GitHub Git Pull — WordPress Plugin

Pull from a GitHub repository directly from the WordPress admin dashboard.

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Installation

1. Upload the github-git-pull folder to /wp-content/plugins/
2. Activate the plugin via Plugins → Installed Plugins
3. Go to Git Pull → Settings in the admin sidebar

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Configuration

Setting	Description
Repository Path	Absolute path on the server to the directory containing .git (e.g. /var/www/html)
Branch	Branch to pull from (default: main)
Remote	Git remote name (default: origin)
Git Binary Path	Full path to git — run which git on your server
SSH Key Path	Optional — path to SSH private key if using SSH remotes

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Lightsail Setup (SSH Authentication — Recommended)

# 1. Generate a deploy key for the www-data user
sudo -u www-data ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "lightsail-deploy" -f /var/www/.ssh/id_ed25519 -N ""

# 2. Print the public key — add this to GitHub repo → Settings → Deploy keys
sudo cat /var/www/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

# 3. Fix permissions
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/.ssh
sudo chmod 700 /var/www/.ssh
sudo chmod 600 /var/www/.ssh/id_ed25519

# 4. Test the connection as www-data
sudo -u www-data git -C /var/www/html pull origin main

Set SSH Key Path in the plugin settings to /var/www/.ssh/id_ed25519.

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HTTPS Authentication (Personal Access Token)

Update your git remote to embed the token:

cd /var/www/html
git remote set-url origin https://<YOUR_TOKEN>@github.com/<user>/<repo>.git

Leave SSH Key Path blank in settings.

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Server Requirements

• PHP exec() must be enabled (not disabled in php.ini)
• The web server user (www-data / apache) must have write access to the repo directory
• git must be installed on the server (sudo apt install git)

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Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
git binary not found	Run which git and update the Git Binary Path setting
Permission denied	Check that www-data owns the .git directory
Host key verification failed	The SSH key path is set and the key is added to GitHub
exec() disabled	Contact host or check php.ini for disable_functions