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Accessing your database

SuperSpace gives you one-click access to phpMyAdmin, a web-based tool for browsing and managing your site's MySQL/MariaDB database. You open it straight from the dashboard — no usernames, passwords, or host details to copy.

What is phpMyAdmin?

phpMyAdmin is a graphical interface for your database. From it you can browse tables, look up individual rows, run SQL queries, and export data. It's the same tool many WordPress hosts provide, opened here through secure single sign-on.

Before you start

  • A site that's finished provisioning and is up and running (status ONLINE)
  • Edit access to the site. If you can only view the site, the phpMyAdmin button is shown but disabled.

Open phpMyAdmin

  1. Open your site. In the sidebar, choose My Sites and click the site you want. This lands you on the site's Overview page.

  2. Find the File Access card. Scroll to the File Access card. Alongside your SSH/SFTP details you'll see two buttons: phpMyAdmin and Cloud Shell.

  3. Click phpMyAdmin. phpMyAdmin opens in a new browser tab, already logged in to your site's database.1

The phpMyAdmin button signs you in automatically — there's no login screen and nothing to type. Because the secure link is generated fresh each time and expires within seconds, you can't bookmark the phpMyAdmin tab or share its URL. Just click the button again whenever you need to get back in.

The same one-click sign-on is available through the API. Request a signed phpMyAdmin URL, then open it in a browser:

curl -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERSPACE_TOKEN" \
  -H "X-Auth-Account: $ACCOUNT_ID" \
  -d "kind=database" \
  https://control.superspace.nl/api/sites/$SITE_ID/sso

A success returns 200 with the link:

{ "url": "https://..." }

The returned URL is short-lived, so open it right away. This endpoint isn't available with OAuth access tokens — use a session or API-key credential. See Site SSO for the full endpoint reference.

What you can do in phpMyAdmin

Once phpMyAdmin opens, you're working directly with your live database. It's a standard phpMyAdmin install, so you have its full feature set. Common tasks:

  • Browse tables. Open your site's database to view its tables (for example wp_options or wp_posts) and page through their rows.
  • Search and edit rows. Use phpMyAdmin's built-in search to find specific records, and edit a row in place to change a single value.
  • Run a query. Run your own SQL against the database.
  • Export data. Download a copy of a table or the whole database (for example as a .sql file).

Changes are immediate and permanent

phpMyAdmin edits your live database directly — there's no undo. Editing or deleting the wrong row can break your site. Before making changes, take a backup of the relevant volume from the Backups page, and prefer the WordPress admin for routine content edits.

Need files instead of the database?

Media uploads, themes, plugins, and wp-config.php live in your site's files, not the database. See Accessing your files to use the file manager or SFTP.

Troubleshooting

  • The phpMyAdmin button is greyed out. You have view-only access to this site. Ask an account administrator to grant you edit access.
  • phpMyAdmin didn't open / opened a blank tab. Make sure your browser isn't blocking pop-ups for the dashboard, then click phpMyAdmin again. The sign-in link expires within seconds, so a stale or reused tab won't work — always start from the button.

Next steps

  • Access your files with the file manager or SFTP
  • Take a backup before any risky database change

  1. The dashboard generates a one-time, cryptographically signed sign-in link each time you click phpMyAdmin. It expires within seconds, which is why the phpMyAdmin tab can't be bookmarked or shared. ↩