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FAQ

Quick answers to the most common questions about KoNiMa Claude Sync. Each entry expands with a click.

Before you start

What is KoNiMa Claude Sync and what is it for?

It syncs your Claude Code configuration (rules, skills, slash commands, agents, CLAUDE.md, settings.json), optionally your plugins and MCP servers, and — on the editions that include it — your project memory, across all your machines and among the members of a team. The goal is to have a single, consistent configuration and a memory that doesn’t stay trapped on one computer. Syncing happens through your own git repository: data travels only between your machines, not through KoNiMa’s servers.

What do I need to use it?
  • Visual Studio Code (Windows, macOS, or Linux). The extension runs natively: no WSL, no external components.
  • Claude Code installed (syncing acts on the ~/.claude folder).
  • A private, empty git repository that you provide (GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, Azure DevOps, or any git remote) with a personal access token for read and write. No remote is preconfigured.
  • A valid license for KoNiMa Claude Sync. Without a valid license code, the extension is inert.
Is there a free version?

No: there’s no permanent free plan. However, a self-service trial is available for every edition, directly from the extension, with no credit card. The trial activates on its own and includes an anonymous machine identifier solely to prevent abuse.

Editions and licenses

What's the difference between the Starter, Pro, and Team editions?

All editions share the same VSIX; it’s the license that unlocks the additional domains, and it can be changed without reinstalling anything.

  • Starter — configuration and plugin sync. Ideal for anyone who wants a versioned copy of their Claude Code configuration.
  • Pro — adds memories (claude-mem + .md files), MCP servers, hooks, and the choice of sync cadence.
  • Team — adds dual-repository CORE/MEMORIES governance, roles derived from git permissions, managed seats, invite codes, and an audit log.

For the full table, see Editions.

How many machines can I use?

It depends on the edition and the license. The number of available seats and how many you’ve already used are always shown in the dashboard, in the Machines tab and in the Machines stat card of the Overview ({used}/{max}). You can free a seat by deactivating a machine you no longer use.

Do I need to redistribute the VSIX with every update?

No. The extension detects and installs updates on its own — no manual action is required, neither from you nor from your team.

How do I activate a license or join a team?

On first launch, with no license, the dashboard shows the showcase. Paste the code into the Paste your license code field and click Activate. If the code starts with KNMI-, it’s a team invite: the Join the team modal opens, where you enter your name, email, and the git credentials of your personal account to activate the license and repositories in a single step.

Machines and seats

What exactly is a "machine" or "seat"?

A machine is a VS Code installation registered in your sync repository. Each active machine occupies a seat against the edition limit. Registered machines are shown in the Machines tab of the dashboard, with status, operating system, and last sync.

Can I free a machine if I no longer use it?

Yes. Open the dashboard, Machines tab, and click Deactivate on the machine to release: the seat is freed immediately. The dashboard also flags machines idle for 30+ days, whose seats you can free. Recovery is manual and deliberate: if you reinstall the extension on that machine in the future, it will occupy a new seat. In the Team edition, this operation requires the Maintainer role. If your machine is deactivated, it reactivates itself at the next sync.

Security, privacy, and data

Does my data pass through KoNiMa's servers?

No. The configuration, memories, and plugin inventory travel exclusively between your machines and your own git repository. The only KoNiMa endpoint the extension contacts is the license API, and only to validate it (plus, during a trial request, an anonymous, one-way hash of the machine to prevent abuse).

Do my MCP server credentials end up in the repository?

No. Before export, all keys matching the patterns token, secret, key, password, auth, bearer, and credential are automatically blanked (scrubbing). The repository receives the MCP server’s structure — URL, name, arguments — but never its secrets. After pulling on a new machine, re-enter the credentials once: they go into the VS Code secret store, never in plaintext on disk.

Where are the repository credentials and the license kept?

In the VS Code secret store (the operating system keychain). They’re never written to files or to the log channel. The validated license is additionally stored encrypted at rest.

Does the extension work offline?

Yes. The actual syncing requires access to your git repository, but the license works offline within a grace period from the last successful validation. Pushes that fail due to no network are queued locally and retried automatically. During normal use, the extension doesn’t contact KoNiMa’s servers.

Behavior and syncing

Can two machines overwrite each other?

No. There’s no force-push. A pull never deletes local work: a three-way reconciliation is performed against a per-machine baseline, and before anything is applied a backup snapshot is saved. When machines diverge, the tool additively merges what it can (memories and accumulative files) and surfaces the rest in the dashboard for a human decision. Nothing is overwritten silently.

What happens if two machines edit the same memories at the same time?

Memories are merged and deduplicated at push time. When the changes are incompatible, the conflict is shown in the dashboard for a human decision. Projects are identified by their git remote, not by their local path: the same project cloned into different folders on different machines is still recognized and the memories are remapped onto the correct folder.

How do roles work in a team?

The role isn’t configured in the app: it coincides with your account’s permissions on the git repository.

  • Maintainer — writes CORE: manages the company baseline, plugins, invites, and repository maintenance, can deactivate machines and merge projects.
  • Member — read-only on CORE, writes to the MEMORIES repository: receives the configuration and contributes memories. In roster views, others’ data is masked.
  • Viewer — read-only view.
What's needed for memories to sync?

Memories are included in the Pro and Team editions. You also need claude-mem installed (for the database) and the source switches — Sync claude-mem memories and Sync project .md memories — turned on in the Memory tab. If the tab isn’t present, your edition doesn’t include memories.