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Nexterm includes a full SFTP file manager that you can open alongside any SSH server session. The file manager lets you navigate the remote filesystem, transfer files in both directions, and perform common file operations — all without leaving the browser.

How SFTP works in Nexterm

The file manager communicates with the remote host over the same SSH connection used by your terminal session, using the SFTP subsystem. A WebSocket connection carries binary-framed operation messages between the browser and the Nexterm server, which in turn issues SFTP commands against the host.
SFTP is available only for SSH entries. RDP, VNC, Telnet, and Proxmox entry types do not expose the file manager.

Opening the file manager

1

Connect to an SSH server

Open a terminal session for any SSH entry in the sidebar by clicking on it.
2

Open the file manager panel

Click the Files icon in the session toolbar (or use the keyboard shortcut if one is configured). The file manager opens in a side panel or a dedicated tab, depending on your layout.
3

Wait for the SFTP connection

Nexterm establishes (or reuses) an SFTP connection for your session. Once ready, the file manager displays the contents of your home directory on the remote host.
  • Click a folder name to navigate into it.
  • Click the parent directory arrow (..) or the breadcrumb path at the top of the panel to go up.
  • Use the search field to search for directories matching a pattern, powered by the SEARCH_DIRECTORIES operation.
  • Symlinks are displayed in the file list. You can resolve a symlink to its real path using the Resolve symlink action.
The current directory path is synchronized across all open windows for the same session. If you have the file manager open in two browser tabs for the same session, navigating in one will update the path shown in the other.

Uploading files

1

Navigate to the destination directory

Use the directory browser to go to the folder where you want to upload.
2

Choose files

Click Upload and select one or more files from your local machine, or drag and drop files directly onto the file list.
3

Wait for the transfer

Each file is streamed from your browser to the Nexterm server and then written to the remote host via SFTP. A progress indicator shows transfer status. The Content-Length header is used to report the final file size.
Upload paths are validated server-side. Path traversal sequences (..) are rejected automatically.

Downloading files

Single file or folder

Right-click a file and choose Download, or select it and click the Download button in the toolbar.
  • Files are streamed directly to your browser with the correct Content-Disposition header.
  • Folders are automatically packaged as a ZIP archive (using zlib compression level 1 for speed) and downloaded as <folder-name>.zip.
The following file types are served with appropriate MIME types for in-browser preview when you choose Preview instead of Download:
ExtensionMIME type
pdfapplication/pdf
jpg, jpegimage/jpeg
pngimage/png
gifimage/gif
webpimage/webp
svgimage/svg+xml
mp4video/mp4
webmvideo/webm
mp3audio/mpeg
txttext/plain
jsonapplication/json
htmltext/html
csstext/css
jsapplication/javascript

Image thumbnails

For image files (JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, BMP) that are 10 MB or smaller, Nexterm can generate a thumbnail preview. Thumbnails are resized to a square crop between 50 and 300 pixels (default 100 px) and cached by the browser for one hour.

Multiple files and folders

Select multiple items using the checkboxes, then click Download selected. Nexterm packages everything into a single ZIP archive named nexterm-download-<timestamp>.zip. Items that cannot be read are silently skipped and logged on the server.

File operations

Click New file, enter a name, and confirm. An empty file is created at the current path.
Click New folder, enter a name, and confirm. The directory is created with mkdir.
Right-click a file or folder and choose Rename. Enter the new name and confirm. The operation uses SFTP rename, which also functions as a move within the same filesystem.
Right-click a file and choose Delete. The file is removed with unlink. This action cannot be undone.
Right-click a folder and choose Delete. The folder is removed recursively. This action cannot be undone.
Select one or more items, choose Move, and pick a destination directory. Each item is renamed to <destination>/<filename>.
Select one or more items, choose Copy, and pick a destination directory. Nexterm runs cp -r on the remote host to perform the copy. If the remote shell returns a non-zero exit code, an error is shown.
Right-click a file or folder and choose Permissions. Enter the numeric mode (e.g., 755) and confirm. The change is applied with SFTP chmod.
Right-click an item and choose Properties to view size, permissions, owner, and timestamps via SFTP stat.
Right-click a file and choose Checksum. Select an algorithm — md5, sha1, sha256, or sha512 — and Nexterm runs the corresponding checksum command (md5sum, sha1sum, sha256sum, sha512sum) on the remote host and displays the result.
Right-click a folder and choose Get size. Nexterm runs du -sb on the remote host and displays the total size in bytes.
Delete operations (file and folder) are permanent. Nexterm does not move items to a trash folder. Verify your selection before confirming a delete.

Audit logging

Every file operation performed through the SFTP file manager is recorded in the audit log:
ActionLogged event
UploadFILE_UPLOAD with path and size
Download (file)FILE_DOWNLOAD with path and size
Download (folder)FOLDER_DOWNLOAD with folder path
Create fileFILE_CREATE
Create folderFOLDER_CREATE
Delete fileFILE_DELETE
Delete folderFOLDER_DELETE
Rename / moveFILE_RENAME with old and new paths
ChmodFILE_CHMOD with path and octal mode
If the entry belongs to an organization with file operation audit enabled, these events are also recorded against the organization’s audit trail.

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