Virtual Filesystem

The Crab virtual filesystem lets you browse and read a repository without downloading every file first. Directory listings appear immediately, and file content is fetched from cloud storage when an application actually reads it.

Use it when you want to:

• Inspect a large repository before deciding what to hydrate.
• Run tools that expect a normal filesystem path.
• Open another branch or remote repository without changing your working tree.
• Keep local disk usage low while still making files available on demand.

Start Here

• FUSE Mount — mount a Crab repository on macOS or Linux.
• Local Mount — expose an existing local repository through the virtual filesystem.
• Mount Management — list, refresh, switch, and unmount active mounts.
• LFS Compatibility — work with repositories that still contain Git LFS pointers.

How To Think About It

The virtual filesystem is a view over a Crab repository. It does not replace normal clone, push, or hydrate workflows; it gives you another way to access large repositories when selective, on-demand reads are more convenient.

For repeatable development workflows, keep using crab clone, crab fetch, and crab hydrate. For exploration, review, notebooks, model inspection, and large read-only datasets, a mount is often faster and cleaner.