Remote filesystems
Sheru treats where your files live as something you choose. Alongside your local disk, you can connect S3-compatible object storage (including Cloudflare R2), WebDAV, SFTP, FTP, and SMB, and browse, read, and upload to them exactly like a local folder. The same browser, preview, and search work over any of them.
This page covers remote filesystems — storage you connect with an endpoint and credentials. For read-only views of SaaS services like GitHub, see service connectors.
What to expect#
A remote filesystem behaves like a folder you can look inside and copy into, with a couple of deliberate limits:
- Nothing is mounted into macOS. Sheru lists and reads your files over the network and shows them in the browser; it never mounts a drive or changes your system.
- Credentials stay on your Mac. What you enter is saved locally on your machine and used only to reach your storage. Sheru reconnects your connectors automatically the next time you launch.
- What you can change depends on the connector. You can browse, open, preview, read, and copy files into any connected storage. SFTP (SSH) goes further and behaves like a local folder: rename, create, duplicate, move, and permanently delete files in place. Object storage, WebDAV, FTP, and SMB are browse-and-upload only — no in-place rename, move, or delete. Remote deletes are permanent (there is no recycle bin on the far side), and remote changes are not on the undo stack.
Adding object storage#
Open Settings (⌘,) ▸ Connectors ▸ Object Storage (S3-compatible object storage). Fill in the connection sheet:
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| Endpoint | https://s3.example.com (or your R2 endpoint) |
| Bucket | the bucket name |
| Access Key ID | your access key |
| Secret Access Key | your secret key |
Then click Connect. Sheru first checks the credentials against your storage; only if that succeeds is the connector added and shown in the sidebar. If the credentials are wrong or the endpoint can't be reached, you'll see a clear error in the sheet and nothing is added.
Object storage and SSH are available in Settings today. WebDAV, FTP, and SMB use the same underlying engine but do not yet have first-party setup sheets.
Adding an SSH computer#
Open Settings (⌘,) ▸ Connectors ▸ Remote Computers. Hosts from ~/.ssh/config appear for one-click connection, or choose Add SSH Host to enter a host, user, port, and optional remote path manually.
Sheru uses unencrypted SSH keys directly and passphrase-protected keys through ssh-agent. If a protected key is not already loaded, run this in Terminal and then try connecting again:
/usr/bin/ssh-add --apple-use-keychain ~/.ssh/id_ed25519Replace the path when your key has a different name. macOS stores the passphrase in Keychain and loads the identity into its SSH agent; Sheru receives only the agent-backed signing identity and never stores the passphrase. The server must already be in ~/.ssh/known_hosts — connecting once with the regular ssh command records and verifies its fingerprint.
Uploading into storage#
Copy files from a local folder and paste them into a remote folder to upload — the copy transfers over the network and your originals stay put.
Uploading needs a write-capable access token. With a read-only token you can still browse and read everything, but an upload fails with a clear "access denied" message rather than silently doing nothing. If you plan to upload, use a token with write permission.
Terminal on SSH connectors#
For an SFTP (SSH) connector, the integrated terminal (⌘J) opens an interactive shell on the remote machine over SSH — the same one-click terminal you get on a local folder, but running on the far side. Other remote filesystems — object storage, WebDAV, FTP, and SMB — are read over the network, not run as a process, so they have no shell, and ⌘J and the View ▸ Show/Hide Terminal menu item are disabled while one is focused. See the terminal for details.
Show in sidebar, and removing#
Each connector has its own Show in sidebar toggle. Hiding one keeps it connected and usable in open windows but removes it from the sidebar. To disconnect it entirely, use its remove action in Settings ▸ Connectors.
A note on terminology#
Everything you connect is a connector — that's how the sidebar and Settings ▸ Connectors group them, whether it's a remote filesystem (read + upload, covered here) or a SaaS service connector (a read-only view). Your local disk needs no connecting and simply lives in the sidebar's Locations.