Connect Your AI Assistant to Your Website Over SSH
If you already use an AI assistant every day, it can make edits to your site for you. This guide connects the two. You copy one prompt, and your assistant walks you through the setup one step at a time.
Before you start
- Two-factor authentication is set up for your cPanel login. If not, do that first.
- Your hosting details are handy: your cPanel username, password, and SSH port, all from the secure link I sent you.
- An AI assistant that can run commands on your computer, such as Claude Code, OpenAI's Codex, or Gemini CLI. (I use Claude.) A chat-only assistant can still guide you; you'll just type the commands it gives you yourself.
- About 15 minutes, on a Mac or a Windows computer.
Copy this prompt into your AI assistant
Start a new conversation, paste the prompt below, and follow along. It tells your assistant everything it needs to know about my hosting, and asks it to go slowly and skip the jargon.
I host my website with Spencer Taylor (Threshold Solutions). I want you to connect to my site over SSH so you can help me make content edits. Please walk me through the setup one step at a time, in plain language, and wait for me to finish each step before giving me the next one.
What you need to know:
- My site is on Spencer's cPanel server. I log in to cPanel at https://spencer-taylor.com:2083 with my cPanel username, my password, and a six-digit code from my authenticator app.
- The SSH server is spencer-taylor.com. My SSH username is my cPanel username. My SSH port is in the hosting details Spencer sent me. Ask me for my username and port when you need them.
- First ask whether I'm on a Mac or Windows, then give instructions for that computer only.
Steps to guide me through:
1. In cPanel, create an SSH key (Security > SSH Access > Manage SSH Keys > Generate a New Key). cPanel will ask for a key password: help me choose one and save it in my password manager.
2. Authorize the key in cPanel (Manage SSH Keys > Public Keys > Manage > Authorize). This step is easy to miss, and the connection fails without it.
3. Download the private key and save it in the right place on my computer with the right permissions. Set it up so I don't have to type the key password every time.
4. Test the connection, and tell me exactly what I should see if it worked.
5. Connect yourself to my site using that key, and confirm by listing my website's folder without changing anything.
Rules:
- Keep it simple and skip jargon. If something fails, tell me what it means in plain English and the one thing to try next.
- Never ask me to paste my private key, password, or a two-factor code into this chat.
- Don't edit, move, or delete any files during setup.
- If I get stuck, tell me to contact Spencer.What happens next
Once you're connected, use your site skill
When I hand over a site, I give you a skill for your AI assistant: a short set of instructions written for your site. It keeps edits to content, like text and images, and leaves the layout alone, so the chance of breaking anything is very low. You own your site, so you're free to work outside the skill. Just know that's where things can break.
If something goes wrong
- "Permission denied (publickey)": the key usually hasn't been authorized yet. In cPanel, go to SSH Access > Manage SSH Keys, click Manage next to your key, and click Authorize.
- The connection times out: double-check the SSH port from your hosting details.
- It asks for a password you don't know: that's the key password you chose in cPanel, not your cPanel login password.
- Anything else, or you'd rather not do this yourself? Contact me.
Hosting somewhere else?
Most major hosts work much the same way. Find the SSH section of your host's control panel, create or add a key there, and give your AI assistant your host's server name, username, and port in place of mine. It can take it from there.