diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 1daaf02..2f187d2 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ classifiers = [
 license = {text="BSD"}
 requires-python = ">=3.9"
 dependencies = [
-    "paramiko",
+    "paramiko >= 1.9.1",  # 1.9.1+ supports multiple IdentityKey entries in .ssh/config
 ]
 
 [project.urls]
diff --git a/src/borgstore/backends/sftp.py b/src/borgstore/backends/sftp.py
index 1d25e0c..d626427 100644
--- a/src/borgstore/backends/sftp.py
+++ b/src/borgstore/backends/sftp.py
@@ -26,11 +26,11 @@ def get_sftp_backend(url):
     """
     m = re.match(sftp_regex, url, re.VERBOSE)
     if m:
-        return Sftp(username=m["username"], hostname=m["hostname"], port=int(m["port"] or "22"), path=m["path"])
+        return Sftp(username=m["username"], hostname=m["hostname"], port=int(m["port"] or "0"), path=m["path"])
 
 
 class Sftp(BackendBase):
-    def __init__(self, hostname: str, path: str, port: int = 22, username: Optional[str] = None):
+    def __init__(self, hostname: str, path: str, port: int = 0, username: Optional[str] = None):
         self.username = username
         self.hostname = hostname
         self.port = port
@@ -40,7 +40,27 @@ def __init__(self, hostname: str, path: str, port: int = 22, username: Optional[
     def _connect(self):
         ssh = paramiko.SSHClient()
         ssh.set_missing_host_key_policy(paramiko.AutoAddPolicy())
-        ssh.connect(hostname=self.hostname, username=self.username, port=self.port, allow_agent=True)
+        user_config_path = Path("~/.ssh/config").expanduser()
+        system_config_path = Path("/etc/ssh/ssh_config")  # no support yet for ssh_config.d/*
+        ssh_config = paramiko.SSHConfig()
+        try:
+            with open(user_config_path) as f:
+                ssh_config.parse(f)
+        except FileNotFoundError:
+            pass
+        try:
+            with open(system_config_path) as f:
+                ssh_config.parse(f)
+        except FileNotFoundError:
+            pass
+        host_config = ssh_config.lookup(self.hostname)
+        ssh.connect(
+            hostname=host_config.get("hostname", self.hostname),  # prefer config here
+            username=self.username if self.username else host_config.get("user"),
+            port=self.port if self.port else (host_config.as_int("port") if "port" in host_config else 22),
+            key_filename=host_config.get("identityfile", None),  # list of keys
+            allow_agent=True,
+        )
         self.client = ssh.open_sftp()
 
     def _disconnect(self):
diff --git a/tests/test_backends.py b/tests/test_backends.py
index 7a15ed4..9a15a35 100644
--- a/tests/test_backends.py
+++ b/tests/test_backends.py
@@ -31,13 +31,23 @@ def posixfs_backend_created(tmp_path):
         be.destroy()
 
 
-def _get_sftp_backend():
+def _get_sftp_backend(local=False, remote_url=False, remote_config=True):
     # needs an authorized key loaded into the ssh agent. pytest works, tox doesn't:
-    # return Sftp(username="tw", hostname="localhost", path="/Users/tw/w/borgstore/temp-store")
+    if local:
+        return Sftp(username="tw", hostname="localhost", path="/Users/tw/w/borgstore/temp-store")
     # for tests with higher latency:
-    return Sftp(
-        username="twaldmann", hostname="shell.ipv4.thinkmo.de", port=2222, path="/home/twaldmann/borgstore/temp-store"
-    )
+    if remote_url:
+        return Sftp(
+            username="twaldmann",
+            hostname="shell.ipv4.thinkmo.de",
+            port=2222,
+            path="/home/twaldmann/borgstore/temp-store",
+        )
+    # same as previous, but loads config for host "shell" from ~/.ssh/config:
+    if remote_config:
+        return Sftp(hostname="shell", path="/home/twaldmann/borgstore/temp-store")
+
+    raise ValueError("check _get_sftp_backend() parameter defaults!")
 
 
 def check_sftp_available():
@@ -96,8 +106,8 @@ def test_file_url(url, path):
     "url,username,hostname,port,path",
     [
         ("sftp://username@hostname:2222/some/path", "username", "hostname", 2222, "/some/path"),
-        ("sftp://username@hostname/some/path", "username", "hostname", 22, "/some/path"),
-        ("sftp://hostname/some/path", None, "hostname", 22, "/some/path"),
+        ("sftp://username@hostname/some/path", "username", "hostname", 0, "/some/path"),
+        ("sftp://hostname/some/path", None, "hostname", 0, "/some/path"),
     ],
 )
 def test_sftp_url(url, username, hostname, port, path):
@@ -105,7 +115,7 @@ def test_sftp_url(url, username, hostname, port, path):
     assert isinstance(backend, Sftp)
     assert backend.username == username
     assert backend.hostname == hostname
-    assert backend.port == port
+    assert backend.port == port  # note: 0 means "not given" (and will usually mean 22 in the end)
     assert backend.base_path == path