prefer rsync to scp. See https://linux.die.net/man/1/rsync

rsync.sh

# -v, --verbose
# -a, --archive   want recursion and preserve almost everything
# -P                          same as --partial --progress
# -z, --compress              compress file data during the transfer


rsync -vaPz file.txt user@server:~/user

rsync -vaPz dir user@server:~/user

rsync -vaPz user@server:~/user/file.txt .

rsync -vaPz user@server:~/user/dir .

# from local laptop
ssh -O exit hostname
ssh -A hostname
# on hostname, check your agent
ssh-add -L
# assuming ^ gives results, do the work
rsync ...