9

JOOMLA_SYNC

Jonathan Miller edited this page 2026-05-20 01:26:13 +00:00

Table of Contents

• Joomla Extension Sync
• Sync Modes
• How Each Mode Works
• Manifest (default)
• Rsync (--rsync)
• Full SFTP (--full)
• Usage
• Via MCP
• Via CLI
• Excluded Files (all modes)
• What Gets Synced per Extension (manifest mode)
• SSH Key Setup for Rsync Mode
• SFTP Config Format
• Akeeba Backup JSON API v2
• Authentication
• API Endpoint
• Related

← Back to Home

Joomla Extension Sync

Sync Joomla sites between two servers with three modes -- manifest-based smart sync, full rsync via SSH, or SFTP directory scan.

---

Sync Modes

Mode	Flag	Speed	When to Use
Manifest (default)	--	Fastest	After updating extensions -- only syncs changed ones
Rsync	--rsync	Fast	After core updates or when files are broadly out of sync. Requires SSH key on source server to reach destination
Full SFTP	--full	Slowest	When servers can't SSH to each other directly

---

How Each Mode Works

Manifest (default)

1. Reads extension manifest XML files from both servers via SFTP
2. Compares versions -- identifies extensions with mismatches
3. Syncs only the directories and language files for changed extensions
4. Typically completes in seconds

Rsync (--rsync)

1. SSHs to source server
2. Runs rsync --delete to destination, excluding per-environment files
3. Best when both servers share the same SSH user -- source server needs an SSH key that can reach destination
4. Syncs everything (core, libraries, vendor, media) in one pass

Full SFTP (--full)

1. Connects to both servers via SFTP simultaneously
2. Walks every file in every extension directory
3. Compares by timestamp (default) or size (--force)
4. Slowest but works when servers can't reach each other

---

Usage

Via MCP

standards_sync_joomla(
    source_config: "scripts/sftp-config/sftp-config.dev.json",
    dest_config:   "scripts/sftp-config/sftp-config.rs.json",
    mode:          "manifest",   // manifest | rsync | full
    dry_run:       false
)

Via CLI

# Smart sync — only changed extensions (default)
php deploy/sync-joomla.php \
    --source sftp-config.dev.json --dest sftp-config.rs.json

# Full site rsync via SSH (after core updates)
php deploy/sync-joomla.php \
    --source sftp-config.dev.json --dest sftp-config.rs.json --rsync

# Dry-run any mode
php deploy/sync-joomla.php \
    --source sftp-config.dev.json --dest sftp-config.rs.json --rsync --dry-run

---

Excluded Files (all modes)

Always skipped to prevent overwriting per-environment config:

File/Directory	Reason
configuration.php	Database, paths, secrets differ per server
.htaccess	Server-specific rewrite rules
cache/, tmp/, logs/	Transient data
.git/, vendor/, tests/	Dev-only (rsync mode)
.DS_Store, Thumbs.db, *.swp	OS/editor junk

---

What Gets Synced per Extension (manifest mode)

Type	Directories	Language
Component	administrator/components/com_xxx/, components/com_xxx/, media/com_xxx/	*/language/*/com_xxx.*
Plugin	plugins/group/name/, media/plg_group_name/	*/language/*/plg_group_name.*
Module (site)	modules/mod_xxx/, media/mod_xxx/	*/language/*/mod_xxx.*
Module (admin)	administrator/modules/mod_xxx/	*/language/*/mod_xxx.*
Template	templates/xxx/, media/templates/site/xxx/	--

---

SSH Key Setup for Rsync Mode

The source server needs an SSH key that can reach the destination:

# On the source (dev) server:
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/id_sync_to_live -N ''

# Add the public key to the destination (live) server:
ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_sync_to_live user@live-host

The sync script auto-detects keys at ~/.ssh/id_sync_to_live, ~/.ssh/id_ed25519, or ~/.ssh/id_rsa.

---

SFTP Config Format

Standard Sublime Text SFTP format:

{
    "type": "sftp",
    "host": "example.com",
    "user": "username",
    "port": "22",
    "remote_path": "/home/user/site/public_html/",
    "ssh_key_file": "path/to/key.ppk",
    "connect_timeout": 30
}

---

Akeeba Backup JSON API v2

The monitoring system queries Akeeba Backup status via the JSON API v2. Key differences from earlier versions:

Authentication

Parameter	Value
Auth parameter	_akeebaAuth (not key)
Configuration	Akeeba Backup: Components > Akeeba Backup > Options > Frontend Secret Word

API Endpoint

Route	Auth Method
/index.php?option=com_akeebabackup&view=Api&format=raw	_akeebaAuth parameter
/api/index.php/v2/akeebabackup	X-Joomla-Token header

Full URL example:

https://example.com/index.php?option=com_akeebabackup&view=Api&format=raw&method=listBackups&_akeebaAuth=YOUR_SECRET

• Method parameter: method (not action) -- e.g. method=listBackups

---

Related

• SITE_MONITORING -- Monitoring architecture and metrics
• WORKFLOW_STANDARDS -- CI/CD workflow conventions
• client-repos -- Client repository standards

---

Repo: moko-platform · moko-platform wiki

Field	Value
Minimum Version	04.07.00
Platform	joomla
Applies To	Joomla repositories

Revision	Date	Author	Description
1.0	2026-05-09	Moko Consulting	Initial version