SFTP API Configuration

Request

POST https://api.fivetran.com/v1/connections

{
  "group_id": "group_id",
  "service": "sftp",
  "trust_certificates": true,
  "trust_fingerprints": true,
  "run_setup_tests": true,
  "paused": false,
  "pause_after_trial": false,
  "sync_frequency": 1440,
  "data_delay_sensitivity": "NORMAL",
  "data_delay_threshold": 0,
  "daily_sync_time": "14:00",
  "schedule_type": "auto",
  "connect_card_config": {
    "redirect_uri": "https://your.site/path",
    "hide_setup_guide": true
  },
  "proxy_agent_id": "proxy_agent_id",
  "private_link_id": "private_link_id",
  "networking_method": "Directly",
  "hybrid_deployment_agent_id": "hybrid_deployment_agent_id",
  "destination_configuration": {
    "virtual_warehouse": "virtual_warehouse"
  },
  "destination_schema_names": "SOURCE_NAMING",
  "config": {
    "file_handling": "structured",
    "quote_character_enabled": true,
    "prefix": "folder_path",
    "pattern": "file_pattern",
    "json_delivery_mode": "Packed | Unpacked",
    "skip_after": 0,
    "quote_char": "string",
    "empty_header": true,
    "password": "password",
    "use_pgp_encryption_options": true,
    "skip_before": 0,
    "tunnel_port": 0,
    "signer_public_key": "",
    "delimiter": "string",
    "file_type": "tsv | xml | csv | spreadsheet | json | jsonl | avro | parquet",
    "host": "sftp.company.com",
    "file_mapping_method": "EXTRACT_TABLES | DEFINE_PER_TABLE",
    "on_error": "fail | skip",
    "extraction_pattern": "(?\\w+)/.*",
    "archive_pattern": "regex_pattern",
    "pgp_secret_key": "",
    "append_file_option": "upsert_file_with_primary_keys | upsert_file | append_file",
    "selected_range": "'Sheet1'!A1",
    "escape_char": "string",
    "connection_method": "SSH_TUNNEL | DIRECT",
    "tunnel_user": "string",
    "line_separator": ";",
    "null_sequence": "string",
    "port": 22,
    "is_single_table_mode": true,
    "tunnel_host": "string",
    "files": [
      {
        "file_pattern": "string",
        "table_name": "string",
        "archive_pattern": "string"
      }
    ],
    "is_keypair": true,
    "compression": "zip | gz | tar_gz | tar | infer | gzip | uncompressed | bz2 | tar_bz2",
    "user": "user_name",
    "pgp_pass_phrase": "",
    "schema": "schema_name",
    "table_group_name": "string"
  }
}
Config parameters
Name Description
file_handling Files will be processed and synced according to the selected file handling option. Supported values:
structured- (Default) Extract structured data into destination tables for analysis. Commonly used.
unstructured- Replicate files in their original format. Best for PDFs, images, and other unstructured content.  Learn more about unstructured file replication in our documentation..
quote_character_enabled If you don’t want to use an enclosing character while processing the files, set the value to false. By default, the value is set to true and is considered " as quote character.
prefix All files and folders under this folder path will be searched for files to sync.
pattern All files in your search path matching this regular expression will be synced. We have discontinued this field, and will delete it by August 31, 2025.
json_delivery_mode Control how your JSON data is delivered into your destination
skip_after We will skip over the number of lines specified at the end so as to not introduce aberrant data into your destination.
quote_char You can specify the enclosing character used in your CSVs here. Fivetran will consider " as the quote character if this field is empty and quote_character_enabled is set to true.
empty_header Optional. If your CSV generating software doesn't provide header line for the documents, Fivetran can generate the generic column names and sync data rows with them.
password SFTP password.
use_pgp_encryption_options Set to true if files present in SFTP server are encrypted using PGP. Default value: false.
skip_before We will skip over the number of lines specified before syncing data.
tunnel_port Tunnel port, specify only to connect via SSH tunnel.
signer_public_key The contents of the signer's public key file. Must be populated if use_pgp_encryption_options is set to true and PGP encrypted files are signed.
delimiter You can specify your the delimiter that your CSVs use here. Fivetran generally tries to infer the delimiter, but in some cases this is impossible.
file_type If your files are saved with improper extensions, you can force them to by synced as the selected file type.
host SFTP host address.
file_mapping_method The method used to map files to destination tables. Use DEFINE_PER_TABLE to manually configure each table with its own file pattern, or EXTRACT_TABLES to automatically discover tables based on a single extraction pattern.
on_error If you know that your files contain some errors, you can choose to have poorly formatted lines skipped. We recommend leaving the value as fail unless you are certain that you have undesirable, malformed data.
extraction_pattern A regular expression with a named capture group (?<table>...) to extract table names from file paths.
archive_pattern Files inside of compressed archives with filenames matching this regular expression will be synced.
pgp_secret_key The contents of your PGP secret key file. Must be populated if use_pgp_encryption_options is set to true.
append_file_option If you know that the source completely over-writes the same file with new data, you can append the changes instead of upserting based on filename and line number.
selected_range Cell reference that will be used to sync all contiguous data starting from the top-left cell in all the spreadsheets matching the name. Cell reference is in the '<sheetName>'!<startColumnName><startRowName> format.
escape_char If your CSV generator follows non-standard rules for escaping quotation marks, you can set the escape character here.
connection_method The connection method used to connect to SFTP Server.
tunnel_user Tunnel user, specify only to connect via SSH tunnel.
line_separator You can specify the custom line separator for your CSV files. The line separator is used in files to separate one row from the next.
null_sequence If your CSVs use a special value indicating null, you can specify it here.
port SFTP port.
is_single_table_mode Allows the creation of connector using the specified Sync strategy.
tunnel_host Tunnel host address, specify only to connect via SSH tunnel.
files Mapped file name patterns to a destination table.
files[0].file_pattern All files in your search path matching this regular expression will be synced per table.
files[0].table_name All files matching the above pattern will be synced to this table.
files[0].archive_pattern All Files inside of compressed archives with filenames matching this regular expression will be synced.
is_keypair Whether to use a key pair for authentication.  When true, do not use password.
compression The secrets that should be passed to the function at runtime.
user SFTP user.
pgp_pass_phrase The PGP passphrase used to create the key. Must be populated if use_pgp_encryption_options is set to true.
schema (required) Destination schema name. Schema name is permanent and cannot be changed after connection creation
table_group_name (required) Combined with the schema to form the Fivetran connection name <schema>.<table_group_name>. Lets you create multiple Merge Mode connections per schema.

Name	Description
`file_handling`	Files will be processed and synced according to the selected file handling option. Supported values: `structured`- (Default) Extract structured data into destination tables for analysis. Commonly used. `unstructured`- Replicate files in their original format. Best for PDFs, images, and other unstructured content. Learn more about unstructured file replication in our documentation..
`quote_character_enabled`	If you don’t want to use an enclosing character while processing the files, set the value to false. By default, the value is set to true and is considered " as quote character.
`prefix`	All files and folders under this folder path will be searched for files to sync.
`pattern`	All files in your search path matching this regular expression will be synced. We have discontinued this field, and will delete it by August 31, 2025.
`json_delivery_mode`	Control how your JSON data is delivered into your destination
`skip_after`	We will skip over the number of lines specified at the end so as to not introduce aberrant data into your destination.
`quote_char`	You can specify the enclosing character used in your CSVs here. Fivetran will consider " as the quote character if this field is empty and quote_character_enabled is set to true.
`empty_header`	Optional. If your CSV generating software doesn't provide header line for the documents, Fivetran can generate the generic column names and sync data rows with them.
`password`	SFTP password.
`use_pgp_encryption_options`	Set to `true` if files present in SFTP server are encrypted using PGP. Default value: `false`.
`skip_before`	We will skip over the number of lines specified before syncing data.
`tunnel_port`	Tunnel port, specify only to connect via SSH tunnel.
`signer_public_key`	The contents of the signer's public key file. Must be populated if `use_pgp_encryption_options` is set to `true` and PGP encrypted files are signed.
`delimiter`	You can specify your the delimiter that your CSVs use here. Fivetran generally tries to infer the delimiter, but in some cases this is impossible.
`file_type`	If your files are saved with improper extensions, you can force them to by synced as the selected file type.
`host`	SFTP host address.
`file_mapping_method`	The method used to map files to destination tables. Use `DEFINE_PER_TABLE` to manually configure each table with its own file pattern, or `EXTRACT_TABLES` to automatically discover tables based on a single extraction pattern.
`on_error`	If you know that your files contain some errors, you can choose to have poorly formatted lines skipped. We recommend leaving the value as fail unless you are certain that you have undesirable, malformed data.
`extraction_pattern`	A regular expression with a named capture group `(?<table>...)` to extract table names from file paths.
`archive_pattern`	Files inside of compressed archives with filenames matching this regular expression will be synced.
`pgp_secret_key`	The contents of your PGP secret key file. Must be populated if `use_pgp_encryption_options` is set to `true`.
`append_file_option`	If you know that the source completely over-writes the same file with new data, you can append the changes instead of upserting based on filename and line number.
`selected_range`	Cell reference that will be used to sync all contiguous data starting from the top-left cell in all the spreadsheets matching the name. Cell reference is in the `'<sheetName>'!<startColumnName><startRowName>` format.
`escape_char`	If your CSV generator follows non-standard rules for escaping quotation marks, you can set the escape character here.
`connection_method`	The connection method used to connect to SFTP Server.
`tunnel_user`	Tunnel user, specify only to connect via SSH tunnel.
`line_separator`	You can specify the custom line separator for your CSV files. The line separator is used in files to separate one row from the next.
`null_sequence`	If your CSVs use a special value indicating null, you can specify it here.
`port`	SFTP port.
`is_single_table_mode`	Allows the creation of connector using the specified Sync strategy.
`tunnel_host`	Tunnel host address, specify only to connect via SSH tunnel.
`files`	Mapped file name patterns to a destination table.
`files[0].file_pattern`	All files in your search path matching this regular expression will be synced per table.
`files[0].table_name`	All files matching the above pattern will be synced to this table.
`files[0].archive_pattern`	All Files inside of compressed archives with filenames matching this regular expression will be synced.
`is_keypair`	Whether to use a key pair for authentication. When `true`, do not use `password`.
`compression`	The secrets that should be passed to the function at runtime.
`user`	SFTP user.
`pgp_pass_phrase`	The PGP passphrase used to create the key. Must be populated if `use_pgp_encryption_options` is set to `true`.
`schema` (required)	Destination schema name. Schema name is permanent and cannot be changed after connection creation
`table_group_name` (required)	Combined with the schema to form the Fivetran connection name `<schema>.<table_group_name>`. Lets you create multiple Merge Mode connections per schema.

`Authorization`

There are two ways to authorize this connector type:

 By specifying the values for the host, port, user and password parameters in the request.POST https://api.fivetran.com/v1/connections
{
  "service": "sftp",
  "group_id": "group_id",
  "config": {
    "host": "sftp.company.com",
    "port": 22,
    "user": "user_name",
    "password": "password"
  }
}

By using the Connect Card or the Fivetran dashboard.