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.

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, blue newer on one side, red missing, orange folders containing changes. Hover buttons and right-click menus for upload / download / diff / smart sync on every item.
• Sync Center — scan both sides recursively and see every difference in one collapsible tree. Filter, multi-select with checkboxes, right-click context menus, and bulk Upload / Download / Sync Selected where each file goes in whichever direction its newer side dictates.
• Transfer queue — parallel connections, per-file progress bars, pause / resume / stop / retry, and a live log feed.
• Auto-sync (opt-in) — manual by default; sync only a pinned list of folders, or everything under the sync root. Enabling auto-upload always asks for explicit confirmation first.
• 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, delete, and chmod with the current permissions shown, right from the Remote Files tree.
• Make Identical — pick a source of truth and mirror the other side exactly (orphan deletion included), with a dry-run confirmation of the counts.
• Conflict guard — auto-upload warns instead of clobbering when the server copy changed after your local edit.

Quick start

1. Install the extension and open your project folder.
2. Click the SFTP Sync icon in the activity bar, then Account.
3. Choose your protocol, enter host / username / password and the remote path (e.g. /public_html), and hit Save.
4. The Remote Files view connects automatically. Open the Setup Guide (book icon) for a full walkthrough.

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.
• 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.
• Bulk transfers of 25+ files ask before queueing.
• sftp.json / sftp-companion.json can never be uploaded, regardless of settings.
• Deleting on the server always prompts (configurable), and local files are never deleted by remote operations unless you opt in.

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