sftui - Terminal UI SFTP Client

A terminal-based SFTP client with dual panes for local and remote file browsing, built with Rust and Ratatui.

Features

• Dual Pane Interface: Side-by-side local and remote file browsing
• SSH Config Integration: Automatically imports connection settings from ~/.ssh/config
• Runtime Connection Switching: Change SFTP destinations without restarting
• File Selection & Staging: Select multiple files/directories for transfer
• Confirmation Dialogs: Review transfers before execution
• Directory Navigation: Browse local and remote directories

Platform Support

This application has been tested on macOS. It should also work on Linux and Windows if you can successfully build it, as it uses cross-platform Rust libraries.

Requirements

• SSH Agent (Strongly Recommended): For SSH key authentication, you must have ssh-agent running:

  # Start ssh-agent
  eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
  
  # Add your SSH key
  ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa
  

  Without ssh-agent, only password authentication or unencrypted SSH keys will work.

Installation

From crates.io

cargo install sftui

From source

git clone https://github.com/wtnqk/sftui.git
cd sftui
cargo install --path .

Usage

Basic Navigation

• Tab: Switch between local and remote panes
• ↑/↓ or j/k: Navigate file list (vim-style navigation supported)
• Enter: Enter directory (when on a directory)
• Space: Select/deselect files for transfer
• q or Q: Quit application

Search Function

• / : Start search mode
• Type: Enter search query (case-insensitive)
• Backspace: Delete characters from search
• Enter: Exit search mode (keep filtered results)
• Esc: Cancel search and return to full listing
• Real-time filtering: Results update as you type

Directory Navigation

• .. entry appears at the top of directory listings (except at root)
• Navigate up one level by selecting .. and pressing Enter
• Standard Unix-style directory navigation

Connection Management

• c or C: Open connection dialog to switch SFTP destinations
• The application reads SSH hosts from ~/.ssh/config
• You can specify a host at startup: sftui -H hostname
• In connection dialog:
  • ↑/↓: Navigate host list
  • Enter: Connect to selected host
  • Esc: Cancel

File Transfers

• Space: Select/deselect individual files
• t or T: Open transfer dialog with selected files
• Selected files appear with blue background
• In transfer dialog:
  • Enter: Confirm and execute transfers
  • Esc: Cancel transfers

SSH Configuration

The application reads SSH configuration from ~/.ssh/config. Example configuration:

Host myserver
    HostName example.com
    User username
    Port 22
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Host another-server
    HostName 192.168.1.100
    User admin
    Port 2222

Dependencies

• crossterm: Terminal handling
• ratatui: Terminal UI framework
• ssh2: SSH/SFTP protocol implementation
• tokio: Async runtime
• anyhow: Error handling
• clap: Command line argument parsing
• dirs: Directory utilities

Key Bindings Summary

Transfer Workflow

1. Navigate to desired directories in both panes
2. Select files/directories using Space
3. Press 't' or 'T' to open transfer dialog
4. Review the transfer queue (arrows indicate direction)
5. Press Enter to confirm or Esc to cancel

Building from Source

Requirements

• Rust 1.70 or higher
• OpenSSL development libraries (required by the ssh2 crate)

The specific installation method for OpenSSL depends on your platform:

• Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt-get install libssl-dev pkg-config
• macOS: brew install openssl@3
• Windows: Install OpenSSL via vcpkg or from https://slproweb.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.