Summary

Enable pod users to mount their pod as a local filesystem via SSHFS/SFTP.

Motivation

With --terminal (v0.0.118) users already have shell access. The next step is letting users mount their pod on any computer:

sshfs [email protected]:/ ~/pod/

This turns the pod into a Dropbox/Google Drive replacement — edit files in VS Code, drag and drop in a file manager, cp from terminal. WebSocket notifications mean the browser pane updates in real-time.

Implementation options

Option A: Built-in SFTP server

• Add --sftp flag to JSS
• Use a Node.js SSH/SFTP library (e.g. ssh2)
• Map SFTP operations to the existing storage layer
• Authenticate via pod credentials (jss passwd)

Option B: Integrate with system SSH

• jss passwd already manages user credentials
• Create system users mapped to pod users
• Chroot each user to their pod directory
• Use OpenSSH's built-in SFTP subsystem

Option C: WebDAV

• More portable than SFTP (works natively on Windows/Mac/Linux)
• JSS already speaks HTTP — WebDAV is a small extension
• Mount via native OS tools without extra software

User flow

1. jss passwd alice — set password
2. User mounts: sshfs alice@server:/ ~/pod/
3. Files appear as local directory
4. Edits sync to pod in real-time
5. Browser pane updates via WebSocket

Builds on

• --terminal (Add built-in WebSocket terminal endpoint (--terminal) #234) — shell access
• jss passwd (Add password management CLI commands #232) — user password management