---
id: fs-sshfs
version: "1.0.2"
license: LGPLv2+
license_treatment: copyleft
maintenance: dormant
---

# fs.sshfs — Pyfilesystem2 over SSH using paramiko

License: copyleft · Maintenance: dormant · Downloads: 123.4K/mo

## What it is and what it does

fs.sshfs wraps paramiko's SSH/SFTP client in a PyFilesystem2 abstraction, so you can treat a remote SSH server as a filesystem object in Python. Instead of manually opening SFTP channels and handling protocol details, you use the same high-level API (open, read, write, listdir, mkdir) that PyFilesystem2 provides for local, memory, and other storage backends. It supports both simple URL-based connection (via fs.open_fs) and direct constructor calls with fine-grained control over timeouts, compression, key authentication, and SSH config file integration.

The package depends on paramiko for SSH transport, fs for the filesystem abstraction, property-cached for performance optimization, and six for Python 2/3 compatibility. It runs on Python 2.7 and 3.5 onwards. While dormant since mid-2023, it remains stable and carries no known security vulnerabilities, making it suitable for applications that need transparent SSH file access without managing low-level SFTP protocol details.

Use it for:

- Backup or sync scripts that treat remote servers as local directories without custom SFTP boilerplate.
- Data processing pipelines that read/write files on remote machines using standard filesystem operations.
- Configuration management tools that need to traverse and modify files across multiple SSH hosts uniformly.
- Testing frameworks that stage test data on remote servers and verify results using filesystem assertions.
- Multi-tenant applications that expose per-user remote storage via a consistent filesystem interface.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

fs.sshfs provides a PyFilesystem2 interface to remote SSH/SFTP servers, letting you read, write, and navigate files over SSH as if they were a local filesystem.

Yes, if you need SSH file access in Python and want to avoid paramiko's low-level SFTP API. The package is stable, dependency-light, and carries no vulnerabilities. The main caveat is dormancy—no active maintenance since mid-2023—so it's best for stable use cases rather than projects requiring ongoing feature development or rapid bug fixes. Copyleft licensing (LGPLv2+) requires review if you plan to distribute proprietary derivatives.

## Install

pip install fs-sshfs
uv add fs-sshfs
poetry add fs-sshfs

## Installing fs.sshfs

Before you install: Installation is straightforward with low friction—a pure-Python wheel with six runtime dependencies including paramiko and fs. The package is dormant (last release 2023-08-17, last commit 2024-01-23), but marked Production/Stable and has no known vulnerabilities.

License in practice: Licensed under LGPLv2+, a copyleft license. Derivative works and modifications must be distributed under compatible terms; static linking or proprietary wrapping requires legal review.

Quickstart:

import fs
my_fs = fs.open_fs("ssh://user@host/path")

# Or with the constructor:
from fs.sshfs import SSHFS
my_fs = SSHFS(host='example.com', user='alice', pkey='/home/alice/.ssh/id_rsa')

Requires a working SSH server and valid credentials (password, key, or SSH config). paramiko must be able to negotiate a connection; host key verification policy defaults to AutoAddPolicy.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package handles modern SSH key formats (ed25519, etc.) or is limited to older paramiko-supported types.
- Performance characteristics for large file transfers or bulk directory operations over high-latency links.
- Compatibility with recent OpenSSH server versions and non-standard SSH configurations.

## Package facts

- License: LGPLv2+ (copyleft)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: dormant
- Downloads: 123.4K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

ssh filesystem abstraction, sftp pyfilesystem2, remote ssh file access, paramiko filesystem wrapper, ssh file operations python, sftp abstraction layer, remote directory traversal ssh, ssh-sftp, filesystem-abstraction, remote-storage

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/fs-sshfs) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/fs-sshfs/)