Coming from db-sync-tool

php-sync-tool succeeds the Python db-sync-tool by the same author. It is a different tool with its own roadmap, not a translation kept in lockstep with the original. What it does keep is the part that lives in your repositories: the configuration files.

Why a Successor?

The Python tool required a Python runtime wherever a sync ran, which on a PHP build or deploy host meant provisioning a second toolchain and a pip install db-sync-tool-kmi (plus file-sync-tool-kmi for files). This tool covers database and file synchronization in one Composer dependency or PHAR, running on the PHP that is already there.

Starting fresh also made room for things the Python tool never had: named environments with init, pull and push, an interactive sync picker, PostgreSQL support, and declarative anonymization for GDPR-safe copies.

What Is Guaranteed

Your configuration files keep working. A YAML or JSON config written for db-sync-tool runs unchanged:

sync-tool -f config.yaml

That promise covers:

• The file format and every key in it: origin, target, db, ignore_table, type, jump_host, console, script and the rest of the configuration reference.
• Renamed keys, under their old names too. additional_mysqldump_options is still read as additional_dump_options.
• The nine sync modes, derived the same way from the presence and equality of host entries.
• Framework detection for TYPO3, Symfony, Drupal, WordPress and Laravel.
• The directory names ~/.db-sync-tool/ and .db-sync-tool/, read as a fallback when their .sync-tool counterparts are absent. This is a transitional convenience rather than a second supported layout, so the tool prints a notice when it falls back, and another one when an old directory is being ignored because a .sync-tool directory exists beside it. Rename the directory when convenient, and never keep both.

Everything outside that list is free to differ, and does.

What Differs

Topic	db-sync-tool (Python)	php-sync-tool (PHP)
Runtime	Python 3.10+	PHP 8.2+
Install	pip install db-sync-tool-kmi	composer require konradmichalik/php-sync-tool or PHAR
Command	db_sync_tool	sync-tool (vendor/bin/sync-tool, sync-tool.phar)
Config directory	~/.db-sync-tool/	~/.sync-tool/ (old name read as fallback)
Project config dir	.db-sync-tool/	.sync-tool/ (old name read as fallback)
rsync toggle	--use-rsync (opt in)	rsync is the default, --no-rsync opts out to SFTP
Shell completion	built-in (--install-completion)	sync-tool completion <shell>, from Symfony Console
Interactive selection	interactive prompts / discovery	the sync picker on a terminal, environments without one
Databases	MySQL / MariaDB	MySQL / MariaDB / PostgreSQL

The command-line flags carry over where they exist here, so -f, -y and the endpoint overrides read the same:

# db-sync-tool (Python)
db_sync_tool -f config.yaml -y

# php-sync-tool (PHP)
sync-tool -f config.yaml -y

Named-host syncs are unchanged:

sync-tool production local

Replacing file-sync-tool

file_sync_tool was a second command with its own flags. Its work is a run of this tool with --files-only, reading the same files block:

# file-sync-tool (Python)
file_sync_tool -f config.yaml --files-target /var/www/target/fileadmin

# php-sync-tool (PHP)
sync-tool -f config.yaml --files-only --files-target /var/www/target/fileadmin

--files-target behaves as it did there: it sets the target of the first entry. --files-origin, --files-exclude and --files-option have no counterpart; those values belong in the files block.

Jump Hosts

php-sync-tool tunnels through jump hosts using the system SSH client (ssh -J / ProxyJump). The jump_host block accepts host, user, password, ssh_key and port. See Advanced Options → Jump Host.

Deliberately Absent

These exist in the Python tool and are not planned here. They serve interactive exploration, which explicit config files, host arguments and @hostname links cover in a way that also works unattended:

• Interactive host and config discovery prompts beyond the sync picker
• SFTP transfer progress callbacks

The Python tool's feature list is not this tool's roadmap. Features land here because they earn their place, so expect the two to keep diverging. If something you rely on is missing, open an issue.

Getting Help

• GitHub Issues
• Configuration Reference