Linux install guide

SyncTato Server for Linux ships as a single AppImage — no package manager, no install step, runs on any modern distro. If you're setting up a headless server or a Raspberry Pi with no display, use the headless guide instead.

Requirements

x86_64 Linux, glibc 2.17+ (any modern distro — Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, etc.)
A graphical desktop session with a system-tray (StatusNotifierItem) host. KDE Plasma and most desktops work out of the box; GNOME needs an AppIndicator/Tray extension installed. Both X11 and Wayland work.

Install & first launch

Download SyncTato-Server.AppImage.
Make it executable (most file managers have a "Properties → Allow executing" checkbox, or from a terminal):
```
chmod +x SyncTato-Server.AppImage
```
Double-click it (or run ./SyncTato-Server.AppImage). Nothing is copied anywhere — it runs straight from wherever you downloaded it, so keep it somewhere you'll remember.

Tray icon & pairing

A potato icon appears in your system tray. When your phone asks to pair, a window pops up with a pairing code — enter that code in the SyncTato app on your phone.

Firewall

Allow inbound TCP on port 8443, or your phone won't find the server:

sudo ufw allow 8443/tcp                                  # Debian/Ubuntu/Mint

sudo firewall-cmd --add-port=8443/tcp --permanent && sudo firewall-cmd --reload   # Fedora/RHEL

Start at login

Click the tray icon and toggle Start at login to have SyncTato launch automatically each session.

Video/HEIC thumbnails

ffmpeg/ffprobe are bundled and installed alongside the server automatically — nothing extra to install.

Data location

The database and certificates live under ~/.local/share (your XDG data dir). Your actual photos and videos go under whichever media folder you choose in the app.

Uninstall

Quit SyncTato from the tray menu. If you turned on "Start at login," toggle it off first — then just delete the AppImage file. There's nothing else to clean up. Your photos and database are left in place.