shared-hosting-deployment

name	shared-hosting-deployment
description	Shared hosting/cPanel deploy: private artifact repos, local builds, PHP/Laravel symlinks, rollback. Use when deploying to shared hosting without VPS/Docker.

Default Stance

Manual/local build + private artifact repo + server pull + symlink public artifact dir only. GitHub Actions only when explicitly requested — SSH/secrets complexity risky on shared hosting.

Preflight Checklist

Answer before deploy:

• Domain path (~/public_html/domain.com)
• Stack (JS static / Laravel / PHP / other)
• Build output folder (out, dist, build, public)
• Server repo path (artifact clone)
• Current symlink target — readlink ~/public_html/domain.com
• Rollback target exists at recorded path
• Backup/rollback dir (~/backups or release dir)
• .env location (server-only, never in repo)

Never Commit Secrets

.env, API keys, DB dumps, logs/cache, node_modules, vendor — add to .gitignore before first push.

JS Static Workflow

1. Locally: npm ci && npm run build, smoke test
2. Copy build output (out/dist/build) to private artifact repo
3. Commit + push artifact repo
4. SSH to shared hosting: git pull in artifact clone
5. Target: ~/releases/YYYYMMDD-HHMM/<out|dist|build>
6. Record: current=$(readlink ~/public_html/domain.com)
7. Verify rollback target exists on disk
8. Switch: ln -sfn ~/releases/YYYYMMDD-HHMM/out ~/public_html/domain.com
9. Verify: curl -sSI https://domain.com → 200
10. On failure: ln -sfn "$current" ~/public_html/domain.com

Laravel/PHP Workflow

1. .env server-only, never committed
2. composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader in release
3. Record: current=$(readlink ~/public_html/domain.com)
4. Verify rollback target exists on disk: test -n "$current" && test -d "$current"
5. Storage link, cache clear, run migrations with checkpoint
6. Switch: ln -sfn ~/releases/YYYYMMDD-HHMM/public ~/public_html/domain.com
7. Verify: curl -sSI https://domain.com → 200
8. On failure: ln -sfn "$current" ~/public_html/domain.com

Keep release dirs: ~/releases/YYYYMMDD-HHMM

Backup Before Switch

1. Save rollback: current=$(readlink ~/public_html/domain.com)
2. If $current empty or path does not exist → BLOCKED
3. If target is real dir (not symlinked), optional snapshot: cp -a ~/public_html/domain.com ~/backups/domain-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M)
4. Only then switch symlink

Verification

• curl -sSI https://domain.com → 200
• Asset URLs return 200 (JS/CSS via curl)
• PHP: tail -20 ~/logs/error.log
• Route smoke test: key pages, forms, auth paths

BLOCKED

• No backup/rollback path recorded before switch
• Unknown symlink target (readlink fails or empty)
• Symlink target is release root — exposes full source, must point only at public artifact folder
• Rollback target path does not exist on disk
• Production DB migration without explicit approval
• Secrets (.env, keys) in artifact repo
• Destructive command (rm -rf, DROP TABLE) without checkpoint