Representative embodiments set forth herein disclose techniques for enabling a local file system implemented on a computing device to interact with remote files that have not yet been synchronized to the local file system. According to some embodiments, a method can be implemented at the computing device, and include the steps of (1) receiving a system call directed to an operating system kernel to access a file stored on a remote server device, (2) invoking a fault handler in response to processing the system call, (3) generating a remote procedure call (RPC) associated with the user space application to store the file in a local file system implemented on the computing device, and (4) executing a callback function associated with the RPC when the file is stored in the local file system.