MacOS – Does iCloud Drive backup hidden dot folders/files such as .git

There are a few restrictions with .files, mainly because they are usually files important to the system. For example, aside from being hidden by default you can't rename a normal file to ".file" (You will get a system alert, I'm pretty sure), nor you can rename a ".file" directly from any Finder window, like most other files: you need to "Get Info", and rename it from there.

One plausible solution I can think of is perhaps renaming it before you send it, though if you want to avoid this (because they are sensitive files after all) you can compress it and then rename the zip file you get. Simply:

1. Control click on the file and select "Compress ..."
2. Control click the zip file and select "Get Info"
3. Under "Name and extension" you should be able to change the name of the file. Simply remove the period.

I know its kind of a log workaround, but its the best I could find. :/ Hope it helps though!

Yes, iCloud drive on Macs keeps all of the files locally on every Mac, and needs enough space to do so. There's (at present) no selective sync option to keep some folders or files off some Macs.

If you have more files in the cloud than space on your devices, you will not have all the files stored locally.

Windows is designed similarly and there isn't a specific article by Apple to document how iCloud is designed. The general page says your files exist everywhere and glosses over the reality that when you initially add files, there's a delay in uploading and checking the files in.

• https://www.apple.com/icloud/icloud-drive/

On the Mac you can use brctl log -w to inspect the internal status of sync, but be aware there are lots of "errors" and "warnings" that don't impact the actual results of an account with all files synced.