The fastest way to show a screenshot to a terminal AI

These days many of us SSH into a remote server and code with an AI CLI (Claude Code, Zed CLI, Aider, gpt-cli). The biggest hassle in that workflow was "showing an error screenshot to the AI." A terminal can't paste an image, and moving it over with scp every time or uploading to an image host to grab a URL is far too slow.

SftpCli ends that whole process in a single capture.

Win+Shift+S to capture a region → (auto-upload) → Ctrl+V in the terminal → Enter

What gets pasted into the terminal is a remote path like @/tmp/ccimg/screen-20260422-060732.png. CLIs that support the @ syntax, such as Claude Code and Zed CLI, recognize it as an image right away, and even CLIs that don't just need the AI to read the file.

With any server you can reach over SSH — push a screenshot from your local Windows machine to the server almost instantly, then just paste the path into your CLI. 8MB, single executable, no install.

Key features

Local capture → SFTP upload → path copy

Detects a Win+Shift+S capture → uploads to the remote server instantly
The remote path is copied to the clipboard, ready to paste into the terminal
Auto-prepends the @ prefix (compatible with Claude Code and Zed CLI), with an option to turn it off

Works with every SSH server

AWS, GCP, your own VPS, home NAS, company server — nothing to install on the server
If OpenSSH sshd is present, SFTP is built in by default
Supports both password and SSH-key authentication

Multi-server profile management

Switch between servers instantly with a sidebar click (auto-reconnect)
Each profile remembers its own "default remote folder"
Right-click to edit, duplicate or delete

Explorer-style remote folder browsing

Breadcrumbs, double-click to enter, Backspace to go up a folder
📌 Set here in one click to choose the upload target folder
🏠 root / 🔄 refresh / type a path directly

🚀 Auto-upload mode

ON: capture detected → upload instantly with no popup + copy the path
OFF: preview in a popup → confirm filename and folder before uploading
Toggle 🟢 active / ⏸ paused to switch it off briefly

Security and safety

Passwords are stored encrypted with Windows DPAPI (decryptable only on this PC / by this user)
Choose per profile whether to save the password (if not, enter it each time)
Standard SSH/SFTP encrypted transfer (port 22)
Single-instance guarantee — duplicate launches are blocked automatically

Convenience

Lives in the tray — keeps running even when you close the window
Option to launch automatically on Windows startup
50-entry upload history + a re-copy path button
Korean UI (Pretendard font embedded)

How to use

Initial setup (one time)

Click [+ Add] in the left sidebar
Enter server name, address, port, user ID and auth method (password / SSH key) → [Save]
Click the profile → auto-connect → browse the remote folders
Navigate to the folder where you'll store screenshots, then click 📌 [Set here] (e.g. /tmp/ccimg)
For convenience, toggle 🚀 [Auto ON] at the top
Click the window's X → hides to the tray (not a full exit)

Everyday use (auto mode)

Win+Shift+S → drag to capture a region
SftpCli detects it → "⚡ Auto-uploading..." → the path lands on your clipboard
In your terminal's AI CLI window, press Ctrl+V → "analyze this error" → Enter

Example of what actually gets pasted: @/tmp/ccimg/screen-20260422-060732.png

Manual mode (auto OFF)

Win+Shift+S capture
The popup appears automatically (preview, edit filename and folder)
Click ⬆ Upload and copy path
Ctrl+V in the terminal

Supported AI CLIs (path-paste verified)

Claude Code (Anthropic CLI) — supports @/path syntax
Zed CLI — supports @/path syntax
Aider — auto-recognizes file paths in text
gpt-cli / chatgpt-cli — can ask it to read the path manually once it's visible
inside tmux — anything, as long as it can paste from the clipboard

For a CLI that doesn't need the @ prefix, uncheck it in ⚙ Settings → copy just the path.

Security and password storage

Passwords are encrypted with Windows DPAPI (CryptProtectData) and stored in %APPDATA%\SftpCli\config.json.

Copying config.json to another PC won't let it be decrypted
It can't be decrypted from another Windows account on the same PC either
Not even Administrator privileges can decrypt the original (the user profile is required)
To avoid saving it, uncheck ☐ "Save this password to disk" in the profile editor
SSH-key authentication is the most recommended (~/.ssh/id_ed25519, etc.)

Specifications

Platform	Windows 10 / 11 (x64)
Language	Rust (pure-Rust cross-compile: Linux → `x86_64-pc-windows-gnu`)
UI	eframe + egui (glow backend)
SSH / SFTP	russh + russh-sftp (pure Rust, no libssh dependency)
Tray	tray-icon
Clipboard	arboard + Win32 `GetClipboardSequenceNumber` polling
Encryption	Windows DPAPI (`windows` crate)
Font	Pretendard Regular / SemiBold embedded
Executable size	about 8 MB (single .exe, no runtime)
License	Freeware (free for personal / business)

Recommended for

Developers working with AI CLIs like Claude Code, Zed, Aider on SSH servers
Anyone who wants to quickly show error screens or UI screenshots to an AI
Anyone tired of copying scp commands or image-host URLs every time
Anyone hopping between multiple servers (profile switching)
Anyone in a corporate/school setting where external image hosts are off-limits (upload to your own server)

Install and uninstall

Install: save sftpcli.exe to any folder → double-click. If a SmartScreen warning appears, click "More info" → "Run anyway." (unsigned binary)

Uninstall: delete the executable + the settings folder (%APPDATA%\SftpCli\). No leftover registry entries.

Author and contact

SftpCli is personal freeware. Use it freely. Bug reports, improvement suggestions and feedback are all welcome.

Author: Youngsam.net (youngsam.net)
Contact: info@youngsam.net