Let an AI coding tool work on your site over SSH

An AI coding tool such as Claude Code can read your site's files, search its logs, write code and upload changes, if it can reach your hosting over SSH. sPremium includes SSH access limited to your own hosting account, so the tool sees your own subscription and nothing else on the server. This guide gives the tool a key of its own, keeps it asking before every command, and sets up the safe working pattern: the tool works on a copy on your computer, and changes reach the live site through Git or a reviewed upload.

Last reviewed: 19 October 2026, against the current Claude Code release and Plesk Obsidian on Noiz sPremium hosting.

Official Documentation Reference

• Anthropic: Claude Code permission modes: how to make the tool ask before it acts.
• Anthropic: Claude Code permissions: allow and deny rules.
• Anthropic: Claude Code security: Anthropic's own advice on reviewing commands and prompt injection.
• Plesk: Enabling SSH access for website users: what the chrooted shell is.
• Plesk Customer Guide: Git, remote repositories: deploying from GitHub or GitLab.

Before you start

• An sPremium plan. sLegacy has no SSH; see the closing section.
• Claude Code on your computer (macOS 13 or later, Windows 10 version 1809 or later, or Ubuntu 20.04 or later, with at least 4 GB of memory) and a paid Claude plan or an Anthropic Console account. The free Claude plan does not include Claude Code.
• A recent backup: see our guide to backing up before you let an AI change anything. For WordPress, a staging copy in WP Toolkit is better still, and the tool should work there first.

What the SSH shell gives the tool

The shell on sPremium is deliberately small. Knowing what it is for saves the tool from guessing, and saves you from approving commands that cannot work.

Because the shell is limited to your own hosting account, a mistake or a misled tool cannot reach anyone else's site, the server's own files or other subscriptions. Git, Node.js and the PHP version are managed in the panel, as above.

Step 1: Turn on SSH access for the subscription

1. In Plesk, go to Websites & Domains, open the Hosting & DNS tab and click Hosting (on some layouts, Web Hosting Access).
2. Under SSH access, change Forbidden to /bin/bash (chrooted).
3. Note the system user name shown on the same page. That is the SSH user name.
4. Click OK or Save.

The host to connect to is your domain or the server name in your Noiz welcome email. If the connection needs a port other than the standard one, it is given there too; if in doubt, ask us.

Step 2: Make a key for the tool, and only for the tool

Give the AI tool a key pair of its own, so that you can remove its access without touching yours.

1. On your computer, create the key:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/noiz-claude-code -C "Claude Code, my laptop"

2. Set a passphrase when asked. Your computer's key agent can remember it for the session.
3. In Plesk, open SSH Keys under the domain and add the public half (noiz-claude-code.pub), with a name that says which tool and computer it is for.
4. Test it yourself before the tool does:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/noiz-claude-code [email protected] ls

Replace the user and domain with your own. You should see the folders of your subscription, such as httpdocs and logs. For background on keys, see How to set up SSH key-based authentication on a Linux server.

Step 3: Set Claude Code to ask before every command

Recent versions of Claude Code start in an automatic mode, in which a second AI model reviews actions instead of you. For work that reaches a live website, you want to see every command first.

1. Start Claude Code in a folder on your computer that holds a copy of your site (Step 4).
2. Press Shift+Tab until the mode shown is Manual (the standard mode that asks before edits and commands). To make it stick, set defaultMode to default under permissions in the project's .claude/settings.json.
3. Add deny rules for commands it must never run on the server. Type /permissions and add, for example:

{
  "permissions": {
    "defaultMode": "default",
    "deny": [
      "Bash(ssh * rm *)",
      "Bash(ssh * mv *)",
      "Bash(ssh * chmod *)"
    ]
  }
}

Deny rules match the command as written, so treat them as a guard rail, not a lock. The lock is the limit to your own account and your own review of each command. Never use the mode that skips permissions; Anthropic says it offers no protection against prompt injection.

Claude Code's sandbox, if you turn it on, blocks plain ssh. Leave it off for this work, or allow the SSH commands to run outside it, and rely on the Manual mode instead.

Step 4: Work on a copy, not on the live site

The safest pattern is for the tool to change files on your computer, and for you to decide when they go live.

1. Download a copy of the site or of the folder you want to work on: scp -i ~/.ssh/noiz-claude-code -r [email protected]:httpdocs/wp-content/themes/your-theme ./, or use SFTP in FileZilla with the same key.
2. Put the copy under Git on your computer (git init, then commit), so that every change the tool makes can be seen and undone.
3. Ask Claude Code for the change: "In this theme, the mobile menu does not close after a tap. Find the cause and fix it. Show me the diff before you save."
4. Review the diff. Commit when you are happy.

Then publish in one of two ways:

• With Git (recommended). Push the repository to a private repository on a Git host such as GitHub or GitLab. In Plesk, open Git under the domain, click Add Repository, choose Remote Git repository and paste its SSH address. Plesk shows an SSH public key to add to the repository as a read-only deploy key. Use Change branch and path to point the deployment at the theme or plugin folder, and choose Automatic deployment with the webhook Plesk gives you, or Manual deployment if you want to press Deploy yourself. Every deployment is a commit you can roll back.
• By upload. Ask the tool to upload only the changed files with scp or SFTP, and approve each upload. Do not let it delete files on the server.

Step 5: Let it read the server safely

Reading is where SSH is most useful and least risky. Good requests:

• "Over SSH, show me the last 100 lines of logs/error_log for the domain and explain the errors."
• "Search httpdocs/wp-content/plugins for files changed in the last two days and list them."
• "Compare the functions.php on the server with my local copy and show the differences."

For WordPress tasks such as updating a plugin or checking core files, use WP Toolkit in Plesk. For a Node.js application, use Node.js under the domain to install packages and restart the application.

Revoking the tool's access

Remove the tool's public key on the SSH Keys page, and delete the private key from your computer. Its access ends at once. Do this when the project ends, when you change computers, and if the tool ever runs a command you did not approve.

Troubleshooting

• "Permission denied (publickey)". The public key is not on the subscription, the user name is wrong, or SSH access is off for the subscription. Check Step 1 and Step 2.
• "Command not found". The SSH session is for files and logs. Use WP Toolkit, Git or Node.js in the panel for WordPress, deployments and Node.js applications.
• The tool cannot connect at all, but your own test works. Claude Code's sandbox is blocking ssh. Turn it off for this project, or allow the command outside the sandbox.
• The tool keeps proposing commands that change the server. Stop it, remind it of the pattern in Step 4, and add deny rules for those commands.
• Something on the live site changed that you did not approve. Remove the key, restore your backup or redeploy the last good commit, and read the session to see what happened.

Why this needs sPremium

sLegacy has no shell at all, so an AI coding tool can only upload files there. sPremium includes SSH access limited to your own hosting account, Git deployment, Node.js, your choice of PHP version, WP Toolkit staging and a dedicated PHP pool, so the tool's work and your visitors do not compete with other sites. Compare the shared hosting plans; moving from sLegacy to sPremium is a plan change on the same panel. If you want the server and WordPress looked after for you as well, WordPress Care adds updates, checks and recovery.