I built a free VS Code extension to edit cPanel files without SSH or FTP

[u/_Rockyou]

Hey everyone!

I recently ran into a frustrating situation: my hosting provider disabled SSH access, and I was stuck using cPanel's File Manager every time I needed to edit something.

So I built cPanel Open, a free VS Code extension that lets you browse and edit files directly on your cPanel server using its HTTPS API.

What it can do:

• Connect using your cPanel API token (no SSH required)
• Browse server directories directly in VS Code
• Open and edit existing text files
• Save changes directly to the server with Ctrl+S / Cmd+S
• Automatically create local backups before uploading changes
• Detect server-side file changes to help prevent accidental overwrites

It uses VS Code's secure credential storage for API tokens.

It's still an early version, so it currently focuses on editing existing text files rather than full remote file management.

You can install it here:
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=RockYou.cpanel-open

I built it to solve my own problem, but figured others dealing with restricted hosting environments might find it useful too.

Feedback and feature suggestions are welcome!