Source

Watch an SFTP folder

Half the world’s business file exchange is still a folder on somebody’s server, and it is nobody’s job to notice when it goes quiet. We make it ours: did anything new land in this folder inside the window?

What we watch

One folder per connection - /inbound, /exports/daily, wherever the sender drops. "New" means a file that was not there on the last look, and a name pattern like sales_*.csv narrows it if the folder is shared.

We read listings, not contents. A monitor can note the size, so that "4.2 MB, on time" means something, without ever opening the file.

What we need

A host, a port, a folder, and a user that can list it. Read-only is plenty.

A password, or an SSH key you generate. Either goes into the vault once; after saving, the field becomes a Replace button and the secret is never readable back. Putting a key of ours onto your server is the one thing we do not do yet, and the connection screen says so rather than offering it.

We pin the server’s host key the first time we connect. If it ever changes we stop and tell you, instead of trusting the new one. That is a security event, not a late file.

What the states mean here

Healthy - A new file matched inside the window, or the window has not opened yet.

Missed - The folder listing never showed a new match before grace ran out.

Check broken - Authentication failed, the host key changed, or the server stopped answering. Never rendered as a miss, and the alert names the cause.

Set it up

Four steps, and one test that has to pass before anything is saved.

  1. 1Add the connection. Host, port, folder, username, and the password or key. If the vendor sent a credentials document, everything you need is in it.
  2. 2Let the test pass. We connect, list the folder once, and pin the host key. Nothing is saved until this passes - we would rather fail here than at 3am.
  3. 3Describe the delivery. In a sentence, or by filling the form yourself. The AI never blocks the path.
  4. 4Say who to tell. You, the ops address, the supplier if you are feeling pointed.

Common questions: Several files a day works: each schedule is its own monitor. Rotating filenames work: match on the pattern rather than the name.

Watch a delivery on SFTP

Free for 3 monitors. The test has to pass before anything is saved.

Watch your first delivery
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