SSH access and keys
Upload a public key to reach your website over SSH and SFTP, and decide whether to allow password authentication.
Each website container accepts SSH connections, which also gives you SFTP and WP-CLI. Applies to all WordPress Cloud packages.
Go to Advanced → Developer tools.
Add a public key
Under SSH key manager, upload the public half of your key pair — the
file ending .pub.
If you do not have one, generate it on your own machine:
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you@example.com"That writes ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 and ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub. Upload the .pub
file only.
Never upload or share the file without the .pub extension. That is your
private key — anyone holding it can log in as you, and no passphrase on the
server side protects you once it has leaked.
SSH password authentication
The SSH password authentication section controls whether the container also accepts a password.
Keys are stronger than passwords and cannot be brute-forced from the internet. Set up key access, confirm it works, then decide whether you still need password authentication — and if you do not, turn it off.
Connect
Use the website's own address as the host, with your key:
ssh username@example.comOnce connected, WP-CLI is available and your document root is public_html:
cd public_html
wp plugin listSFTP
Any SFTP client — FileZilla, Cyberduck, an editor's remote plugin — can use the same key. Prefer this over creating an FTP account: the session is encrypted end to end, and there is one less credential to manage.