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Coolify Requires Root SSH Access to the Host

Affects: Coolify

Fact

Coolify connects to the host via SSH as root to manage deployments. By default, Ubuntu disables root password login but key-based root login may also be restricted.

Check sshd_config

grep PermitRootLogin /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Required setting: PermitRootLogin prohibit-password (allows key auth, blocks password auth).

Fix

sudo sed -i 's/^PermitRootLogin no/PermitRootLogin prohibit-password/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
sudo systemctl restart sshd

Add the public key to root

sudo mkdir -p /root/.ssh
sudo chmod 700 /root/.ssh
sudo sh -c 'echo "<pubkey>" >> /root/.ssh/authorized_keys'
sudo chmod 600 /root/.ssh/authorized_keys

See Also