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How It Works

When you update an existing site, SimpleHost compares SHA-256 hashes of each file against the previous version. Files that haven’t changed are copied server-side — no re-upload needed. This makes updates fast, even for large sites with hundreds of files.

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The Flow

1

Send manifest with hashes

Include the hash field for each file in your update request:
{
  "files": [
    {"path": "index.html", "size": 2048, "contentType": "text/html", "hash": "abc123..."},
    {"path": "style.css", "size": 512, "contentType": "text/css", "hash": "def456..."}
  ]
}
2

API compares hashes

The API checks each file’s hash against the same file path in the previous version.
3

Matching files are skipped

Files with identical hashes appear in the skipped array — they’re copied internally, no upload needed.
4

Upload only changed files

Only files in the uploads array need to be uploaded.

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Example Response

If you update a site where only index.html changed: 
{
  "upload": {
    "uploads": [
      {"path": "index.html", "url": "...", "headers": {"Content-Type": "text/html"}}
    ],
    "skipped": [
      {"path": "style.css", "reason": "hash_match"},
      {"path": "logo.png", "reason": "hash_match"},
      {"path": "app.js", "reason": "hash_match"}
    ]
  }
}
Only 1 file needs uploading. The other 3 are copied server-side instantly.

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Computing Hashes

The hash must be a SHA-256 hex digest (64 lowercase hex characters).

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macOS

shasum -a 256 index.html | cut -d' ' -f1

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Linux

sha256sum index.html | cut -d' ' -f1

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Node.js

const crypto = require('crypto');
const fs = require('fs');

const hash = crypto.createHash('sha256')
  .update(fs.readFileSync('index.html'))
  .digest('hex');

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Python

import hashlib

with open('index.html', 'rb') as f:
    hash = hashlib.sha256(f.read()).hexdigest()
The publish.sh script handles hashing automatically. You only need to compute hashes manually if you’re building a custom integration with the API.

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Without Hashes

If you omit the hash field, every file is treated as new and must be uploaded. Always include hashes when updating to get the performance benefit.