SFTP Companion
Standalone SFTP / FTP / FTPS sync for VS Code — a visual account manager, sync-status file trees, a full compare view, and a transfer queue with real progress. Built for the classic workflow of administering a live site from your editor.
➜ Install from the VS Code Marketplace
Features
- Works with SFTP, FTPS, and plain FTP — one protocol dropdown, correct ports filled in automatically, clear errors when protocol and port don't match.
- Account Manager panel — set up host, credentials, remote path, sync folder, ignore patterns, and auto-sync without touching JSON (but the JSON stays there if you prefer it — see below).
- Passwords stay out of files — credentials are stored only in VS Code SecretStorage (your OS credential vault). They are never written to disk, and the config files are hard-blocked from ever uploading to the server.
- Local & Remote trees with sync colors — green in sync, orange newer/changed, red missing, and yellow ignored. Hover buttons and right-click menus provide upload / download / diff / smart sync on every item.
- Sync Center — scan both sides recursively in paired, row-aligned Local and Server file trees, color-coded by status (in sync, local newer, server newer, local only, server only). Search or filter by Not in sync / Different / Local only / Server only / In sync, then use the always-visible per-row direction control (download / skip / upload) or a one-click Sync Shown to let the newer side win everywhere. Diff, persistent ignore, and timestamp-only mark-in-sync are one click away too, alongside checkboxes, folder rollups, context menus, and bulk actions.
- Transfer queue — parallel connections, per-file progress, pause / resume / stop / retry, and a compact paged history that keeps active and failed work ahead of thousands of completed files.
- Auto-sync (opt-in) — manual by default; sync only a pinned list of folders, or everything under the sync root. Optional delete mirroring can also remove the matching server file or recursively remove a matching server folder; the Account Manager requires explicit confirmation when either behavior is enabled.
- Self-healing transfers — auto-reconnects dropped connections, creates missing remote folders, and repairs paths blocked by junk zero-byte files.
- Multiple server profiles per project — a
profiles block in sftp.json (dev/staging/production) with a one-click switcher; passwords are shared per server via the vault.
- Remote file management — rename/move, new file/folder, chmod, and confirmed multi-select deletion for files and folders, right from the Remote Files tree.
- Make Identical — pick a source of truth and mirror the other side's file set (including orphan-file deletion), with a dry-run confirmation of the counts. Empty directories are not mirrored.
- Conflict guard — auto-upload warns instead of clobbering when the server copy changed after your local edit.
Install
- Marketplace: SFTP Companion — hit Install and it opens VS Code.
- Inside VS Code: Extensions panel (
Ctrl+Shift+X) → search SFTP Companion.
- Command line:
code --install-extension coolshrimp.sftp-companion
Quick start
- Install the extension and open your project folder.
- Click the SFTP Sync icon in the activity bar, then Account.
- Choose your protocol, enter host / username / password and the remote path (e.g.
/public_html), and hit Save.
- The Remote Files view connects automatically. Open the Setup Guide (book icon) for a full walkthrough.
| Protocol |
Port |
When |
| SFTP |
22 |
Host provides SSH access (fastest, encrypted) |
| FTPS |
21 |
Classic FTP account, encrypted with TLS |
| FTP |
21 |
Plain FTP — works everywhere |
Where settings live
Everything except the password is plain, hand-editable JSON — edit the files or use the GUI, both stay in sync:
.vscode/sftp.json — host, protocol, port, username, remote path, ignore patterns (standard sftp.json schema, portable)..vscode/sftp-companion.json — sync folder, auto-sync mode, sync list, hidden-file preference.- Workspace setting
sftpCompanion.autoDeleteRemote — opt-in mirroring of local file/folder deletions to the server. A folder delete is recursive and can remove ignored or remote-only descendants; enabling it in the Account Manager shows a modal warning, while direct JSON/Settings edits rely on this setting description.
- Password — VS Code SecretStorage only. To change it by hand, paste
"password": "..." into sftp.json and save: it is absorbed into secure storage and scrubbed from the file automatically.
Safety rails
- SFTP host keys are pinned on first connect (like SSH
known_hosts); if the server's key ever changes you see both fingerprints and must explicitly trust the new one.
- Auto-upload modes require modal confirmation before they turn on.
- New accounts begin with security-focused ignores for
.git, .gitignore, .vscode, environment files, common credential files, and private-key formats. The list remains editable.
- The
.vscode folder is hard-blocked from deployment even if its ignore entry is removed (the extension's private remote-edit cache is the only internal exception).
- Bulk transfers of 25+ files ask before queueing.
- Destructive Make Identical is disabled when a comparison scan is capped or cannot read part of either tree.
- Multi-select server deletion always prompts; single-item deletion prompts by default (configurable).
- Delete mirroring is off by default and asks for a separate destructive-action confirmation before it can be enabled.
Development
npm install
npm run check-types # type-check with tsc
npm run bundle # bundle to dist/extension.js with esbuild
npm run deploy # package the VSIX and install it into VS Code
npm run watch:deploy # rebuild + reinstall on every change
License
MIT
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