SSH access
Real shell, not a sandboxed web terminal. SCP, rsync, screen, tmux, anything you'd run locally. Auth is SSH-key only; password auth is disabled by default.
Platform · Developers
WP-CLI, SSH, SFTP.
No tickets required.
Real shell access on every site, on every plan. Key-based auth, full WP-CLI, Composer, Node and live error logs streamed straight to your terminal. Built so you never have to email support to get something done.
SSH
Key-based, every plan
No password auth, ever
WP-CLI
Pre-installed, latest
All commands, all sites
SFTP
Per-site credentials
Jailed to site root
Live
Error log streaming
tail from your terminal
The tools you'd install yourself
A real developer environment, already configured.
No "please open a ticket to enable SSH." No version-locked PHP from 2019. The things that should just work, just work.
WP-CLI
Latest WP-CLI pre-installed on every site. Bulk-update plugins, run database queries, manage users, flush caches, generate test content, all from the shell.
SFTP
Per-site SFTP credentials, jailed to that site's document root. Works with VS Code Remote, Transmit, FileZilla, anything.
SSH keys, scoped
Add an SSH key once, scope it to specific sites. Revoke instantly. No shared accounts, no rotating passwords.
Composer, Node, npm
Composer 2, Node LTS and npm/pnpm/yarn pre-installed. Run composer install, build theme assets, transpile blocks, directly on the host or from your CI.
Live error log streaming
wp tango logs --follow streams your PHP error log, slow query log and access log straight to your terminal in real time.
What it actually feels like
The shell you expected.
ssh acme@ssh.wptango.com
acme@tango:~/sites/acme.com$ wp plugin update --all Enabling Maintenance mode… Downloading update from https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/woocommerce.zip… ✔ Updated woocommerce → 9.4.2 ✔ Updated wordfence → 8.0.1 ✔ Updated yoast-seo → 23.7 Disabling Maintenance mode… Success: Updated 3 of 3 plugins. acme@tango:~/sites/acme.com$ wp tango logs --follow [php-error] 2026-04-26 14:02:11 PHP Notice: Undefined index 'gateway' in … [slow-sql] 2026-04-26 14:02:18 1.42s SELECT * FROM wp_postmeta WHERE … [access] 2026-04-26 14:02:19 GET /shop 200 47ms acme@tango:~/sites/acme.com$ composer install --no-dev Installing dependencies from lock file 60 installs, 0 updates, 0 removals · 3.1s
Logs you can act on
Three logs, streamed live.
No 24-hour log delivery delays. No "upgrade to enterprise for log access."
PHP error log
Tail PHP errors and warnings live, filtered by site. Stack traces, file paths, line numbers, everything your debugger would show.
Slow query log
Anything over 1s (configurable) lands here, with the originating URL, query text and EXPLAIN plan. Find the plugin that's killing your TTFB in minutes.
Access log
Real-time access log with IP, status, response time and bot identification. Pipe it through awk, jq or your favorite tool.
Vs. the usual suspects
Most managed hosts limit the shell. We don't.
| Capability | WP Tango | Kinsta | WP Engine | Generic shared |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SSH on every plan | Higher tiers | Higher tiers | ||
| WP-CLI pre-installed | ||||
| SFTP per-site credentials | ||||
| Composer / Node / npm | ||||
| Live error log streaming | ||||
| Slow query log | ||||
| Scoped SSH keys |
Frequently asked questions
Developer tools, plainly explained.
What you get the moment your site is provisioned.
Built for developers
The shell access WordPress devs ask for.
SSH, WP-CLI, SFTP, Composer, Node, live logs, included on every plan. No tickets. No upcharges.
Every
plan ships SSH
Latest
WP-CLI
Live
tail logs
Per-site
credentials