Developing on Pantheon Directly with SFTP Mode

In some cases, working via Git may not be the best option. You may not like local development, or you may want to show work to a remote collaborator (or client) immediately, or need to debug a platform-specific problem.

SFTP Mode

Every Development environment has a toggle to switch between SFTP and Git modes. This is to prevent you from accidentally overwriting changes from a different source. To enable SFTP mode, click the SFTP button next to Development Mode.

When in SFTP mode, there's comment box above the commit log. As you make changes to the codebase, the Dashboard will track your pending changes for you to see. You can then commit them to version control once you are happy with the results without having to ever use Git directly.

SFTP Connection Information

To get your SFTP login credentials, click Connect with SFTP. You will see your connection credentials and a button to connect directly with your preferred client.

The connection information is a bit different than what you might be used to. It's based on your unique "Site ID". This is the long string at the end of your Dashboard URL.

Your connection data is as follows:

host: appserver.dev.site-id.drush.in

user: dev.site-id

port: 2222

You can connect to an environment over SFTP using the terminal. The command is easily accessible from the Connection Information widget.

There is also a one-click option so you can connect with a GUI client. The main directory listing includes Pantheon, logs, environment data and configuration. Your website is in the code directory. For instance, in Cyberduck on MacOS :

For instructions for other client, jump down to SFTP clients.

Authenticating

SSH Keys

Pantheon does not provide access to a shell environment over SSH. These directions allow you to have passwordless access if you configure Git, SFTP, or Drush to use SSH keys.

You should load your public SSH key into your account to take full advantage of Pantheon. SSH keys are a best practice for authentication, allowing you more security than a simple password. You only have to configure this once, no matter how many sites you work on. Refer to Generate and Add SSH Keys for more information.

Dashboard Credentials

Use your Pantheon Dashboard login password if you are prompted for a password when connecting to the platform.

Larger agencies with multiple developers using password authentication to login may see access issues across the workspace. We strongly recommend using SSH keys to avoid potential authentication failures. Refer to Pantheon Workspaces FAQs more information.

Committing SFTP Changes

Even though you are unable to use Git to push remotely with SFTP mode enabled, you still need to commit your changes to save them, or push them to Test/Live. Commit early and commit often.

Large sets of code changes taking longer than two minutes to commit may timeout and fail to commit. In those cases, temporarily remove some of your code changes (new modules or plugins), then try again.

After making a change to your code, you will see a message on the Dashboard, below the comment box, letting you know you have uncommitted changes. Click the notification message to expand the listing of pending changes.

Write a helpful commit message to go with your changes. This make maintaining your code a saner process, and make it easier for any other developers to understand what you've done.

Once your message is ready, click Commit.

Discard & Abandon SFTP Changes

Toggle the Connection Mode from SFTP to Git to permanently discard all SFTP changes that have not been committed, such as the 119 file changes shown above.

This can be useful when you have many changes you wish to undo or if it would otherwise be difficult to manually revert all the changes. Toggle back to SFTP mode when you're ready to resume SFTP development.

SFTP Clients

SFTP mode works with any standards-compliant SFTP client, including many GUI tools and IDEs. We have specific guides to some:

• PHPStorm with WordPress and Drupal
• WinSCP
• Visual Studio Code

Troubleshooting

I can't connect via SFTP to the site

Make sure your site has not spun down after being idle. Visit the site in your web browser and let it fully load then try connecting again.

If your site is not idle and your SFTP settings are correct (including SFTP mode and port 2222) you may be on a network that restricts what outbound ports you can access. An example may be an office or public wifi that only allows web traffic on port 80 (HTTPS) and 443 (HTTPS).

A simple way to test for outbound network restrictions is to load a special web site that listens on all ports. To test your access outbound on port 2222, try to load this web page in your web browser:

• http://portquiz.net:2222/

If you cannot access that web page then your network or firewall is likely preventing you from accessing port 2222 outbound. Contact your network administrators to allow outbound access on port 2222. Advanced users may also be comfortable establishing an SSH tunnel through another server instead.

If you can access that web page on port 2222 then your issue does not appear to be network or firewall related. Be sure to double-check or re-enter your SFTP settings, including SFTP mode and port 2222. Contact Pantheon Support if you still have trouble.

I registered my Pantheon account via Google. How do I connect to SFTP?

We recommend adding an SSH Key, which allows more security than a simple password. If you've registered via social login (Connect with Google) and you'd still like to add a password to your account, logout and visit https://dashboard.pantheon.io/reset-password

I can't write to my codebase on Test or Live.

This is part of the Pantheon WebOps workflow that keeps code and content safe. Please see Using the Pantheon Workflow to learn more about why.

SFTP changes do not show up in the Site Dashboard.

Uncommitted SFTP changes may not be recognized by the Dev environment when the Site Dashboard is open in multiple tabs or windows. Close all windows and tabs then access the Site Dashboard in a single tab to resolve.

How do I find my site's remote path?

You can find the Remote Path, also known as the binding path, after connecting to SFTP via command line, using the pwd (print working directory) command:

sftp> pwd
Response: Remote working directory: /srv/bindings/daa068ccf4f8414596cddf5xxxxx

I am receiving errors connecting to my server with an SFTP client.

This is caused by using the SFTP application's default connection settings. We recommend you set the connection limit to 1 and then connect to your site.

Do not specify a default remote directory within your SFTP client. When application containers are migrated, which can be done at anytime, the remote directory will change.

I can't move files or folders from one directory to another.

This is a known limitation of using SFTP for on-server development on the platform. Our SFTP mode doesn't support the mv command, which most SFTP applications use when moving or renaming files. You can work around the limitation by transferring the files from your local machine or using rsync.

DNS Connection Issues

Status: Connecting to appserver.dev.dc82c743-3088-426f-bfcf-e388e4add2b3.drush.in:2222...
Response:    fzSftp started
Command:    open "dev.dc82c743-3088-426f-bfcf-e388e4add2b3@appserver.dev.dc82c743-3088-426f-bfcf-e388e4add2b3.drush.in" 2222
Error:  ssh_init: Host does not exist
Error:  Could not connect to server

Trouble resolving the server hostname or other DNS-related issues can generally be resolved by using Google's Public DNS service in place of your ISP's name servers. See Google's Public DNS for instructions.

If you're already using Google's DNS, or you're still having connection issues after updating your name-servers, consider trying an alternative SFTP client. Many times when FileZilla won't connect, Cyberduck (or another client) will. View a list of SFTP clients.

DNS Hijacking Issues

There have been observed cases in which Internet Service Providers (specifically Indonesian Telecom) hijack DNS, leaving you unable to connect via SFTP due to a timeout error:

Unable to connect to host codeserver.dev..drush.in, or the request timed out.
Be sure that the address is correct and that you have the necessary privileges, or try increasing the connection timeout (currently 10 seconds).

Replace SITE_UUID with your site's UUID and run the following to obtain the returned IP address:

dig codeserver.dev.<SITE_UUID>.drush.in

The returned IP is found within the ANSWER portion of the output:

;; ANSWER SECTION:
codeserver.dev.<SITE_UUID>.drush.in. 188 IN A xx.xx.xx.xxx

Run the address through IP WHOIS Lookup and review the results. The following is an example of DNS hijacking:

% [whois.apnic.net]
% Whois data copyright terms    https://www.apnic.net/manage-ip/using-whois/bulk-access/copyright/

% Information related to 'xx.xx.xx.0 - xx.xx.xx.255'

inetnum:        xx.xx.xx.0 - xx.xx.xx.255
netname:        TLKM_BB_SERVICE_36_86
descr:          PT TELKOM INDONESIA
                STO Gambir 3rd Floor
                Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan No. 12
                Jakarta 10110
country:        ID
admin-c:        AR165-AP
tech-c:         HM444-AP
status:         ALLOCATED NON-PORTABLE
mnt-by:         MAINT-TELKOMNET
mnt-irt:        IRT-IDTELKOM-ID
changed:        hostmaster@telkom.net.id 20130123
source:         APNIC

Unfortunately, no permanent solution has been found aside from changing Internet Service Providers. In some cases, you may be able troubleshoot the issue with your ISP or connect using a VPN.

Learn more about preventing DNS hijacking.