diff --git a/modules/deploy.py b/modules/deploy.py
index 96d4806..bc64be1 100644
--- a/modules/deploy.py
+++ b/modules/deploy.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 from fabric.api import env, task
-from fabric.operations import run
+from fabric.operations import run, local
 
 # from fabric.contrib.files import upload_template
 # from utils import print_run
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ def sync(full=True, extras=False):
     command_mkdir_remote = "mkdir -p {remote}".format(remote=remote_dir)
 
     excludeitems = (".git", "*.swp", "*.swo", ".DS_Store", "*.pyc", "*.bak",
-                    "build/*")
+                    "build/*", "/extras", "/opt")
 
     if env.debug:
         print "\n%s debug: %s" % (debug_prefix, env.debug)
@@ -293,6 +293,11 @@ def sync(full=True, extras=False):
 
             return
 
+        # print "remote_dir: %s" % remote_dir
+        # print "local_dir: %s" % local_dir
+        # import sys
+        # sys.exit()
+
         run(command_mkdir_remote)
 
         rsync_project(remote_dir=remote_dir, local_dir=local_dir,
@@ -302,7 +307,7 @@ def sync(full=True, extras=False):
             from pip import install as pip_install
             pip_install('--all')
 
-    overrides()
+    # overrides()
 
     #
     #
@@ -546,26 +551,18 @@ def remove(full=True):
             run(command_rm_virtualenv)
 
 
-def overrides():
-    """
-    this is code for files that have no standard category
-
-    for example, I had to upload and override a static js file to modified with
-    the correct value for the deployment.
-
-    I'm keeping this code here so it will be a bit out of the way of the rest.
-    """
-
+@task
+def ssh():
     configuration = env.config
 
-    #
-    # load the module where the custom override code is located
+    if configuration.project.ssh:
+        cmd_ssh = "ssh {user}@{host} -i {sshkey}".format(
+            user=configuration.project.user,
+            host=configuration.project.host,
+            sshkey=configuration.project.ssh)
+    else:
+        cmd_ssh = "ssh {user}@{host}".format(
+            user=configuration.project.user,
+            host=configuration.project.host)
 
-    import sys
-    sys.path.append(configuration.paths.overrides.modules)
-    import override
-
-    #
-    # call the custom deploy code
-
-    override.deploy(env)
+    local(cmd_ssh)
diff --git a/modules/initialize.py b/modules/initialize.py
index a332b51..7015c35 100644
--- a/modules/initialize.py
+++ b/modules/initialize.py
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ import os
 import fabric.utils
 import maintenance
 from fabric.api import env, task
-from utils import check_debug
 
 # from utils import loggify
 
@@ -46,6 +45,8 @@ def environment(branchname):
 
     env.host_string = env.hosts[0]
 
+    env.key_filename = env.config.project.ssh
+
     # set database host to the docker_ip
 
     host = env.config.server.database.host
@@ -240,12 +241,13 @@ def get_config(branchname):
         config['project']['paths']['root'],
         project_home_dir)
 
-    # DEBUG REMOVE
-    if check_debug(env):
-        import utils
-        utils.printvar('project.branch', dataobject.project.branch)
-        utils.printvar('project.root', dataobject.paths.project.root)
-        utils.prompt_continue()
+    if 'ssh' in config['project']:
+        dataobject.project.ssh = os.path.join(
+            dataobject.paths.project.local,
+            layout['paths']['extras']['ssh'],
+            config['project']['ssh'])
+    else:
+        dataobject.project.ssh = None
 
     #
     # these are the locations of the scripts/conf file both remote and local