentials, so you don't have to set up a Google Cloud project unless you want your own rate-limit budget.
A new glanceable status command — a quick ✓/✗ health summary (timer / last sync / authorization) with a one-line verdict, instead of raw log dumps.
Clean uninstall command and --version.
Reliability fixes — an initial resync so the first scheduled sync no longer reports a spurious failure, non-destructive OAuth token refresh, and credentials no longer exposed via the process list.
Single source of truth for all bisync flags (config.sh) and CI linting (shellcheck + sh -n).
How do you seamlessly get users to generate a custom Client-ID in their Google Account? I'm interested in seeing how that part is handled since the default will break soon.
Thanks for the heads-up and the link — appreciate you flagging it.
@asdffdsa is right: you can bring your own credentials today via rclone4gdrive init --client-id ... --client-secret ...
(or answer the prompt during guided setup). It's written straight into the rclone remote, same as rclone config.
To be straight about "seamless": creating the OAuth client itself is still the standard manual Google Cloud Console step from the rclone docs — initdoesn't automate that. What it does fully automate is everything around it: remote creation, the OAuth consent / token, the headless paste-a-token flow, validation, and the systemd wiring. So once you have an id/secret, the rest is one command.