DockDuck Documentation
The Connect sheet
Every field in the "Connect to Server" sheet, how a URL you type in the address bar pre-fills it, and what the host-key and certificate trust prompts mean.
What it is. The Connect to Server sheet is the dialog that finishes a connection DockDuck can’t complete on its own. When you see it. Type a server URL in the path bar that’s missing a username or password, and the sheet opens pre-filled with everything the URL already supplied — you just complete the rest and connect.
How a typed URL pre-fills it
The path bar is the front door. Type a remote URL and DockDuck parses it before treating it as a local path.
Press ⌘L to focus the path bar.
Type a server URL — anything from a bare host like
sftp://example.com to a fully specified
sftp://user@example.com:2200/var/www — and press ↵.
If the URL already carries both a username and a password, DockDuck connects straight away. If either is missing, the Connect sheet opens with the scheme, host, port, user, and path already filled in.
public/docs/img/connect-sheet-1.pngDockDuck only intercepts the schemes it knows — sftp,
ftp, ftps,
smb, webdav, and
davs. Plain http:// and
https:// are deliberately left alone so they never
hijack a web address — request WebDAV explicitly with webdav:// or davs://.
The fields
The sheet header shows the protocol it’s connecting with (for example, SFTP). Below it:
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Server | The host name or IP address. Required. |
| Port | The TCP port. Leave it blank to use the protocol’s default — 22 for SFTP, 21 for FTP/FTPS, 445 for SMB, 80/443 for WebDAV. The placeholder shows that default. |
| Path | The folder to open on connect. For SMB this is the share name; for everything else it’s a path like /var/www. Defaults to /. |
| Username | Optional — some servers allow anonymous access. |
| Password | Optional. Typed into a secure field, never shown. |
| Remember this server | On by default. Saves the server to your list and stores the password in the macOS Keychain so you can reconnect with one click later. |
Remember this server does two things at once: it adds the server to your saved list and writes the password to the Keychain. Untick it for a one-off connection you don’t want to keep.
Host-key and certificate trust
The first time you reach an encrypted server, DockDuck has to confirm you’re
talking to the machine you think you are — exactly the check ssh does on a
first connection.
- SFTP — host key. If the server’s SSH host key isn’t already trusted, the sheet shows its fingerprint and the Connect button becomes Trust & Connect. Verify the fingerprint matches your server, then trust it once and DockDuck remembers it for next time.
- FTPS — certificate. Same flow for an unknown TLS certificate: the fingerprint is shown, and trusting it pins the certificate for that host.
A trust prompt on a server you’ve connected to before can mean the key or certificate genuinely changed — or that someone is impersonating the server. Don’t trust a changed fingerprint until you know why it changed. See troubleshooting for what to do.
If the connection fails for another reason — wrong password, unreachable host — the sheet stays open with the reason shown in red so you can fix it and retry without retyping everything.
Where to go next
- Remote servers overview — the four protocols at a glance.
- Managing servers — saving, editing, and Settings → Servers.
- Transfers — copy, move, and recursive folder transfers.
- Troubleshooting — host keys, timeouts, and error codes.