This guide walks you through configuring SFTP as a destination for your Webflow Analyze and Optimize data export.
public key to configure your destination. It will look roughly like this:Log in to the SFTP server and complete the steps below.
Create group sftpwriter:
Create user sftpwriter:
Switch to the sftpwriter user:
Create the .ssh directory:
Set permissions:
Navigate to the .ssh directory:
Create the authorized_keys file:
Set permissions:
Add the public key to the authorized_keys file. The key — including the “ssh-key” and comment — should be all on one line in the file, without linebreaks.
Use the following details to complete the connection setup: host name, folder name, username, port and preferred delimiter character.
Write permissions at the SFTP root are required
In addition to write access within your configured <folder>, this destination writes per-transfer manifest files under a _manifests/ directory created at the root of the SFTP home/path. Ensure the SFTP user can create and write to _manifests at that root (even if your data lands under a subfolder). Manifests allow downstream systems to detect when a transfer is complete. See the FAQ below for how these files are organized.
The data will be loaded with the configured file format (Parquet, CSV, or JSON/JSONL) in a predictable folder structure that can be easily parsed by downstream systems.
Use SSH key-based authentication for a dedicated, least-privileged SFTP user. Restrict access to only the required directories (e.g., chroot), and allowlist Webflow’s static egress IP at your network perimeter.
Parquet (default/recommended), CSV, and JSON/JSONL.
Each transfer writes a manifest JSON file per model under _manifests/ at the root. Files follow the pattern: _manifests/<model_name>/dt=<transfer_date>/manifest_{transfer_id}.json. Use these manifests to trigger downstream processing.
File-based destinations are append-oriented. The change-detection process uses a lookback window to prevent missed records, which can create duplicates across adjacent transfers. Downstream pipelines can deduplicate by primary key prioritizing rows in the most recent transfer window.
We do not support providing your own public key for security reasons. The private key is securely generated and stored in our system and is never shared externally.