Portal

A Windows app for managing the files on your servers over SSH.

Portal puts the server first. A sidebar holds your saved servers, the server's shares and pinned folders, and how full its disks are. The main pane lists the server's files with their permissions and owner. A details pane explains the selection in plain words. This PC opens next to the server when you want to move files across.

Features

• Connect:
  • Saved servers.
  • Hosts from ~/.ssh/config.
  • Sign-in with your SSH keys (asks for a passphrase when a key has one), a chosen key file, or a password that is never stored.
  • The first connection to a server shows its host-key fingerprint and saves it to known_hosts. A changed key blocks the connection.
• Browse:
  • Breadcrumbs you can click or type into (Ctrl+L).
  • Back, forward and up.
  • A filter per pane (Ctrl+F).
  • Sortable columns.
  • Hidden files on or off (Ctrl+H).
  • Explorer-style selection with Ctrl, Shift and Ctrl+A.
• Manage on the server:
  • New folder.
  • Rename inline (F2).
  • Delete, with a confirmation that names the server and says it is permanent.
  • Permissions and owner as a checkbox grid or chmod value, optionally for everything inside.
  • Copy, cut and paste within the server.
  • Folder sizes and disk usage, measured on the server.
  • Search by name (Ctrl+K).
  • Open terminal here.
• Transfer:
  • Drag between panes or from Explorer, Upload/Download, or copy and paste between panes.
  • Existing files ask Replace, Keep both or Skip, with an option to apply the answer to the rest.
  • Data goes to a hidden .portal-part file that is renamed when complete, so a cut-off transfer never leaves a half-written file under the real name.
  • Modification times are kept. A replaced file keeps its mode.
  • A failed item doesn't stop the others. Retry and resume continue from the partial file.
  • Pause, cancel, and a configurable number of parallel transfers.
• Edit on the server: opens a server file in its usual Windows app and uploads it again every time it is saved. A save goes to a temporary file that replaces the original, except for a symbolic link, which is written in place so the link stays a link.
• Command search: Ctrl+K runs any command, or finds files under the current server folder.
• Updates: Portal checks its own Forgejo releases and installs a new portal.exe in place.

Usage

portal                     open the connect screen (or reconnect to the last server)
portal user@host           connect directly
portal user@host -p 2222   connect on another port

Keyboard

Action	Keys
Open a folder or file	Enter, double-click
Up one level	Backspace, Alt+Up
Back, forward	Alt+Left, Alt+Right
Rename	F2
Delete	Del
New folder	Ctrl+Shift+N
Upload or download the selection	Ctrl+Enter
Copy, cut, paste	Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, Ctrl+V
Type a path	Ctrl+L
Filter this folder	Ctrl+F
Hidden files	Ctrl+H
Refresh	F5
Search commands and files	Ctrl+K
Settings	Ctrl+,

How Portal talks to a server

Each connection opens three SSH channels to the same server:

• SFTP for browsing: listings, rename, new folder.
• SFTP for transfers: kept separate so a big upload doesn't slow down browsing.
• Shell commands: for work that should happen on the server: rm -rf, chmod/chown -R, cp -a, mv, du, df, find.

Every path in those commands is POSIX-quoted. Commands go to sh -s on standard input, so they work whatever the account's login shell is. SMB, WebDAV, NFS and a custom agent were considered and rejected, because none of them can change permissions and owners or reach root-owned paths without a new service on the server.

Symbolic links

SSH.NET resolves symbolic links before it removes or renames over SFTP. To stay safe, Portal never writes through a link: it skips or refuses links in deletes, renames, moves, copies and uploads. Partial files are created exclusively. When commands are available, a file is replaced with mv -f, which replaces a link itself. On accounts limited to SFTP, Portal reads the folder's links again right before replacing a file. That leaves a very short window in which a link created by another process at that exact moment would still be followed.

Building

Requires the .NET 10 SDK.

dotnet build Portal.slnx
dotnet run --project app/Portal
dotnet publish app/Portal/Portal.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 -o publish   # single-file publish/portal.exe

Testing

dotnet test Portal.slnx                                  # unit tests, offline
PORTAL_SSH_TESTS=1 dotnet test Portal.slnx               # plus a real OpenSSH server in Docker
PORTAL_LIVE_TESTS=1 dotnet test Portal.slnx              # plus the live release feed
dotnet run --project app/Portal.Shots [-- --light]       # render every screen offscreen to target/shots-wpf

The screenshot harness renders the real views over an in-memory server through RenderTargetBitmap, so it opens no window. The live-window check runs on the Windows CI VM; see .claude/skills/verify/SKILL.md.

Releasing

There is no CI. .claude/skills/release/release.sh X.Y.Z:

• bumps <Version> in Directory.Build.props;
• runs the tests and publishes portal.exe;
• tags X.Y.Z and pushes;
• uploads the binary to a new Forgejo release.

Run it with --dry-run first.

Updating

• Check: On launch Portal asks Forgejo for the latest release. A newer tag shows an update chip in the status bar and under Settings → Updates.
• Install: Portal downloads portal.exe.new next to the running exe, renames the running exe to portal.exe.old, and moves the new file into place. Restarting runs it. Leftovers are deleted on the next launch.
• Checks on the download: only https://git.ossalali.com is accepted as a source, the size must match the release, and the file must be a Windows executable. Drafts and prereleases are ignored.

Configuration

Stored in %APPDATA%\portal\:

• servers.json: saved servers and their pinned folders.
• preferences.json: theme, parallel transfers, conflict policy, reconnect and update settings, pane toggles.
• window.json: window size and position.

The first launch imports sessions.json and settings.json from the old Portal.

Layout

Path	What
app/Portal.Core	File systems (local, SSH), the connector, known_hosts and SSH config parsing, the transfer engine, settings, the updater
app/Portal	The WPF app (Fluent theme, MVVM)
app/Portal.Tests	Unit and integration tests
app/Portal.Shots	The offscreen screenshot harness
docs/design	The interactive design prototype
DESIGN.md	Design system and interaction rules

License

MIT