cpx

Modern fast file copy tool with progress bars

TLDR

Copy a single file

$ cpx [source.txt] [dest.txt]

Copy a directory recursively

$ cpx -r [source_dir/] [dest_dir/]

Copy with exclusion patterns

$ cpx -r -e "node_modules" -e ".git" [project/] [/backup/]

Resume an interrupted transfer

$ cpx -r --resume [large_dataset/] [/backup/]

Preserve all file attributes

$ cpx -r -p=all [photos/] [/backup/photos/]

Parallel copy with 8 threads

$ cpx -r -j 8 [source/] [dest/]

SYNOPSIS

cpx [OPTIONS] SOURCE... DESTINATION

cpx is a modern replacement for the traditional cp command, built in Rust for performance and safety. It provides parallel file copying (up to 5x faster than standard cp in benchmarks), visual progress bars, the ability to resume interrupted transfers with checksum verification, graceful Ctrl+C handling with resume hints, and gitignore-style exclude patterns.

PARAMETERS

-r, --recursive

Copy directories recursively.

-j N

Number of parallel operations (default: 4).

--resume

Resume interrupted transfers with checksum verification.

-f, --force

Remove and retry if destination is unavailable.

-i, --interactive

Prompt before overwriting.

-t, --target-directory DIR

Copy all sources into the specified directory.

-e, --exclude PATTERN

Exclude matching files (glob patterns, comma-separated).

-s, --symbolic-link [MODE]

Create symlinks instead of copying (auto/absolute/relative).

-l, --link

Create hard links instead of copying.

-P, --no-dereference

Never follow source symlinks.

-L, --dereference

Always follow source symlinks.

-p, --preserve [ATTRS]

Preserve attributes (default/all/mode/timestamps/ownership/links/xattr).

-b, --backup [MODE]

Backup existing files (none/simple/numbered/existing).

--reflink [WHEN]

Copy-on-write if supported (auto/always/never).

--parents

Preserve full source path structure.

--no-config

Ignore all config files.

CONFIGURATION

Configuration supported at three levels (in priority order): ./cpxconfig.toml (project-level), ~/.config/cpx/cpxconfig.toml (user-level), /etc/cpx/cpxconfig.toml (system-level). Manage with cpx config init, cpx config show, and cpx config path.

CAVEATS

Currently only fully supports Linux (kernel 4.5+ recommended). macOS and Windows support is planned but not yet available. The --resume feature relies on checksums, which adds overhead for small files. Not a drop-in alias for cp in all edge cases.

HISTORY

cpx was created by Bhuminjay Soni and publicly introduced around January 2026. Written in Rust under the MIT license. The latest version is v0.1.4 (February 2026). Available via Cargo, AUR (as cpx-copy), Nix, and pre-built binaries.

cpx