Database Sharing and Sync (DSS)
Real-time sync between basehead clients — without a dedicated server and without dragging IT into it.
Two ways to share
Two modes, same sync engine. What changes is discovery and access control — gated by whether the Teams addon is licensed on your LLS. An LLS alone doesn’t unlock auto-discovery; without the Teams addon you’re still in manual mode.
Manual sharing
Peer-to-peer. No LLS needed.
- Host clicks Copy Info to grab a connection string.
- Client pastes it into the Remote tab and pulls.
- Best for small teams and ad-hoc setups.
LLS + Teams sharing
Requires the Teams addon licensed on your LLS.
- Shared DBs auto-populate in the Remote tab for every teammate with access. No connection strings.
- Only Curator / Admin can host. Access is by team membership.
- Best for orgs already on an LLS + Teams.
How it works
Once a client connects to a shared database, every change made on any client is pushed to the host the moment it happens — provided the host’s basehead is open. If the host is offline, connected clients keep working against their local copy; when the host comes back online, all pending changes sync automatically.
For sync to occur, the database must be marked Active on the Shared tab. A single client can share multiple databases at the same time.
UI at a glance
The LLS handles discovery + authorization, so the UI drops the manual plumbing. No IP:Port fields, no connection strings, no “if you can reach it you can pull it.”
- Remote tab shows a Teams overlay — you get a live list of every DB your team can access. Pick one and Pull.
- Shared tab hidden from Reader / Editor — hosting is a permission, granted centrally. Only Curator / Admin see the tab at all.
How to share
- Open the Shared tab.
- Note the local IP and port for the shared DB.
- Click Copy Info and send the string to whoever needs to connect.
- Sign in to Teams and open the Shared tab (Curator / Admin).
- Activate the DB — it auto-registers with the LLS.
- Grant team access from the LLS admin.
Orphan detection. Abandoned LLS registrations show up flagged for cleanup.
How to connect
- Open the Remote tab.
- With a string on your clipboard, click Paste/Pull. Sync starts immediately.
- Ping to verify the server is reachable.
- If the host’s IP changes, enter it and click Connect to Server.
- Sign in to Teams and open the Remote tab.
- Every DB your team has access to auto-populates. Select one and Pull.
Sync health badge
The badge sits next to the active database name in the title bar — it reports the live sync state for whichever Remote DB is active, and is hidden entirely when no Remote DB is active. Hover for a tooltip; right-click for a header that summarizes the same state plus a state-aware action menu.
| Color | State | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
Sage green #8CA667 |
Healthy | Sync is working normally — peer connected, server reachable, host still sharing, no changes stuck waiting to upload. |
Neutral gray #9AA0A6 |
Indeterminate | Share state can’t be verified yet — usually you host this DB and have deactivated your own share, or the Teams remote-DB list is mid-refresh. |
Soft yellow #F7E186 |
Sync paused — host offline | DB pragma reports a problem, the server is unreachable, the primary host stopped sharing, or local changes have been queued more than 120 s without draining (stuck sync). |
Sky blue (pulsing) #6EB6E6 |
Recovering | Auto-reconnect in progress — basehead is retrying on its own, no action needed. |
Orange-red #FA5D48 |
Failed — repair recommended | Recovery attempts exhausted. Open Sync Diagnostics for the specific reason and run Repair if offered. |
Tooltip
Hover the badge for Database Sync: <state> plus the last-check time, the count of pending changes, and a one-line status message.
Right-click menu
The action menu adapts to the current state:
- Online — when the badge is yellow or red and the server is reachable: Reconnect, Repair, View Diagnostics, Show Raw Sync Status.
- Offline — when the server is unreachable: Retry Connection Now, View Diagnostics.
- Local share deactivated — when you host the DB and deactivated your own share: only View Diagnostics is shown — re-activating the share is the fix, not reconnecting.
- Teams login needed — when the Teams addon is enabled and you’re not signed in, the menu header changes to Log in to Teams to reconnect. The misleading “Primary host is no longer sharing this database” detail is suppressed in this case (the host is still sharing — your client just lost its Teams session and can’t see the shared-DB list).