Most of the time WordPress is all you'll touch. But every so often you need to get under WordPress — to fix a site that won't load its own admin, edit a config value, or take a look at the database directly. CloudPerch gives you an in-portal File Manager for exactly those moments, so you can do the job from your browser without setting up SFTP or asking support to poke around for you.

This guide covers the everyday File Manager tasks, how to reach your database, and when you'd graduate to the developer tools on Aerie.

Open the File Manager

The File Manager lives in your dashboard, scoped to the site you're working on.

  1. Open the site from your dashboard.
  2. Choose File Manager from the site's tools.
  3. You'll land in the site's own directory — its files and folders, and nobody else's.

Each site is isolated, with its own walled-off space, so what you see in the File Manager is your site alone. There's no risk of wandering into another site's files, and nothing you do here touches anyone else on the platform.

Your WordPress files sit under the site's web root — the usual suspects like wp-content, wp-admin, and the wp-config.php file are all there.

Everyday tasks

A few jobs come up again and again, and the File Manager handles all of them.

Browse and upload. Click into folders to look around. Use the upload button to drop in a file — a theme .zip, an image, a .htaccess rule — without a separate client.

Edit wp-config.php. This is the file you'll edit most. It holds your database settings and a handful of useful constants. To put a site into maintenance or debug mode, for example, you'd open wp-config.php and adjust the relevant define(...) line. Edit carefully — a typo here can take the whole site offline until you fix it.

Unstick a bad plugin. If a plugin update locks you out of wp-admin entirely, you don't need the admin area to disable it. In the File Manager, open wp-content/plugins, find the offending plugin's folder, and rename it (say, add -off to the end). WordPress can no longer load it, so it deactivates itself — and you're back into the admin to sort it out.

Snapshot before you edit core files. A one-click on-demand snapshot turns a risky edit into a two-minute rollback. See restore your site from a backup.

Reach your database

Sometimes the thing you need to fix lives in the database, not the files — a stuck setting, an orphaned option, a value you need to read. The File Manager area also gives you access to your site's database, so you can browse tables and run the occasional query directly.

A few cautions, because the database is less forgiving than the files:

  • Always snapshot first. A bad UPDATE or DELETE has no undo of its own.
  • Read before you write. Browse the table and confirm you're changing the right rows.
  • Prefer a plugin for routine jobs. For search-and-replace across content, a reputable plugin is safer than hand-writing SQL.

For most people the database is a "look, occasionally fix" tool, not a daily one — and that's exactly the right way to treat it.

When to step up to SFTP and SSH

The File Manager covers the great majority of hands-on tasks. But if you'd rather move files with a desktop client, or you live on the command line and want a real shell on the server, the higher tiers open that up:

  • SFTP access arrives on Perch Pro and up — drag-and-drop files from a client like FileZilla or Cyberduck instead of the browser.
  • SSH access arrives on Flock and Aerie — a full shell, which is also where command-line tooling like Git deploys and WP-CLI scripting live.

If your workflow is mostly clicking through WordPress with the occasional file or database fix, the in-portal File Manager is all you need on any plan. If it's drag-and-drop file transfers or command-line tooling, that's the signal to look at Perch Pro, Flock, or Aerie.

Where to go next

The File Manager is the screwdriver in the drawer — there when a job needs it, ignored the rest of the time. Pair it with a good safety habit:

Stuck on a fix and not sure which file to touch? Reach out and we'll point you at it.