Service Update: SFTP Sunset and CLI Upgrade

Quick service update: PocketHost is retiring SFTP file access on February 6, 2027, 90 days from today. Your instances, data, domains and everything else keep running exactly as they do now. Only the way you move files changes.

Everything you do over SFTP now has a replacement in the PocketHost CLI, and it works with the same API token you already use to deploy.

npm install -g pockethost@latest
pockethost login

What replaces what

You do this over SFTP	Do this instead
Upload hooks, migrations, `pb_public`	`pockethost deploy` (or `pockethost dev` to deploy on save)
Browse files	`pockethost files -r`
Download a copy of your instance	`pockethost pull` (add `--data` for `pb_data`)
Move an existing `pb_data` in	`pockethost upload ./pb_data`
Upload `node_modules` after adding a package	`pockethost upload node_modules`
Delete a migration that won’t run	`pockethost rm pb_migrations/1700000000_bad.js`
Deploy from GitHub Actions with an FTP/SFTP action	`npx pockethost@latest deploy` with a `POCKETHOST_TOKEN` secret. See Deploy from CI

Add -I my-instance to any of the file commands to pick an instance, or run pockethost link my-instance once in your project folder. Anything under pb_data still needs the instance powered off first, same as SFTP.

Moving a project that lives on SFTP

If you’ve been editing files straight on the server, pull them down before your first deploy:

mkdir my-app && cd my-app
pockethost link my-instance
pockethost pull
pockethost deploy

That order matters. pockethost deploy treats your local folder as the source of truth and removes files in pb_hooks, pb_migrations and pb_public that aren’t in it. pull gives you a complete local copy first, so the first deploy changes nothing. Put the folder in git and you’re done.

PocketPages users

Your pages live in pb_hooks, so pockethost deploy ships them. pockethost dev watches your project and pushes each change as you save, which is the loop most of you had in an SFTP extension. Changes under pb_public go live without a restart. Anything in pb_hooks restarts the instance for you.

Packages are the one extra step. Deploys never touch node_modules, and PocketHost doesn’t run npm install for you. When you add or upgrade a package (PocketPages itself included), install it locally and upload the folder:

npm install pocketpages@latest
pockethost upload node_modules

The node_modules already on your instance stays put until you do.

Why

SFTP means SSH keys to manage, a separate port, a separate server process and a second way to change files that the deploy API can’t see. The HTTPS deploy path uploads only what changed, swaps the whole set in at once, keeps a deploy history, and runs from any CI runner with one token. Running both forever means doing everything twice.

The timeline

Today: the file commands are live in CLI 4.1. pockethost sftp and --sftp print a notice with the date.
January 2027: one more reminder by email to anyone still connecting over SFTP.
February 6, 2027: SFTP is retired and port 2222 closes. SSH keys under Account → Keys stop doing anything, and we’ll remove that page.

If you hit something SFTP did that the CLI doesn’t, tell me on Discord or reply to the email. I’d rather add a command now than find out in February.