SFTP

SFTP stands for SSH File Transfer Protocol and is a network protocol for securely transferring and managing files over an SSH connection. Both data and control commands are encrypted, making it safer than traditional FTP. SFTP supports password or SSH key authentication and provides operations such as upload, download, listing, renaming and deleting files. It is commonly used for server deployments, backups and secure file transfers in development and production workflows.

As a web developer you often transfer files to a hosting server using SFTP: for example you open FileZilla or VS Code Remote - SSH and connect to user@yourserver.com on port 22. Using commands like 'put' and 'get' (or via the GUI) you upload build artifacts to the public_html folder and check permissions with 'ls' and 'chmod'. In CI/CD pipelines you can use an SSH key to automatically push build files via SFTP to a production host without interactive password entry.