Carddav Sync via tsdav returns 0 contacts

[TheZoker]

Hi there,

I'm currently trying to implement a webapp with tsdav, which should use the rustical server.

The VEVENT and the VTODO seem to work fine so far. But the VCARD does not work.

For reference this is the code I use to test this:

import { DAVClient } from 'tsdav';

const config = {
  // Example:
  // serverUrl: 'https://dav.domain.com/caldav-compat',
  // username: 'user',
  // password: 'secret',
};

const cardClient = new DAVClient({
  serverUrl: config.serverUrl,
  credentials: { username: config.username, password: config.password },
  authMethod: 'Basic',
  defaultAccountType: 'carddav',
});

await cardClient.login();
console.log('CardDAV: logged in');

const addressBooks = await cardClient.fetchAddressBooks();
console.log(`Found ${addressBooks.length} address books`);

for (const ab of addressBooks) {
  console.log('\n--- AddressBook ---');
  console.log('URL:', ab.url);
  console.log('Name:', ab.displayName?.toString());

  const objects = await cardClient.fetchVCards({ addressBook: ab });
  console.log(`  objects: ${objects}`);
  console.log(`  vCards: ${objects.length}`);
}

This returns 0 contacts for my only address book:

CardDAV: logged in
Found 1 address books

--- AddressBook ---
URL: https://dav.domain.com/carddav/principal/user/default/
Name: Kontakte
  objects: 
  vCards: 0

I have over 350 contacts in there.

I also see a issue on the radical server:

2025-12-25T22:48:26.896525Z ERROR http-request{otel.name=REPORT /carddav/principal/user/default ua=node-fetch/1.0 (+https://github.com/bitinn/node-fetch) status=400 Bad Request}: rustical::app: client error

I'm not sure what that error means. Is there an option missing or something?

Can you help me fix this? Thanks!

[lennart-k]

Hey, seems like I forgot to implement addressbook-query from the CardDAV spec.
I've added a first implementation to v0.11.6 and a tracking issue #159. :)

[lennart-k]

Oh, you're right. tsdav does an addressbook-query with an empty filter on the FN prop which rustical incorrectly handled by checking if any of the nonexistent subfilters matches.
This is now fixed in v0.11.10. :)

[TheZoker]

Thanks for the quick update!
It seems that now it returns 1 contact:

CardDAV: logged in
Found 1 address books

--- AddressBook ---
URL: https://dav.domain.com/carddav/principal/user/default/
Name: Kontakte
  objects: [object Object]
  vCards: 1

But my addressbook has 371 contacts:

So shouldn't it return 371 vCards if no filter is provided?

[lennart-k]

Oh, the only filter that's applied by tsdav is that the FN property must be specified in the contact.
Could you do an export and just send over the first two contacts as an example (anonymised obviously :))?
Unfortunately it's working for me now so I cannot reproduce the issue. :(

[TheZoker]

When I try to export my contacts (aka clicking the "Download" button), I get an "Internal Server Error" 😅

Did you use the same script as I used above? And it works for you?

Edit:
Alright so with a Buffer I was able to get it (gemini helped me to get a working code for this).
This is a example:

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:4.0
PRODID:+//IDN bitfire.at//DAVx5/4.5.3-gplay ez-vcard/0.12.1 (ez-vcard/0.12.
 1)
UID:00986f2f-bc1c-47e2-9558-3f17081eb9f5
FN:FirstName LastName
N:LastName;FirstName;;;
CATEGORIES:Group1
TEL;TYPE=cell:+491111111111
EMAIL;PREF=1:email@web.de
REV:20250828T220435Z
END:VCARD

Second:

BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:4.0
PRODID:+//IDN bitfire.at//DAVx5/4.5.3-gplay ez-vcard/0.12.1 (ez-vcard/0.12.
 1)
UID:00a2fc66-f30c-4b68-9b4b-c0e282cfdfe8
FN:FirstName LastName
N:LastName;FirstName;;;
CATEGORIES:Group2
TEL;TYPE=cell:+491111111
item1.X-ABLABEL:EMAIL
item1.EMAIL;PREF=1:email2@web.de
URL;TYPE=x-homepage:https://www.facebook.com/url
BDAY:--1101
PHOTO:data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/...
END:VCARD

[lennart-k]

Added END:VCARD to the second example.
For me it's working using version v0.11.10 and your script with NodeJS and tsdav version 2.1.6.
Is there any error message for the export? :(