[New Best Practices] WordPress Dev Staging Production

Just as with any other web project, WordPress also involves three core environments:  development, staging, and production for building and managing things. In this article, we’ve covered each of these environments. We’ve also included setup options, popular tools, and best practices while working with the dev, staging, and production environments in WordPress.

WordPress Development Environment

The development environment is where you build, test, and debug your website features, designs, or other functionalities.

Server Setup Options

For setting up this environment, you can use:

• Local development server — Allows you to setup and access everything on your local system including WordPress core files, plugins, and theme. You don’t need to connect to the internet while working with this setup.
• Remote development server — All the files are hosted on a cloud server, which is accessible from anywhere, typically through SSH gateways.

Tools for WordPress Dev Environment 

Here are the tools for setting up your dev environment:

• @wordpress/env package (wp-env)
• Docker
• XAMPP ( PHP dev env with Apache, MariaDB, and Perl)
• LocalWP by FlyWheel
• MAMP (Apache or Ngnix, PHP, and MySQL)
• VVV (Varying Vagrant Vagrants)
• Studio
• Digital Ocean (for cloud servers)
• Amazon EC2 (for cloud servers)

Best Practices: Working with WordPress Dev Environment

Here are some best practices for it:

• Use Version Control — Version control platforms like GitHub or BitBucket with Git help keep track of the changes and manage your source code. Besides this, it’s best to consider writing descriptive commit messages for any changes to the repo.
• Use Branching for Feature Implementation and Bug-fixes— While working with new or existing features and bug fixes, consider using separate branches to keep things isolated, trackable, and in check.
• Environment Parity — Ensure that your dev environment closely matches the staging as well as the production environment to rule out any issues related to configuration, compatibility, extensions, memory limits, and PHP versions.
• Do Regular Backups — Keeping regular backups of your dev environments allows you to recover your dev work if something goes haywire. To create backup copies, you can use WordPress plugins, such as UpDraftPlus or Duplicator. Consider scheduling periodic auto-backups on cloud platforms like AWS.
• Security for Accessing the Environment — Using secure passwords and two-factor authentication (2FA) is highly recommended. 
• Disable Caching for Error-free Testing — Sometimes, caching mechanisms can affect the automated or manual testing results. If you’re using caching plugins, such as WP Rocket, WP Super Cache, or W3 Total Cache, consider disabling them while in the dev environment. 

Also Read: How to Fix “An Error Occurred in the Upload. Please Try Agin Later” WordPress Error

WordPress Staging Environment

The staging environment is the exact clone of your live WordPress website where you can modify and test things before you deploy it to production. 

You can use this environment to make changes, fix issues, and check that everything works well together. After you are sure everything is fine, you move these changes to your production website.

Why Consider Using a Staging Environment

While it isn’t uncommon to directly apply changes to the live WordPress site to make small adjustments or to update content regularly, at times, you may have to apply major updates to your site, test existing or new components or plugins, and then push those changes to the live site. That’s where the staging site comes in. 

With the staging environment, you can:

• Rest easy knowing that your live site remains untouched and fully functional while you work on improvements before pushing the changes to production.
• Fix issues in a safe and isolated environment.
• Safely do site migrations or updations without worrying about the risk of unexpected errors or malfunctions.
• If you're working on a client project, a staging site allows you to showcase changes and get quick approvals before going live.

Setup Options and Tools to Consider

You can create a staging site with:

1. Web Hosting Service Provider’s Feature — Hosting companies like Kinsta, Hostinger, Bluehost, WP Engine, Siteground, and Cloudways, allow you to create a staging website with a 1-click staging feature or with a similar feature.
2. WordPress Plugins — For staging, you can use plugins, such as Total Upkeep by BoldGrid, UpdraftPlus, WP Staging, and All-in-one WP Migrations and Backup.
3. Manual Setup Method— If you’re comfortable with using manual configuration setup, you can do this as well. Note that this method—if not executed properly—may throw errors and sometimes may require additional troubleshooting, particularly with database management and URL updates.

NOTE:  For creating a staging site, consider using your web hosting provider’s staging option or plugin options. These two are recommended ways for all user types. It’s best not to go with the manual setup route to avoid unexpected troubleshooting.

Best Practices: Working with WordPress Staging Environment

Many of the best practices from the dev environment are largely the same (Using 2FA security mechanisms, environment parity, taking regular backups, and disabling cache plugins) for the staging site. Here are some additional considerations for your staging site:

• Turn Off Indexing — Make sure to turn off the indexing for the staging site. This prevents any test or incomplete content from getting displayed in the SERP or to the end users. Moreover, this helps avoid search engine penalties due to broken links or any technical issues with the staging site.
• Doing Final Checks — Apart from using the quality assurance(QA) procedures in the dev environment, use the staging site to do final checks for all changes, updates, and new features before applying them to the live site.
• Cleaning Up Regularly — Remove outdated staging sites and data to avoid clutter and confusion.
• Working with Manual Setup Steps — If you’re going with the manual setup for creating and managing the staging site, ensure correctness with the:
  1. Setup of subdomains or subdirectories.
  2. Importing and exporting all files (For this, you can use an FTP client like FileZilla).
  3. Database duplication and management (with phpMyAdmin)
  4. Credential updation and syncing the “wp-config.php” config file.
  5. Updation of URLs of your live site in the “wp_options” table in phpMyAdmin.

WordPress Production Environment 

The production environment is the live site where your WordPress website is accessible to end-users and the public. This environment is critical as it directly impacts user experience, site performance, and overall business operations. 

Setup Options and Tools to Consider

For the live site, you can consider the following options:

• Managed WordPress Hosting — You can use hosting services like Hostinger, WP Engine, Kinsta, or SiteGround to get optimized WordPress environments. They provide automatic backups, security features, and in-built performance features.
• Self-Hosted Solutions — If you prefer more control, you can set up your own server using platforms like Digital Ocean Droplets or AWS Lightsail.

Best Practices: Working with WordPress Production Environment

Here’s a list of best practices you can borrow:

• Backup Regularly — Ensure reliable backup solutions to quickly restore your site in case of failure. Use plugins like UpdraftPlus or BackupBuddy to automate this process.
• Monitoring and Analytics — Use tools like Google Analytics and server monitoring solutions (e.g., New Relic) to track performance metrics and user behavior. 
• Security Protocols — Use strong passwords, enable two-factor authentication (2FA), and regularly update all themes and plugins to protect against vulnerabilities.
• Performance Optimizations — Ensure that your live site is optimized enough to handle user traffic without delays or downtime. For this, you can:

1. Use caching plugins (e.g., WP Rocket or W3 Total Cache) to improve load times.
2. Optimize images and other media files to reduce page size.
3. Minimize HTTP requests by combining CSS/JS files where possible.
4. If possible, consider using CDNs for content delivery and minification techniques for files and data.

• Staging for Updates — Always test updates or major changes in a staging environment before deploying them to production. 
• Environment Parity — Ensure that your production environment closely mirrors your dev and staging environments in terms of configurations, PHP versions, and installed plugins. This minimizes discrepancies and errors during deployment.
• User Access Control – It's best to limit access to the production environment based on roles and responsibilities. For this, make sure that only authorized personnel can make changes to avoid accidental disruptions.
• Regular Maintenance — Schedule routine maintenance checks to update plugins and themes, optimize databases, and review security protocols.