sshfs

TLDR

Mount a remote directory over SSH

$ sshfs [user]@[host]:[remote/path] [local/mountpoint]

Mount using a specific SSH port

$ sshfs [user]@[host]:[remote/path] [local/mountpoint] -p [2222]

Mount with SSH key authentication

$ sshfs -o IdentityFile=[~/.ssh/key] [user]@[host]:[path] [mountpoint]

Mount allowing other users access to the mount

$ sshfs -o allow_other [user]@[host]:[path] [mountpoint]

Unmount the remote filesystem

$ fusermount -u [mountpoint]

Mount with reconnection on connection drop

$ sshfs -o reconnect [user]@[host]:[path] [mountpoint]

SYNOPSIS

sshfs [-o options] [user@]host:[dir] mountpoint

sshfs is a filesystem client based on FUSE (Filesystem in Userspace) that allows you to mount remote directories over an SSH connection. Once mounted, the remote filesystem can be accessed like any local directory, using standard file operations.
The tool uses the SSH protocol for secure data transfer, leveraging existing SSH configurations including authentication keys, proxy settings, and host configurations from ~/.ssh/config. This makes it an excellent alternative to NFS or Samba for accessing remote files when SSH access is already available.
SSHFS is particularly useful for development workflows, allowing local editors and tools to work on remote files transparently. It handles disconnections gracefully and can automatically reconnect when network connectivity is restored.

PARAMETERS

-o options

Mount options (comma-separated)

-p port

SSH port to connect to

-C

Enable compression

-F sshconfig_

SSH config file to use

-1

Use SSH protocol version 1

-o IdentityFile=file

Path to SSH private key

-o allow_other

Allow other users to access the mount

-o allow_root

Allow root to access the mount

-o reconnect

Reconnect to server on connection drop

-o ServerAliveInterval=seconds

Send keepalive messages to prevent timeout

-o StrictHostKeyChecking=no

Don't verify host key (use with caution)

-o cache=yes

Enable caching (improves performance)

-o kernel_cache

Enable kernel caching

-f

Run in foreground (for debugging)

-d

Debug mode

CAVEATS

Performance is slower than native filesystems or NFS due to SSH encryption overhead. The allow_other option requires user_allow_other to be set in /etc/fuse.conf. On macOS, requires macFUSE to be installed. Network latency directly impacts file operation speed. Large file transfers may be slower than scp or rsync due to the filesystem abstraction overhead.

HISTORY

sshfs was created by Miklos Szeredi and first released in 2004 as one of the first FUSE-based filesystems. It demonstrated the power of userspace filesystems and became a model for many other FUSE implementations. The project has been actively maintained and widely adopted across Unix-like systems. On Linux, it became part of the standard FUSE toolkit, while macOS users rely on macFUSE (formerly OSXFUSE) for compatibility.