Publishing docs — all chapters
What WebDAV is for
WebDAV is a way of reading and writing files over HTTPS. A lot of things speak it: Nextcloud and ownCloud, Synology and QNAP boxes, Fastmail Files, Hetzner Storage Boxes, and some web hosts. If the place you want your site already offers WebDAV, Selfish can publish to it without SSH.
In Site Settings → Publishing, set Publish Using to WebDAV.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Folder Address | The address of the folder your site goes in, starting https://. |
| User | Your username on that service. |
| Password | Your password. Many services want an app password here rather than your account password. |
Selfish never uses plain http for WebDAV, so your password can’t be read on the way. An http:// address is refused, and an address with no scheme at all is treated as https://. A server that tries to redirect the upload somewhere else is refused too, because following it would send your password there.
Folder addresses for common services
| Service | The folder address looks like | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Nextcloud, ownCloud | https://cloud.example.com/remote.php/dav/files/<user>/<folder> | Make an app password under Settings → Security. |
| Synology, QNAP | https://<nas>:5006/<shared folder> | Turn on the NAS’s WebDAV server first. |
| Fastmail Files | https://myfiles.fastmail.com/<folder> | Use an app password that is allowed to use Files. |
| Hetzner Storage Box | https://<user>.your-storagebox.de/<folder> |
Getting the files there is half of it
WebDAV puts files in a folder. Whether that folder is a website depends on what serves it. A web host’s WebDAV folder usually is one already. A NAS needs its web server pointed at the shared folder. File storage on its own, such as a storage box or a cloud drive, keeps your files safely but doesn’t serve them to the public.
Check that the folder you publish to is one your readers can reach, and set Site URL to the address it is served at.
What a publish does
WebDAV behaves like SFTP.
- Only files that changed are sent.
- Files your site no longer has are removed, and Selfish removes only what it recorded uploading.
- The site’s folder is created if it isn’t there.
- The record of what was uploaded is
.selfish-manifest.json, next to your site.
Test Connection confirms that the login works and that the address is a folder.
Problems? See Troubleshooting.