SSH Access

SSH access lets you connect to your hosting account from a terminal. SFTP (SSH-based file transfer) also requires SSH to be enabled. Both use port 22.

Enabling Shell Access#

Shell access is disabled by default. To enable it:

1. Go to Hosting Mode → Files → SSH.
2. Click Enable Shell Access.
3. The agent enables your system user's shell and sets up a Jailkit chroot environment.

Once enabled, connect from your terminal:

ssh username@YOUR_SERVER_IP

Your shell is chrooted — you can only see and access your own home directory. You cannot traverse to other users' directories or system paths. See Chrooted SSH for a technical explanation.

SFTP#

SFTP works once shell access is enabled. Use port 22 with your SSH credentials in any SFTP client:

Host:     YOUR_SERVER_IP
Port:     22
Protocol: SFTP
Username: your account username
Password: your account password (or SSH key)

[!TIP] SFTP is the preferred alternative to FTP. It is encrypted, uses one port, and does not require creating a separate FTP account.

SSH Key Authentication#

Password-based SSH works out of the box, but key-based authentication is more secure and convenient.

To add a public key:

1. Go to Hosting Mode → Files → SSH → SSH Keys → Add Key.
2. Paste your public key (the contents of ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub or ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub from your local machine).
3. Click Save.

The agent appends the key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys in your home directory. You can then connect without a password:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 username@YOUR_SERVER_IP

[!IMPORTANT] Only paste your public key (the .pub file). Never upload or share your private key (id_rsa, id_ed25519 — the one without .pub).

Disabling Shell Access#

Go to Hosting Mode → Files → SSH → Disable Shell Access. This removes shell access and also disables SFTP. SSH keys are retained and will work again if you re-enable shell access later.

File Paths#

Once connected, your home directory is:

/home/username/

Your web root for domain.com is:

/home/username/domain.com/public_html/