How do I connect my website over SSH from SEOmise?

Laravel, PHP and WordPress sites (and every platform whose way to connect is the PHP connector, such as CodeIgniter) have two ways on the Connect step: Manually (download the connector and follow the steps) and SSH terminal. The SSH terminal does the same steps for you on your server, and shows every command and its output.

While it is in early access it shows a Beta badge: press Ask for early access and we e-mail you when it opens for you. Until then, use Manually.

Who can use it

Workspace owners and managers, signed in as themselves in their own workspace. Viewers never see it. SEOmise staff cannot use it while viewing as you or working inside your workspace.

Step by step

1. On the Connect step choose SSH terminal, then Open the SSH terminal. It slides in from the right.
2. Your server. The SSH address and port from your hosting panel (often under "SSH access"). Ports 22 and 2222 are offered; for any other port tick This is my server's SSH port. If the address is not your website's name and your website does not point to it (normal behind Cloudflare or when your host gives a separate SSH address), tick This is my website's server.
3. Check the server's key. SEOmise shows the server's key fingerprint (it starts with SHA256:). Compare it with the one in your hosting panel, or ask your host, then tick I have checked this key. SEOmise remembers it for this project and refuses the server if its key ever changes.
4. Sign in with the SSH user and either its password or a private key (paste it or choose its file, with its passphrase if it has one). After three refused sign-ins the session closes.
5. The site's folder. SEOmise lists the folders on the server that hold a site of your platform (where artisan, wp-config.php or index.php is). Choose yours. You never type a path.
6. The steps. Each one shows the exact command before you press Run, and its output appears in the terminal.
7. Check it works. SEOmise checks that your website has connected, as the Connect step does.
8. Close the session. The sign-in and the output are deleted.

What SEOmise runs

Only these fixed commands, never anything you type. Every value in them (the folder, the pairing code, SEOmise's address) is quoted.

• Looking at the server, after signing in: php -r 'echo PHP_VERSION, PHP_EOL;'; a find for artisan, wp-config.php or index.php in your home folder, /var/www and /srv/www (skipping vendor, node_modules, .git and caches); on WordPress, command -v wp to see whether WP-CLI is there.
• Laravel: upload the connector classes to app/Seomise/ and its migrations to database/migrations/ (SFTP); php artisan list --raw to check the SEOmise commands are registered (if not, the lines to add to bootstrap/providers.php, routes/api.php and config/services.php are shown: SEOmise never edits your own code); php artisan migrate --force --no-interaction; php artisan seomise:pair with SEOmise's address and this project's one-time code.
• WordPress: upload the plugin made for your website to wp-content/plugins/seomise-connector/; with WP-CLI, wp plugin activate seomise-connector; without it, you press Activate under Plugins in WordPress and then I've done this. The plugin pairs itself.
• PHP: upload seomise-connector.php next to your pages; php -l to check your PHP can read it; you add the one require line at the top of your pages and press I've done this; "Check it works" opens your home page once so the file pairs itself.

By default each command may run for two minutes, the output kept per command is cut at 64 KB, and a session closes after 10 minutes without a step (30 minutes at most).

Your password or key is never kept

• It travels over https, is used to sign in for each step, and is held between steps only in encrypted form, with half of the key held by your browser. A reload of the page or closing the panel ends the session.
• It is deleted when you close the session, after 10 minutes without a step, or when the session is refused.
• It is never saved to your account, written to a log or the activity log, e-mailed, exported or sent to the AI, and never shown again: the fields empty as soon as you press Sign in.
• SEOmise's audit log records who connected, to which server and key, and each step's result. Never the password or key.

Make a user just for SEOmise (safest)

Give SEOmise an SSH user that can reach only this website, and a key made for it, then remove it afterwards:

1. In your hosting panel (cPanel, Plesk, your host's dashboard) open SSH access and create a key pair, or on your computer run ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f seomise_key -C seomise.
2. Authorise the public key (seomise_key.pub) for the user that owns the website's files. On a server you manage, a separate user in the website's group with write access to its folder only is better than root. Never use root.
3. In SEOmise choose Private key and choose seomise_key (the private part, not the .pub file).
4. When the website is connected, remove the key from SSH access (or from ~/.ssh/authorized_keys). The connector keeps working: it does not use SSH.

When something goes wrong

• "SEOmise only connects to servers on the public internet": the address points to a private, local or reserved network, or to SEOmise itself. Use your server's public address.
• "This server's identity has changed": SEOmise sent nothing. Ask your host whether the server's SSH key changed (a rebuild or a move does that). If it did, a workspace owner presses forget the old key and connects again.
• "No site was found in the folders this user can see": sign in as the user that owns the website's files, or use Manually.
• Limits: 10 sessions per person an hour and 30 per workspace a day. Use Manually any time.