By installing macFUSE and SSH File System you can mount a remote file system, which makes possible to work on remote files like local files. The software can be downloaded from Google Code. First install the macFUSE Core Installer Package, and secondly the SSH File System application, which provide a simple connect/login GUI. Open the application and specify the server you want to connect to, the username you want to use, and (optionally) the remote directory you want to mount.
Basically this works fine, but if the remote files are changed at the remote host while editing via SSH Files System, you will not be notify because the file system by default caches the remote files. In the SSH File System application it’s currently not possible to change the cache option. However it’s possible to change the option by running the application from the Command Line and picking up remote changes.
The first thing to is to enable the command “sshfs” in the Terminal, which is done by making the below symlink:
sudo ln -s /Applications/sshfs.app/Contents/Resources/sshfs-static sshfs
Now you can use the sshfs command, and mount a remote drive like below, it’s not necessary to make a new directory, an existing one can be used:
mkdir /some/mount/point
sshfs user@host:/some/directory /some/mount/point -ocache=no -onolocalcaches -oreconnect,ping_diskarb,volname=name-mounted-volume
And the drive can be unmounted like this or in the Finder:
umount /some/mount/point
More information is available here: command line setup, picking up remote changes.