Secure file transfer, terminal style.

Ferry is a terminal-based file transfer tool built for engineers who live in the terminal. Dual-pane file browser (local + remote) over SSH or S3, with vim-style keybindings, visual directory sync, and remote file editing — all without leaving the command line.

• Dual-pane browser — Local and remote side by side
• Full SSH config support — ssh-agent, ProxyJump, encrypted keys, ~/.ssh/config includes
• Visual sync/diff — Compare directories, selective push/pull
• Remote file editing — $EDITOR with shadow copy and conflict detection
• Resumable transfers — Interrupted transfers pick up where they left off, failed transfers retry automatically
• Transfer progress — Speed, ETA, concurrent workers
• Overwrite protection — Confirms before overwriting existing files
• Sortable file list — Sort by name, size, or date; selection size totals
• S3 support — Browse and transfer files to/from Amazon S3 buckets
• Fuzzy connection picker — Search your ~/.ssh/config hosts and S3 buckets
• Vim keybindings — With arrow key support for the rest of us
• rsync integration — Fast delta transfers when available

go install github.com/HopperShell/ferry/cmd/ferry@latest

Make sure $GOPATH/bin (usually ~/go/bin) is in your PATH. Add this to your shell rc file (~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, etc.):

export PATH="$HOME/go/bin:$PATH"

Then restart your shell or run source ~/.zshrc (or whichever rc file you use).

Download a prebuilt binary from the Releases page.

# Install
go install github.com/HopperShell/ferry/cmd/ferry@latest

# Connect to a host (or just run `ferry` to pick from ~/.ssh/config)
ferry myhost

Once connected you'll see two panes — local files on the left, remote on the right.

1. Navigate — j/k to move, l to open a directory, h to go back
2. Select files — Space to select, V for range select
3. Copy across — yy to yank, Tab to switch panes, p to paste
4. Sync directories — S to compare and selectively push/pull
5. Edit remote files — e opens in $EDITOR with conflict detection

Press ? for the full keybinding reference.

ferry                     # Launch connection picker
ferry myhost              # Connect to SSH host
ferry user@host           # Connect with explicit user
ferry user@host:port      # Connect with user and port
ferry s3://my-bucket      # Connect to S3 bucket
ferry s3://my-bucket/path # Connect to S3 bucket at prefix

Ferry can browse and transfer files to/from Amazon S3 buckets:

ferry s3://my-bucket           # Connect to S3 bucket
ferry s3://my-bucket/prefix    # Connect to specific prefix

Uses the standard AWS credential chain (environment variables, ~/.aws/credentials, IAM roles). S3 buckets also appear in the connection picker when AWS credentials are detected.

All features work with S3: browse, upload/download, sync/diff, rename, delete, mkdir, and remote editing.

Ferry connects over SSH/SFTP or S3 using your existing config. Files transfer through a concurrent engine with progress tracking. For directory sync, it compares file trees by size and modification time, then lets you selectively push or pull changes — or use rsync for SSH connections.

Interrupted transfers are resumable: completed files are detected by matching size and mtime and skipped on retry. Failed transfers retry automatically (up to 2 times) to handle transient network issues. Writes use atomic temp files (.ferry-tmp → rename) so partial transfers are never mistaken for complete ones. Pasting into a directory with existing files prompts for overwrite confirmation.

• Bubble Tea — TUI framework
• Lip Gloss — Terminal styling
• pkg/sftp — SFTP client
• golang.org/x/crypto/ssh — SSH client
• AWS SDK for Go v2 — S3 client

MIT