What’s New in cPanel Meridian

If you manage a VPS or Dedicated server and your cPanel login suddenly offers a theme called Meridian, you are looking at cPanel’s newest interface, not a Jupiter redesign. cPanel Meridian is a goal-based theme introduced in cPanel & WHM version 138. Instead of organizing tools by category the way Jupiter does, Meridian groups every feature into six hubs built around what you are trying to accomplish. This article walks through what changed: the six hubs, the new Dashboard and Command Palette, and the AI tools.

Meridian is opt-in and reversible. InMotion Hosting creates every cPanel account on Jupiter and is not making Meridian the default, so you can switch to Meridian and back as many times as you like once it reaches your server. See How to Switch to the cPanel Meridian Theme (and Back to Jupiter) for the exact steps. InMotion Hosting Shared, Reseller, and WordPress Hosting plans still run the cPanel LTS line, version 134, so Meridian is not available there yet.

What Are the Six Hubs in cPanel Meridian?

Where Jupiter spreads related tools across separate menu items, Meridian folds them into one hub page per goal. The table below shows what each hub manages. In the sidebar, the Websites hub is labeled Websites & Apps.

Hub	What It Manages
Websites & Apps	Domains, subdomains, SSL certificates, DNS, backups, and the website builder
Email	Email accounts, forwarders, and filters
Files	File Manager, File Transfer accounts, disk usage, and backups
Databases	MySQL and MariaDB databases and database users
Security	SSL certificates, IP blocking, two-step verification, and password security
Performance	Bandwidth, visitor, and error stats, plus resource usage

Two labels changed along the way. Jupiter’s FTP Accounts interface is now File Transfer accounts, found in the Files hub, and Jupiter’s Two-Factor Authentication setting is now two-step verification, found in the Security hub. Same features, new names.

The Websites hub is a good example of the shift. Instead of a separate page for each task, it opens with summary cards (addon domains, subdomains, aliases, disk usage, bandwidth, active websites, and empty document roots) and one sortable table of every domain on the account. Columns cover the website, its apps, SSL status, and PHP version, and filter chips narrow the list to sites with or without SSL or to subdomains. Click + Add Website to create a domain, or click Manage to open one domain’s settings.

Hubs organize where a tool lives. What actually greets you on login, though, is a different page entirely.

A Dashboard That Tells You What Needs Attention

Meridian’s Dashboard is the page you land on after login, and it answers one question first: what needs your attention right now.

• Action Required flags problems, such as a domain whose DNS does not point to the server or a self-signed certificate, and pairs each one with a direct fix button such as Fix SSL Issue.
• Suggested Next Actions recommends tasks such as setting up a website, creating a backup, or viewing performance, each with a one-click link. Dismiss any suggestion with the X.
• Resource Usage shows disk space and bandwidth against your account’s limits.
• Account Overview summarizes SSL certificates, two-step verification, domains, email accounts, databases, and backups in one glance.

Finding a specific tool that is not on the Dashboard usually means reaching for the Command Palette instead.

How Does the Command Palette Work?

Meridian adds a keyboard-first way to jump to any feature without browsing a menu. Click Search… in the header, press Cmd+K on macOS or Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux, or type / from anywhere in the interface. A Jump to box opens. Type the name of a feature, interface, or setting, use the arrow keys to move between results, and press Enter to open it. Results are grouped as Actions (such as Create Email Account), Pages, Tools, and Settings. Click Browse all commands to see the full list.

What Changed in the Header and Sidebar?

The header carries the controls you reach for constantly, in the same place no matter which hub you are viewing:

• The cPanel logo returns you to the Dashboard.
• Search… opens the Command Palette.
• Classic cPanel Theme switches back to Jupiter. It only appears if your account can switch back.
• A Help icon and a Notifications icon open their respective panels.
• A three-way Light, System, Dark toggle controls the display appearance.
• Your avatar (a circle with your initial) opens a menu with Profile, Connections, and Log Out.

Note: Switching between Jupiter and Meridian does not change light or dark appearance. Those are set separately from the display preferences icon in the header.

The sidebar on the left holds primary navigation to the six hubs and is collapsible. Click Collapse at the bottom to hide the labels and reclaim screen space, and click it again to expand.

What Is Guided Setup?

Guided Setup is the wizard that walks a new account through its domain, website, and email in one flow. On an existing account you reach the same website part of it from the Websites & Apps hub: click + Add Website, choose a domain (your primary domain, another domain, or a new subdomain), and click Continue. The next step, How do you want to build?, lists the build tools enabled for your account. cPanel’s full menu of tools is:

• Sitejet Builder
• WordPress
• Nova (describe the site or web app you want and let AI build it)
• Nova for WordPress
• Node.js, deployed from a Git repository or a ZIP file
• Custom Code, where you upload your own files

Important: Only the tools enabled for your server and plan appear. As of September 2026, the wizard on InMotion Hosting VPS and Dedicated servers offers two: AI App Hosting (deploy a Node.js app from a Git repository or a file) and Custom Code (upload your own files and use any framework). cPanel’s WordPress card depends on WP Toolkit, which InMotion Hosting installs on Shared and WordPress Hosting servers, not on VPS or Dedicated, so use WordPress Manager by InMotion Hosting in Jupiter for WordPress installs. A domain that already has a site shows fewer options, and Sitejet Builder and Nova do not appear on the default package.

What AI Features Does cPanel Meridian Include?

Meridian ships with several AI-powered tools, and each one is enabled individually. On InMotion Hosting VPS and Dedicated servers running cPanel 138, the AI Assistant is on (its Ask AI button appears in the bottom-right corner of every Meridian page), AI App Hosting appears in the Add Website wizard, and MCP connections are managed from Connections in the avatar menu. Nova is not offered.

Note: The AI Assistant answers questions about your own account only. It never sees other accounts or server settings.

AI Assistant

Open the AI Assistant from the floating Ask AI button in the bottom-right corner. A panel titled AI Assistant slides in with the greeting “How can I help you?” and suggested prompts such as “What domains do I have?” and “How much disk space am I using?”. It is context-aware: the greeting and the suggested prompts change based on where you are in cPanel, so they stay relevant to your current task. The panel reminds you that AI responses may be inaccurate and to verify important changes.

The AI Assistant can:

• Explain features and guide you through a task step by step.
• Diagnose problems by reading read-only account details: domains, disk quota, email accounts, FTP accounts, databases, SSL status, and the AutoSSL error log.
• Make simple changes, such as creating an email account, only if InMotion Hosting enables that capability and only after you approve the change.

The AI Assistant will not perform actions that cannot be undone, it does not act as the WHM administrator assistant, and it does not write code for you.

Nova and Nova for WordPress

Nova and Nova for WordPress are cPanel’s AI site generation options inside Guided Setup: describe the site or web app you want, and Nova builds a starting point for you to refine. They are part of cPanel’s early-access AI program and do not appear on InMotion Hosting servers today.

AI App Hosting

AI App Hosting deploys a Node.js application to your account from a Git repository or an uploaded file, with automatic build and start. It is one of the two build options InMotion Hosting VPS and Dedicated servers show in the Add Website wizard, next to Custom Code. cPanel runs the app with Podman. The first release supported subdomain deployments only. Meridian 1.3.3-1 added the ability to deploy a web application onto a domain your account already owns.

MCP support

Meridian can connect to AI coding tools through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). In Account Preferences, find the MCP Connection section, click Link WebPros Account, and sign in. Then download mcp.json from the same section. Paste its contents into ~/.claude.json for single-user access through Claude Code, or into .mcp.json in a repository root for shared access. Restart Claude Code, run /mcp, and authenticate in the browser window that appears. Meridian 1.3.3-1 added a dedicated Connections tab in Account Preferences for managing API tokens and MCP together.

What Stays in Jupiter?

Meridian is an alternative to Jupiter, not a replacement for it. Jupiter remains fully supported for advanced and less-frequently used tools. Domain Recommendations & Purchase, for example, is supported only in the Jupiter theme. If you switch to Meridian and need a tool that still lives in Jupiter, click Classic cPanel Theme in the header. That option only appears if your account can switch back.

What Changed in Account Preferences?

Open Account Preferences by clicking your avatar icon in the upper-right corner of the header, then clicking Profile. From there you can manage:

• Password
• Two-step verification
• Language: Meridian 1.3.3-1 added Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese, and Turkish
• Theme: switch between Jupiter and Meridian
• Personalization
• Contact information
• Notification preferences
• Connections: API tokens and MCP, added in Meridian 1.3.3-1 and also reachable from the avatar menu

The Theme section lists Jupiter (Classic cPanel Theme) and Meridian, and whichever theme you pick shows an Active badge. Your choice applies only to your account and remains in effect across sessions.

Which InMotion Hosting Plans Have cPanel Meridian?

Short answer: cPanel Meridian requires cPanel & WHM version 138. VPS and Dedicated servers get it once their server updates to 138. Shared, Reseller, and WordPress Hosting plans run the cPanel LTS line, version 134, so Meridian is not available there yet.

InMotion Hosting VPS and Dedicated servers follow cPanel’s RELEASE update tier. cPanel promoted 138 to that tier in September 2026, so those servers receive it through the nightly cPanel update. Before assuming Meridian is available on your account, check the version number in the footer of the Jupiter home page (bottom-left corner). If it reads 138 or higher, a Try the new Meridian theme button appears at the top of the Jupiter home page.

If you have root access to WHM, you can also set the theme per account or in bulk from WHM. See our guide to changing an account’s cPanel theme in WHM for that path, and the InMotion Hosting product guides for plan details.

Conclusion

cPanel Meridian reorganizes cPanel around six task-based hubs, a Dashboard that surfaces what needs your attention, a Command Palette, and a set of AI tools. Jupiter’s full toolset stays in place for anyone who prefers it or needs a tool that has not moved over yet. If your VPS or Dedicated server runs cPanel & WHM 138, the next step is switching to the cPanel Meridian theme, a change you can undo at any time. For more detail straight from cPanel, see its own Welcome to Meridian documentation.