CLI Commands

Complete reference for the aeroftp-cli binary. It shares the same Rust backend as the desktop app, supporting 23 protocols through 14 subcommands with consistent behavior, structured JSON output, and Unix pipeline compatibility.

Connection Methods

URL Format

protocol://user:password@host:port/path

14 protocols support direct URL connections:

9 OAuth providers (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, pCloud, Zoho WorkDrive, Yandex Disk, 4shared, kDrive) require --profile — authorize once in the GUI, then reuse in the CLI.

Server Profiles (--profile)

Connect to any saved server from the encrypted vault with zero credentials exposed in shell history or process lists.

# List all saved profiles
aeroftp profiles

# Connect by name (fuzzy substring matching)
aeroftp ls --profile "My Server" /path/

# Connect by index number
aeroftp ls --profile 3 /

Profile matching order: exact name (case-insensitive), exact ID (UUID), substring match (auto-selects if unique, lists candidates if ambiguous).

Password Handling

In order of preference:

1. stdin (most secure): echo "$PASS" | aeroftp --password-stdin connect sftp://user@host
2. Environment variable: AEROFTP_TOKEN=mytoken aeroftp connect jottacloud://user@host
3. Interactive prompt: Hidden TTY input when no password provided
4. URL (least secure): sftp://user:password@host — warning always displayed

Master password for vault: set AEROFTP_MASTER_PASSWORD env var or enter interactively.

Commands

connect

Test connectivity, display server info, and disconnect.

aeroftp connect sftp://user@host
aeroftp connect sftp://user@host --key ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
aeroftp connect ftp://user@host --tls explicit --insecure

ls

aeroftp ls sftp://user@host /var/www/ -l          # Long format
aeroftp ls sftp://user@host / --sort size --reverse
aeroftp ls --profile "NAS" / --all --json

get / put

# Download with glob pattern
aeroftp get sftp://user@host "/data/*.csv"

# Recursive download
aeroftp get sftp://user@host /var/www/ ./backup/ -r

# Upload with glob
aeroftp put sftp://user@host "./*.json" /data/

# Recursive upload
aeroftp put sftp://user@host ./dist/ /var/www/dist/ -r

mkdir / rm / mv

aeroftp mkdir sftp://user@host /var/www/new-folder
aeroftp rm sftp://user@host /tmp/old-dir/ -rf
aeroftp mv sftp://user@host /docs/draft.md /docs/final.md

cat / stat / find / df / tree

aeroftp cat sftp://user@host /etc/config.ini | grep DB_HOST
aeroftp stat sftp://user@host /var/www/index.html --json
aeroftp find sftp://user@host /var/www/ "*.php"
aeroftp df sftp://user@host
aeroftp tree sftp://user@host /var/www/ -d 2

sync

aeroftp sync sftp://user@host ./local/ /remote/ --dry-run
aeroftp sync sftp://user@host ./local/ /remote/ --delete   # Mirror mode

batch

Execute .aeroftp script files with 17 commands, shell-like variable substitution, and error policies.

aeroftp batch deploy.aeroftp

# deploy.aeroftp
SET SERVER=sftp://deploy@prod.example.com:2222
SET ON_ERROR=stop

CONNECT ${SERVER}
PUT ./dist/app.js /var/www/app.js
PUT ./dist/index.html /var/www/index.html
STAT /var/www/index.html
ECHO Deployment complete
DISCONNECT

Batch commands: SET, ECHO, CONNECT, DISCONNECT, LS, GET, PUT, MKDIR, RM, MV, CAT, STAT, FIND, DF, TREE, SYNC, SLEEP, EXIT. Variables use ${VAR} syntax with single-pass expansion (injection-safe). Error policies: stop (default), continue.

GitHub Protocol

Every upload and delete creates a real Git commit. Branch-aware with automatic working branch creation for protected branches.

aeroftp ls github://token:PAT@owner/repo@develop /src/ -l
aeroftp put github://token:PAT@owner/repo ./fix.py /src/fix.py
aeroftp cat github://token:PAT@owner/repo /README.md

Global Flags

Output Hygiene

The CLI follows Unix conventions: stdout carries data only (file listings, content, JSON), stderr carries messages (progress bars, summaries, connection status). This makes piping safe:

aeroftp ls sftp://user@host / --json 2>/dev/null | jq '.entries[].name'
aeroftp cat sftp://user@host /data.csv > output.csv 2>/dev/null

Respects NO_COLOR, CLICOLOR, and CLICOLOR_FORCE environment variables.

Exit Codes

CI/CD Example

# GitHub Actions deployment
- name: Deploy to server
  env:
    DEPLOY_PASS: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_PASSWORD }}
  run: |
    echo "$DEPLOY_PASS" | aeroftp --password-stdin put \
      sftp://deploy@prod.example.com ./dist/ /var/www/ -r

For OAuth providers in CI, use --profile with the vault pre-configured on the runner:

AEROFTP_MASTER_PASSWORD=${{ secrets.VAULT_PW }} \
  aeroftp sync --profile "Production S3" ./build/ / --delete