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Step-by-step guides for SSH on macOS

How to use SFTP on a Mac (drag & drop, free)

Drag-and-drop SFTP transfers, remote file editing, bulk ops, in the same window as your SSH terminal. Free.

Estimated time: 3 minutes
SFTP is the file-transfer side of SSH, same auth, same encryption, same connection. macOS doesn't ship a graphical SFTP client; the Finder doesn't speak it natively (despite what some old tutorials claim). Free options have traditionally been Cyberduck (good but a separate window) or scp from the terminal (functional but slow). SSHive integrates SFTP in the same window as the SSH terminal, drag, drop, edit, save. This guide shows you how.

Step-by-step

  1. 1

    Open the SFTP panel next to a live SSH terminal

    Connect to a profile (the SSH terminal opens). In the terminal toolbar, click the **folder icon** on the right, or hit **Cmd+Shift+F**. The SFTP panel slides in next to the terminal as a split view. Use the layout-toggle button in the same toolbar to switch between horizontal (SFTP left, terminal right) and vertical (SFTP top, terminal bottom). The divider is draggable; double-click it to reset the ratio. To close the panel, hit × in the SFTP nav bar or re-toggle from the toolbar.
  2. 2

    Drag-and-drop from Finder (whole folders work)

    Drag a file or an entire folder from Finder onto the SFTP panel, the drop overlay highlights and SSHive uploads recursively. Multi-file selections work too. If a file already exists on the remote, a dialog gives you three choices: **Replace / Duplicate** (suffix `(2)`) **/ Skip**. Free tier caps each file at 10 MB (the check happens server-side in `LicenseService.check('sftp.upload')` before the transfer). Pro is unlimited per file. Download capacity is unlimited on both tiers.
  3. 3

    Edit text files in place, CodeMirror, Cmd+S, done

    Double-click any text file in the SFTP panel. It opens directly in SSHive's built-in **CodeMirror 6** editor, auto-highlight for JS/TS, Python, JSON, HTML, CSS, XML, YAML and Markdown. Edit and hit **Cmd+S**: SSHive uploads straight to the server, no temp file on disk, no manual reupload step. The tab title shows a "modified" dot until save. Practical limit is around 10 MB per file in the editor.
  4. 4

    Binary files (images, PDFs, archives), download, edit, push back

    SSHive does not auto-watch binaries opened in external apps, that pattern is fragile across macOS sandbox modes. Instead: double-click a binary → SSHive offers Download (macOS save dialog). Edit it locally with whatever app you want, then drag the modified file back into the SFTP panel. The Replace/Duplicate/Skip dialog appears, pick Replace. Two clicks more than auto-watch, zero surprises.
  5. 5

    Bookmark deep paths and revisit them in one click

    Right-click on any folder → **Add to bookmarks**. The path appears in the bookmarks dropdown of the SFTP panel, `/var/log`, `/etc/nginx`, `~/.config` are all good candidates. Bookmarks are per-profile, unlimited on both Free and Pro, and persisted in `profiles.json` so they survive restarts.

Frequently asked questions

Is SSHive's SFTP free?+
Yes. SFTP is part of the free tier alongside the SSH terminal. The free tier has 2 concurrent sessions and 5 saved profiles, no SFTP-specific restrictions.
How does SSHive compare to Cyberduck for SFTP?+
For pure SFTP, both are good. Cyberduck supports more protocols (S3, WebDAV, FTP). SSHive's win is bundling SFTP with the SSH terminal, you can fix a config and restart the service in the same window. If 95% of your file work is over SSH, SSHive saves a window.

Related SSHive features

SFTP File Manager

Drag & drop file manager

SSH Terminal

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