Sync your vault (WebDAV)

tela exposes every space you can access as a WebDAV tree at /dav/, so you can mount your wiki as a folder of markdown files — edit in any app, back it up, or sync it. Pages stay canonical markdown throughout.

[!TIP] For scriptable two-way sync, use [[Sync with rclone]] — or Settings → Sync → Connect a vault, which mints a token and prints a ready rclone setup. This page covers the built-in WebDAV clients in macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android, and the concepts both paths share.

What you need

WebDAV authenticates with the PAT as the Basic-auth password (any username). The token's scope sets what the mount can do: read = browse/download (a safe backup); write = also edit, create, rename, delete. A space-pinned token exposes just that one space.

[!IMPORTANT] Always use the HTTPS (https:// / davs://) URL. Basic auth is safe over HTTPS, exposed over plain HTTP.

How the tree is laid out

The root lists each space as a folder; pages are <slug>.md, and a page with children is also a folder of the same name holding them:

/dav/engineering/onboarding.md      ← a page
/dav/engineering/onboarding/        ← its child pages
/dav/engineering/roadmap.md

• Filenames are yours and stable. Identity rides in the file's frontmatter id, not the path — so renaming a .md retitles the page, moving it reparents it (no duplicates), and a new .md becomes a new page. The URL slug follows the title separately; editing slug: in frontmatter is ignored.
• Non-markdown files (PDFs, images, up to 50 MiB) sync as page attachments — they show up in the page's Attachments strip. OS/editor junk (.DS_Store, ._*, *.swp, …) is silently dropped.
• Deletes are guarded and soft. A client can only delete pages it previously synced, a mass-delete brake refuses anomalous wipes, and everything deleted is recoverable. A read-scope token can't write at all (403).
• Create a space by making a folder at the root (mkdir). Deleting a space over WebDAV is always refused — do it in-app.

Connect from your platform

:::tabs

macOS

Finder → Go → Connect to Server (⌘K) → enter https://telawiki.com/dav/ → Connect → choose Registered User, any name, password = your PAT. Tick "remember in keychain" to skip re-pasting.

Windows

Windows blocks Basic-auth WebDAV over HTTPS until you raise the auth level once:

1. In regedit, set BasicAuthLevel = 2 under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters, then restart the WebClient service (net stop webclient && net start webclient).
2. File Explorer → This PC → Map network drive → Folder https://telawiki.com/dav/ → tick Connect using different credentials → any username, password = PAT.

Linux

GNOME Files: Other Locations → connect to davs://telawiki.com/dav/ (note the davs:// scheme) → any username + PAT. Needs the gvfs WebDAV backend (gvfs-backends). KDE Dolphin: webdavs://….

davfs2 (real mountpoint):

sudo apt install davfs2
echo "https://telawiki.com/dav/  you  tela_pat_xxxx" | sudo tee -a /etc/davfs2/secrets  # chmod 600
sudo mount -t davfs https://telawiki.com/dav/ /mnt/tela

iOS

The built-in Files app only speaks SMB, so use a WebDAV app (Documents by Readdle, FileBrowser, …): Add Server → WebDAV → URL https://telawiki.com/dav/, any username, password = PAT. Apps like FileBrowser also surface the vault inside the system Files app.

Android

Use a WebDAV-capable file manager (Solid Explorer) or DAVx⁵ (mounts it system-wide for any app's file picker): add a WebDAV/WebDAVs mount → https://telawiki.com/dav/, any username, password = PAT. :::

Troubleshooting

[!WARNING] Auth fails: confirm the password is a valid PAT (not your account password), the URL is HTTPS ending in /dav/, and the token has the scope you need.

• Windows won't connect → the BasicAuthLevel = 2 step above, and check the WebClient service is running.
• Linux "connect" does nothing → install gvfs-backends and use davs://.
• A delete was refused (405) → the mass-delete brake; re-pull the space first, or delete in-app. Nothing is lost.
• Self-host behind a WAF → allow the non-standard WebDAV verbs (PROPFIND, MKCOL, MOVE, …) through to /dav/*.