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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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