RemoteSync — Safe SFTP & Remote Deploy

Know exactly what reached your server.

Edit, sync and safely deploy files to remote servers directly from VS Code.

Coming from SFTP / vscode-sftp? Import your existing .vscode/sftp.json in one click. Passwords move to your system keychain.

Why RemoteSync

Upload on save you can trust. Every save ends as ✓ uploaded, ⚠ skipped, ↻ retrying or ✕ failed — never silence. Uploads are verified by size on the server.
No half-written files. Uploads go to a temporary file and are swapped into place only when complete. A dropped connection never leaves a broken file on your live site.
Survives Wi-Fi drops. Lost connections reconnect and retry automatically, then report clearly if they give up.
No passwords in project files. Secrets live in the OS keychain via VS Code SecretStorage.
Production looks dangerous. Production asks before uploading, never deletes by default, and needs you to type DELETE for removals.
Preview before every folder deploy. See exactly what will upload, overwrite, delete or skip — then approve.
Conflict detection. Warns before you overwrite a server file someone changed since your last sync.
History. Every transfer is recorded, across restarts.

Getting started

Open your project folder.
Open the RemoteSync view in the activity bar → Add SFTP Server.
Fill in host, username, remote folder and login. Click Test Connection. Save.
Edit a file and save. Watch the status bar: ✓ index.php → My Server.

Configuration

Settings live in .vscode/remotesync.json (autocomplete included). Passwords are never stored there.

{
  "version": 1,
  "connections": [
    {
      "id": "production",
      "name": "Production",
      "environment": "production",
      "host": "example.com",
      "username": "deploy",
      "remotePath": "/var/www/site",
      "authentication": { "type": "privateKey", "privateKeyPath": "~/.ssh/id_ed25519" },
      "watch": ["dist/**"],
      "ignore": [".git/**", "node_modules/**", ".vscode/**", ".env"]
    }
  ]
}

Setting	Values	Default
`environment`	development, test, staging, production, custom	development
`uploadOnSave`	off, ask, automatic	ask on staging/production, automatic elsewhere
`remoteDelete`	off, ask, mirror	off
`compareMode`	fast, safe, checksum	safe
`conflictDetection`	true / false	true
`watch`	globs uploaded when changed outside the editor	none

Authentication: password, privateKey, agent (SSH agent plus your ~/.ssh/config keys), keyboardInteractive (one-time codes). Host aliases from ~/.ssh/config work as the host.

Commands

Add / Edit / Test / Connect / Disconnect · Upload / Download File · Upload / Download Folder · Preview Local → Remote · Preview Remote → Local · Compare Local ↔ Remote · Retry Failed Transfers · Show Transfer History · Show Diagnostics · Copy Diagnostic Report · Restart File Watcher · Import Existing sftp.json

Not yet supported

FTP/FTPS, jump hosts (ProxyJump), rollback, Git-change deploys. SFTP comes first, done well.

RemoteSync - Safe SFTP & Remote Deploy

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