Just SFTP

Just SFTP: a minimal SFTP/FTP client for VS Code. One JSON config file, one activity-bar view, no magic.

• Browse SFTP/FTP servers in a side view — one folder per configured connection
• Edit remote files — click to open, save to upload back automatically
• Sync whole folders both ways (never deletes), with ignore globs and parallel connections
• Transfer only what changed — files identical at the destination (same size and modification time) can be skipped, per file or for the whole transfer, FileZilla-style
• Survive flaky connections — SSH keepalive, automatic reconnect mid-transfer with the interrupted file requeued, and one-click Retry Failed Files from History
• See what's where — ● badges in the file Explorer on files that exist remotely, plus right-click Upload to Remote
• Watch it happen — a live Transfers panel (FileZilla-style) and a per-operation History panel

Install

From the Marketplace: search Just SFTP in the Extensions view. Or from a .vsix: Extensions: Install from VSIX….

⚠️ Security warning — read this first

Credentials (passwords, key passphrases) are stored in plaintext in .vscode/just_sftp/config.json. That is the deliberate trade-off for simplicity. Add this line to your .gitignore before committing anything:

.vscode/just_sftp/

(One line covers everything the extension stores in your workspace: the config with credentials and the operation history.)

Usage

1. Open the command palette (Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P) and run Just SFTP: Create Config. This creates .vscode/just_sftp/config.json with a template and opens it.
2. Fill in one object per server. The file is a JSON array — add as many connections as you like:

[
  {
    "name": "my-server",
    "protocol": "sftp",
    "host": "example.com",
    "port": 22,
    "username": "deploy",
    "password": "secret",
    "privateKeyPath": "~/.ssh/id_ed25519",
    "passphrase": "",
    "remotePath": "/var/www/app",
    "localPath": "./www",
    "ignore": [".git/**", "node_modules/**"],
    "parallel": 3,
    "retries": 2,
    "retryDelay": 1000
  }
]

3. Click the Just SFTP icon in the activity bar. Each configured connection shows up as a folder — expand it to connect and browse.

If two connections have overlapping localPaths (e.g. ./ and ./foobar), or overlapping remotePaths on the same host, a yellow warning appears in the Connections view: with overlapping mappings the same file has two counterparts, so syncs can duplicate content or overwrite each other. It's a warning, not an error — overlapping setups still work if that's what you intend.

Fields

Settings (VS Code settings, not the JSON config)

What you can do

• Browse: expand connections and folders in the tree. Refresh with the ↻ button.
• Edit remote files: click a file — it downloads to a temp mirror and opens. Saving uploads it back automatically. Last save wins; there is no conflict detection.
• Download / Upload: right-click a remote file or folder → Download to Local… — when the connection has a localPath and the item is under remotePath, it downloads straight to the mirrored local location; otherwise a dialog asks where. Right-click a remote folder or connection → Upload Local Here….
• Sync: right-click a connection → Sync Remote → Local or Sync Local → Remote. Recursive copy from remotePath ⇄ localPath, overwriting existing files at the destination. It never deletes files that only exist at the destination (no mirroring). ignore globs are skipped. Cancellable, with a summary at the end. Files identical at the destination trigger the justSftp.identicalFiles dialog (see Settings) so unchanged files can be skipped.
• Dropped connections heal themselves: SSH keepalive detects dead connections within seconds; the interrupted file goes back in the queue and the worker reconnects, so one drop no longer fails the rest of the transfer.
• Disconnect: right-click a connection.
• Remote presence dots: while a connection is active, files in the normal file Explorer that live under its localPath get a ● badge when their mirrored path exists on the server. Powered by cached remote listings (cacheTtl); the extension never connects on its own just to decorate.
• Upload from the Explorer: right-click any file or folder in the file Explorer → Upload to Remote (Just SFTP). It must be under a configured localPath; the mirrored remote path is used, and if several connections match you pick one.
• Live transfers: a Transfers panel between Connections and History shows operations in flight — each one expands to the files currently transferring (one per parallel connection) and a "N file(s) remaining" counter, FileZilla-style. Finished operations disappear from Transfers and land in History.
• Operation history: a History panel below Connections in the extension's side bar lists one entry per operation — a whole folder sync or folder upload/download is a single entry, as is each file transfer and each save-upload. Entries show status (success / partial / failed / cancelled) and file counts (including skipped-identical); clicking one opens its JSON record. History lives in .vscode/just_sftp/history/ (one file per operation, capped at the 100 most recent). Clear it with the trash icon on the panel.
• Retry failed files: entries with failures show a ↻ button (and right-click → Retry Failed Files) that re-transfers exactly the files that failed — no need to re-run the whole operation.

Logs live in the Just SFTP output channel.

What it deliberately doesn't do

• Store credentials securely — they're plaintext in the config file (see SECURITY.md); gitignore .vscode/just_sftp/ and prefer key auth.
• Conflict detection when editing remote files — last save wins.
• Delete anything during sync — it only copies and overwrites; destination-only files are never touched. A mirror mode may come later if there's demand.
• FTPS — FTP support is plain FTP (passive mode) for now; FTPS may come later.

Development & contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for dev setup, the Docker-backed e2e test suite (npm run test:e2e), and architecture notes. Security posture is documented in SECURITY.md.

License

MIT © Ravidhu Dissanayake