One engine, three front doors
The browser file manager, the terminal UI and the CLI all operate the same connection and transfer services. No duplicated protocol code, no feature that exists in only one place.
Local-first remote file management
Remote files,
local by design.
RemoraSFTP is a single Go binary that runs a loopback-only server on your machine. Its browser UI, terminal UI and CLI all share one engine - so SFTP, FTP and FTPS feel like one calm, fast file manager. Your credentials, host keys and trust decisions never leave the device.
Overview
What is RemoraSFTP?
A remote file manager that lives entirely on your machine. One executable
starts a private, token-protected server on 127.0.0.1; three
front doors - browser, terminal and command line - drive the same engine.
Traditional remote file tools make you choose: a desktop app you install, a browser that leaks your session to a data center, or a CLI you have to memorize. RemoraSFTP keeps all of them on your side of the network.
Open the app and it opens the embedded file manager in your own browser. Prefer a keyboard? The same binary is a terminal UI. Automating a deploy? One-shot commands talk to the identical connection and transfer services. There is no second implementation to drift out of sync.
- 0protocols under one engine
- 0front doors: UI · TUI · CLI
- 0cloud dependencies or telemetry
- 0single static binary
Your machine
Browser UI
Terminal UI
CLI
One shared engine
connections · transfers · search · previews · trust
Loopback server
127.0.0.1 only · bootstrap token · origin checks
Verified outbound
SFTP / SSH
FTP
FTPS / TLS
Key features
Built for daily work with remote files
Real transfer control
Drag and drop to upload or download, with a live transfer panel: per-item progress, queue state, move or copy, and the destination resolved safely before anything is written.
Credentials & trust, on device
Passwords, SSH keys and host-key trust decisions live in a local credential store. First contact with a server is an explicit trust choice - never a silent accept.
Search & previews
Search a remote tree and preview text and image files in place, without pulling entire directories down to inspect a single file.
Favorites & recents
Pinned connections and recent locations sit in the sidebar, so the place you worked on yesterday is one click away today.
English + Bahasa Indonesia
The interface ships in both languages and switches at runtime - the whole UI, menus included, not just a string table bolted on later.
assets/-
docs/-
logs/-
index.html4.2 KB
release-notes.md18 KB
deploy.log48 KB
File manager experience
A file manager that feels local
The embedded UI is a real file manager, not a dashboard: a sidebar for connections, favorites and recents; a sortable list with live details; and an inspector for metadata, previews and quick actions.
- Inline rename and context actions on any row
- Preview text and images without downloading
- Operations resolved against safe-path rules before they run
- Works on desktop and laptop - it is your own browser tab
Every protocol, verified
SFTP, FTP and FTPS - one connection model
Different wire protocols, the same experience. Every connection is checked against your local trust store before a session starts.
SFTP over SSH
The default. SSH-2 sessions with host-key verification and key or password authentication - the protocol production servers actually run.
FTP
Plain FTP for legacy and internal-only networks, handled with the same transfer engine - including binary/ASCII correctness and long paths.
FTPS over TLS
FTP wrapped in TLS with certificate trust management: pin a CA, inspect a certificate, or explicitly trust a host - the choice is recorded locally.
SSH host keys and TLS certificates are verified before a session starts. What you trust is stored on your device - and shown to you again when it changes.
Native launcher & TUI
The terminal is a front door, not an afterthought
Run remorasftp with no arguments and the interactive terminal UI
opens - connections, file browsing, transfers and search, keyboard-first.
Prefer one-liners? The same engine powers the one-shot commands.
$ remorasftp $ remorasftp connect production $ remorasftp ls /srv/web $ remorasftp put ./build.tar.gz /srv/backups/ $ remorasftp get /srv/web/index.html . $ remorasftp mkdir /srv/releases/2026-09-18
- Interactive launcher: browse, transfer and search from the keyboard
- One-shot commands:
connect · ls · put · get · mkdir · rm · mv - Identical services to the browser - no CLI-only quirks
┌ RemoraSFTP ─────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Connections │ │ > production sftp 10.40.0.12 /srv │ │ staging ftps 10.40.1.9 /web │ │ local local ~/Dropbox / │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ /srv · production │ │ d web/ │ │ d backups/ │ │ - deploy.log 48.2 KB 2026-09-18 03:12 │ │ - release.tar.gz 312 MB 2026-09-17 22:40 │ │ - notes.txt 1.1 KB 2026-09-16 09:03 │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ ↑↓ navigate Enter open / search p paste │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Cross-platform
One binary per platform, nothing else to install
No runtime, no installer, no background service. Windows ships a
.zip; macOS and Linux ship .tar.gz - every release
includes SHA-256 checksums.
Windows
Windows 10/11, amd64. Runs the embedded UI in your default browser and the TUI in PowerShell or Windows Terminal.
macOS
Apple Silicon and Intel builds. Native experience in Terminal, browser UI in any modern browser - no Gatekeeper surprises: it is a plain binary.
Linux
A statically built amd64 binary for any modern distribution. The TUI works over SSH as well - a remote file manager from a remote shell.
Security & local-first architecture
Your machine is the trust boundary
Loopback-only by default
The local server binds 127.0.0.1. Nothing listens on your
LAN, Wi-Fi or WAN unless you explicitly opt in - and even then it stays
token-protected.
Token-protected bootstrap
The browser UI authenticates through a short bootstrap flow and per-session tokens. No passwords in URLs, no cookies handed to anyone.
Origin protection
Requests are checked against the expected local origins. A page on another site cannot drive your local server with the token it never had.
Verified connections
SSH host keys and TLS certificates are verified against a local trust store. When a key changes, you are asked - trust is never silently re-granted.
Credentials stay home
Passwords, SSH keys and trust decisions are stored on-device. There is no cloud sync, no account, no telemetry and no update phone-home.
Safe-path operations
Transfer destinations are resolved and validated against path traversal and accidental root writes. Secrets are scrubbed from logs by design.
Why local-first
The same job, three philosophies
Cloud file managers route your session through someone else's server; classic desktop clients stop at the GUI. Here is where the local-first approach wins.
| Criterion | RemoraSFTP | Cloud file managers | Desktop clients |
|---|---|---|---|
| Credentials stored on your device | ✓ | - | ✓ |
| No account or sign-up required | ✓ | - | ± |
| GUI, TUI and CLI from one engine | ✓ | - | - |
| No telemetry, no phone-home | ✓ | - | ± |
| Works on air-gapped / offline LANs | ✓ | - | ✓ |
| Single static binary, no installer | ✓ | - | - |
| Open source | ✓ | - | ± |
✓ yes · - no · ± depends on the tool
Product showcase
Three surfaces, one engine
Stylized interface previews - the browser manager, live transfers, and the terminal UI.
assets/-
docs/-
index.html4.2 KB
deploy.log48 KB
Transfers
release.tar.gz 78% web/ · 148 files 41% notes.txt done┌ RemoraSFTP ──────────────────────────┐ │ > production sftp /srv │ │ d web/ │ │ - deploy.log 48.2 KB │ │ - release.tar.gz 312 MB │ └───────────────────────────────────────┘
Installation
Download v0.1.0
Releases ship for every supported platform with SHA-256
checksums in checksums.txt. We highlight the build for your
system below.
Recommended
Windows · amd64
remorasftp-windows-amd64.zip
Get the .zip →
Recommended
macOS · Apple Silicon
remorasftp-macos-arm64.tar.gz
Get the .tar.gz →
Recommended
macOS · Intel
remorasftp-macos-amd64.tar.gz
Get the .tar.gz →
Recommended
Linux · amd64
remorasftp-linux-amd64.tar.gz
Get the .tar.gz →
$ remorasftp version RemoraSFTP 0.1.0 commit: 2507ac2… built: 2026-09-18T04:12:00Z go: go1.22 platform: darwin/arm64
Prefer to build it yourself?
The whole product is open source - the Go engine, the React browser UI and the TUI. Building from source needs Go and Node:
$ git clone https://github.com/34labs/RemoraSFTP-dev $ cd RemoraSFTP-dev $ make build # builds the web UI, then the binary
Questions
Frequently asked
No. RemoraSFTP connects directly from your machine to the remote host you choose. The project operates no relay, sync or storage servers - there is simply nowhere for your data to detour through.
The browser UI needs an HTTP endpoint to talk to. Binding it to 127.0.0.1 with a per-session bootstrap token means the endpoint only exists on your device, for your session, and disappears when the app exits.
Not by default. The server is loopback-only unless you explicitly enable LAN access - and even then every request must carry the session token and pass origin checks.
Passwords and SSH keys - including keys from ssh-agent - over SSH-2. Host keys are verified against your local trust store; a changed key always triggers an explicit prompt, never a silent accept.
Yes. The TUI and CLI run happily over an SSH session, so you can manage remote files from a remote shell. The browser UI is entirely optional.
RemoraSFTP is open source and free to use. The exact license and the contribution guide live in the repository.