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Every pod has a dedicated SSH port, allowing you to connect directly to your container with any SSH client.

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Connection Details

Find your pod’s SSH details on the SSH tab of the pod detail page, or via the CLI: 
instapod pods get my-app
The SSH connection format is: 
ssh instapod@<server-host> -p <port>
For example: 
ssh [email protected] -p 2201

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Adding SSH Keys

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Via CLI

# Add your default key (~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub or ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub)
instapod ssh-keys add my-app

# Add a specific key
instapod ssh-keys add my-app --key ~/.ssh/work_key.pub

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Via Dashboard

  1. Go to your pod’s SSH tab
  2. Paste your public key in the text field
  3. Click Add Key

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Via API

curl -X POST https://api.instapods.com/api/pods/my-app/ssh/keys \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"key": "ssh-ed25519 AAAA... user@host"}'

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At Pod Creation

You can also include an SSH key when creating a pod: 
instapod pods create my-app --preset nodejs --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

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Quick Connect via CLI

The CLI has a built-in SSH command: 
instapod ssh my-app
This looks up the connection details and launches an SSH session automatically.

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Host Key Verification

InstaPods uses Trust On First Use (TOFU) for SSH security:
  • First connection: The host key is automatically accepted and saved to ~/.ssh/known_hosts
  • Subsequent connections: The saved key is verified. If it matches, you connect normally
  • Key mismatch: You’ll see a warning. This shouldn’t happen for a running pod
When you delete a pod, the CLI automatically removes the old host key from your known_hosts file to prevent conflicts when the SSH port is reused.

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SSH Port Allocation

Each pod gets a unique SSH port in the range 2200–3200. Ports are assigned automatically at pod creation. To prevent host key conflicts, deleted pods’ ports are not reused for 7 days.

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SCP / SFTP

You can use SCP or SFTP to transfer files: 
# Upload a file
scp -P 2201 ./app.js [email protected]:/home/instapod/app/

# Download a file
scp -P 2201 [email protected]:/home/instapod/app/config.json ./

# Upload a directory
scp -P 2201 -r ./project/ [email protected]:/home/instapod/app/
Or use SFTP for interactive file management: 
sftp -P 2201 [email protected]