Walkthrough · Advanced · an hour
How to Deploy a Site with Git
Replace uploading files by hand with a deployment you can repeat and undo — a hands-on walkthrough in plain words that names the classic mistake before you reach it.
The short answer
One line covers it: replace uploading files by hand with a deployment you can repeat and undo — a advanced-level job of roughly an hour.
Below is the full run of steps, the error most people trip over, and the short cut worth remembering. On Hosting & Domains plans several steps are already automated away — the guide marks each one.
By the Hosting & Domains team · Reviewed 18 August 2026
Advanced
Skill rating
an hour
Time budget
5
Steps in total
24/7
Support on call
No prior knowledge assumed — a hosting account, a browser and hour of attention is the whole entry requirement. Every instruction runs on our platform exactly as printed, and carries over to any standard cPanel host.
A promise before step one: nothing here is a one-way door. Any step with teeth is flagged, and the way back is printed beside it.
How the work divides up
Over the whole job, you will get the project into a repository, keep secrets out of the repository, set access up on the server, clone once, then pull to deploy and automate what happens after the pull.
No part of this needs code or a terminal unless the guide says so plainly — and where it does, the exact commands are printed. The step-by-step is below, with the surrounding sections supplying the context that makes it hold.
The error nearly everyone hits
Deploying directly into the live document root with nothing staged first. Half a pull leaves visitors looking at a broken site. Put the deployment in a new directory and move a symlink once it is ready, which makes the change atomic and leaves the previous version untouched.
It earns a section of its own because it is no obscure edge case — it is the single commonest reason this task reaches a support queue. Knowing it in advance turns the whole job from risky into routine.
A habit worth borrowing
Tag your releases. Something breaks at six in the evening: checking out the previous tag rolls it back in ten seconds, whereas working out which commit was live takes all night. It costs nothing at deploy time and pays for itself the first time it is needed.
Habits this small are what separate the people who find hosting effortless from the people who find it draining. The same tools on both sides — a different way of working.
Where this platform takes work off you
Some steps in this guide exist only because hosting traditionally forced them on you. Here the SSL issues itself, the copy is taken daily without being asked, and one-click installers remove the manual setup. What is left is the part that was always genuinely yours.
Should a step still misfire, support answers at any hour with an actual fix rather than a knowledge-base link and a shrug. Half the guides on this site began as repeat patterns in our ticket queue.
A quick platform makes for a short guide
Every walkthrough in this library is run on the platform we actually operate — cPanel, LiteSpeed, NVMe, one-click installs — so the instructions match your screen rather than gesturing at it from a distance.
Mailboxes at your own name are part of the plan — mail is included, not sold back to you at the checkout.
- Every step checked exactly as published
- The snag named before it arrives
- The dull steps taken out of your way
- People reachable at any hour you stall
Why Hosting & Domains
Standard on every plan
The dull parts automated
SSL, backups and installs look after themselves here, leaving the guide to cover only what is genuinely yours.
Jargon never charges you
Every term is defined on the spot or linked to the jargon buster — nothing assumes prior knowledge.
Help that keeps your hours, not ours
Stuck on step three at midnight? Support answers at any hour, mid-walkthrough included.
Every undo written out
Any step that could bite is marked, together with the exact way to wind it back.
Honest about how big it is
Replace uploading files by hand with a deployment you can repeat and undo is a advanced-level job — set aside an hour, with the platform-absorbed steps marked.
Taken from real tickets
These guides came out of the support queue, so every snag flagged is one people genuinely hit.
Quick Start
Order placed to site online
- 1
Get the project into a repository
Keep the code under version control and leave out uploads, caches and anything carrying credentials. A .gitignore written properly on day one saves an embarrassing history rewrite a few months later.
- 2
Keep secrets out of the repository
Database passwords and API keys belong in an environment file git never sees. The repository should be safe to clone anywhere without handing production's keys over with it.
- 3
Set access up on the server
A deploy key gives the server read-only access to one repository, which is narrower than an account key and revocable on its own. cPanel's Git Version Control arranges this from an interface if you would rather stay out of the terminal.
- 4
Clone once, then pull to deploy
That first deployment is a clone, either into the document root or into a directory next to it. Each deployment after it is a pull, carrying only the changes and done in seconds.
- 5
Automate what happens after the pull
Dependency installs, a build step, a cache purge. A short deployment script runs them in the same order every time, which is the entire reason for working this way.
Built In
Fitted to every plan
- A renewal figure identical to the one you registered at
- SSH, Git and Composer on the developer plans
- PHP versions set per site from the control panel
- People on the support desk every hour of every day
- WordPress Toolkit, with the updates seen to for you
- Webmail in the browser plus IMAP, POP and SMTP for any client
- Free SSL on every plan, reissued before the old one lapses
- Softaculous included for one-click application installs
- LiteSpeed caching in the server itself rather than bolted on by plugin
- Spam and virus screening on every mailbox by default
Frequently Asked
The questions that come up most
Does shared hosting support Git deployment?
It does. Our cPanel plans include Git Version Control alongside SSH and Composer, so a clone-and-pull workflow works without moving to a VPS. For anybody who would rather not live at a command line, the interface handles repository setup and deployment.
Does everything belong in the repository?
The code yes; user uploads, generated caches and the database no. They change on their own schedule rather than with releases, so the backup routine is where they belong. Mix them in and the repository swells, while a rollback gains the power to destroy content it should never have touched.
Who stands behind Hosting & Domains?
Hosting & Domains is a trading name of UK Health Care Support Ltd, registered in England and Wales — a real company with a public filing and terms governed by English law. Running that check on any host before you hand over a domain is time well spent.
If I cancel, what becomes of my site and files?
They remain yours. Download a full copy from the panel whenever you like, before or during cancellation. Names stay registered in your name for the term you paid for and can move to any registrar once the standard 60-day window has passed.
Keep reading
How to Add TXT Records for Verification
Prove you own the domain to Google, Microsoft or any service that asks for it — beginner level, about 5 minutes per service.
How to Add Google Analytics
Understand your audience properly, with consent handled the right way round — beginner level, about 30 minutes.
Git (Glossary)
The full definition, along with the practical consequence nobody bothers to mention.
Web Hosting
cPanel hosting on NVMe drives — SSL, the migration and year one of the name all included.
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Laravel-ready hosting with Composer, SSH and Git-driven deployment.
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