Watch a folder and upload new files over SSH

vmup watch
vmup --watch

Those are the same command. vmup stays in the foreground. It is not a daemon.

Default folder: watch_dir in config, else VMUP_WATCH_DIR, else ~/Desktop on macOS and ~/Pictures/Screenshots on Linux.

vmup watch --dir ~/Downloads

--dir wins over config for this run.

What is captured

Files already in the folder when the command starts are ignored. Upload those with vmup ~/Downloads instead.

Files added or copied after start are staged. Finder duplicates in the same folder get a new name, so they are captured even when the copy keeps the original timestamp.

Paste-overwrite of an existing name is captured (change events). A new file with a name that existed at start is still ignored on add; overwrite is the exception.

Only the folder itself is watched (depth 0). Files in subfolders are ignored.

Junk names are skipped: leading ., .DS_Store, Thumbs.db, desktop.ini, *.tmp, names ending in ~, names with no extension.

vmup waits until the file size is stable (writes finishing) before staging.

Stop, upload, cancel

Watching: /Users/you/Desktop
  Capturing files added or copied after start (existing files ignored).
  Press Enter or type "stop" to upload. Ctrl+C cancels.

Zero files after stop: No files to upload, exit 2.

A successful upload copies the prompt to the clipboard by default. See clipboard_copy in config.toml.

Images-only watch

With accept_all_files = false, the banner changes:

• Images only, unless you pass --video (or watch_include_video = true / VMUP_WATCH_VIDEO=1).
• --force still applies at the picker path, not inside the watcher. The watcher filters by type before staging.

--video and --force do nothing for type filtering while accept_all_files is true.

Watch and other flags

vmup watch -p work --ttl 15 --keep-local --json

--clip and --watch together are rejected.

Screenshots landing in a folder: Upload screenshots to a remote coding agent. --ttl on watch is that batch’s lifetime. Wipe every remote batch now with vmup prune --all.