DVC with remote access to workflow artifacts

Hi,

I am new to DVC and am currently reading the documentation and following the tutorials.
From what I currently understand, remotes can be used to make local copies of the files before processing them.
I am in a case where I use a remote protocol (not yet supported by DVC) that allows reading the files remotely without making a local copy, which is a feature I need as I am processing large amounts of data.
I can see that it is possible to implement a plugin to support new protocols, but I wondered if DVC assumes that the remote file will be copied locally of if it is possible to just keep track of files stored on the remote repository.
Many thanks in advance for your help,

Hi Ben, if you want DVC to track remote files that are then used in some processing step, you may want to setup a DVC pipeline with an external dependency: External Dependencies and Outputs. DVC will not create any local copy of the remote files in that case. Would that fit your workflow?