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@wordpress/env development environment

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@wordpress/env allows you to create a development environment for your WordPress plugin or theme. It addresses the following use case:

You want to test your theme or plugin without installing it on a live site, whether development or production.

@wordpress/env requires Docker to be installed on your machine.There are instructions available for installing Docker on Windows 10 Pro, all other versions of Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Installing @wordpress/env #

I've chosen to install the package globally rather than as a project dependency to make it easier to use across multiple projects.

The install command looks like this:

npm -g i @wordpress/env

Running @wordpress/env #

Ensure that Docker is installed and running on your machine, then switch to the directory for your plugin or theme and run the following command:

wp-env start

This will start a Docker container with the WordPress environment (MySQL and WordPress) ready to run and your plugin or theme installed and configured for you.

Navigate to http://localhost:8888 to see the site. Go to http://localhost:8888/wp-admin to log in as the administrator. The default credentials are:

  • username: admin
  • password: password

Running in a different port #

wp-env uses port 8888 by default. You can configure the port that wp-env uses by specifying the WP_ENV_PORT environment variable when starting wp-env:

WP_ENV_PORT=3000 wp-env start

Checking what resources are being used #

If you're curious, you can check what resources wp-env is using by running this command from a terminal:

docker ps

Stopping @wordpress/env #

When you're done, you can stop the Docker container by running:

wp-env stop

This will stop any container started with wp-env start but will keep them around so you won't lose any work.

Remove all content and start over #

There may be times when you don't want to keep the work you have done so far. You can remove all the content you've added to the WordPress environment by running:

wp-env clean all
wp-env start

Again be aware that the clean all command will permanently delete any posts, pages, media, etc. in the local WordPress installation.

The nuclear option 🔥 #

When all else fails, you can use wp-env destroy to forcibly remove all of the underlying Docker containers and volumes. This will allow you to start from scratch.

To nuke everything run the following command:

wp-env destroy

You can start over if you want with wp-env start

This will permanently delete any posts, pages, media, etc. in the local WordPress installation. It will also nuke any configuration changes you made to the system. Use it as a last resort!

There are more options available to wp-env. Check the package's Readme for more information

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