wp-now

wp-now streamlines the process of setting up a local WordPress environment.

It uses automatic mode detection to provide a fast setup process, regardless of whether you're working on a plugin or an entire site. You can easily switch between PHP and WordPress versions with just a configuration argument. Under the hood, wp-now is powered by WordPress Playground and only requires Node.js.

Getting Started

To install wp-now directly from npm:

npm install -g @wp-now/wp-now

Node 16 is the minimum supported version. Node 20 is required for Blueprint support.

Alternatively, you can install wp-now via git clone if you'd like to hack on it too. See Contributing for more details.

Once installed, you can start a new server like so:

cd wordpress-plugin-or-theme
wp-now start

Use the --php=<version> and --wp=<version> arguments to switch to different versions on the fly:

wp-now start --wp=5.9 --php=7.4

For the modes that support it, wp-now will create a persistent SQLite database and wp-content directory in ~/.wp-now. Use the --reset argument to create a fresh project.

Use wp-now php <file> to execute a specific PHP file:

cd wordpress-plugin-or-theme
wp-now php my-file.php

Automatic Modes

wp-now automatically operates in a few different modes for both the start and the php commands. The selected mode depends on the directory in which it is executed:

• plugin, theme, or wp-content: Loads the project files into a virtual filesytem with WordPress and a SQLite-based database. Everything (including WordPress core files, the database, wp-config.php, etc.) is stored in the user's home directory and loaded into the virtual filesystem. The latest version of WordPress will be used, unless the --wp=<version> argument is provided. Here are the heuristics for each mode:
  • plugin mode: Presence of a PHP file with 'Plugin Name:' in its contents.
  • theme mode: Presence of a style.css file with 'Theme Name:' in its contents.
  • wp-content mode: Presence of plugins and themes subdirectories.
• wordpress: Runs the directory as a WordPress installation when WordPress files are detected. An existing wp-config.php file will be used if it exists; if it doesn't exist, it will be created along with a SQLite database.
• wordpress-develop: Same as wordpress mode, except the build directory is served as the web root.
• index: When an index.php file is present, starts a PHP webserver in the working directory and simply passes requests to the index.php.
• playground: If no other conditions are matched, launches a completely virtualized WordPress site.

Arguments

wp-now start currently supports the following arguments:

• --path=<path>: the path to the PHP file or WordPress project to use. If not provided, it will use the current working directory;
• --php=<version>: the version of PHP to use. This is optional and if not provided, it will use a default version which is 8.0(example usage: --php=7.4);
• --port=<port>: the port number on which the server will listen. This is optional and if not provided, it will pick an open port number automatically. The default port number is set to 8881(example of usage: --port=3000);
• --wp=<version>: the version of WordPress to use. This is optional and if not provided, it will use a default version. The default version is set to the latest WordPress version(example usage: --wp=5.8)
• --blueprint=<path>: the path of a JSON file with the Blueprint steps (requires Node 20). This is optional, if provided will execute the defined Blueprints. See Using Blueprints for more details.
• --reset: create a fresh SQLite database and wp-content directory, for modes that support persistence.

Of these, wp-now php currently supports the --path=<path> and --php=<version> arguments.

Technical Details

• The ~/.wp-now home directory is used to store the WP versions and the wp-content folders for projects using 'theme', 'plugin', 'wp-content', and 'playground' modes. The path to wp-content directory for the 'plugin', 'theme', and 'wp-content' modes is ~/.wp-now/wp-content/${projectName}-${directoryHash}. 'playground' mode shares the same ~/.wp-now/wp-content/playground directory, regardless of where it's started.
• For the database setup, wp-now is using SQLite database integration plugin. The path to SQLite database is ~/.wp-now/wp-content/${projectName}-${directoryHash}/database/.ht.sqlite

Using Blueprints

Blueprints are JSON files with a list of steps to execute after starting wp-now. They can be used to automate the setup of a WordPress site, including defining wp-config constants, installing plugins, themes, and content. Learn more about Blueprints.

Defining Custom URLs

Here is an example of a Blueprint that defines custom URL constant. wp-now will automatically detect the blueprint and execute it after starting the server. In consequence, the site will be available at http://myurl.wpnow. Make sure myurl.wpnow is added to your hosts file.

To execute this Blueprint, create a file named blueprint-example.json and run wp-now start --blueprint=path/to/blueprint-example.json. Note that the virtualize is set to true to avoid modifying the wp-config.php file that is shared between all the projects.

{
	"steps": [
		{
			"step": "defineWpConfigConsts",
			"consts": {
				"WP_HOME": "http://myurl.wpnow:8881",
				"WP_SITEURL": "http://myurl.wpnow:8881"
			},
			"virtualize": true
		}
	]
}

This step can be also used along with ngrok, in this case you can run ngrok http 8881, copy the ngrok URL and replace WP_HOME and WP_SITEURL in the blueprint file.

If you prefer to use a different port, you can use the --port argument when starting the server. wp-now start --blueprint=path/to/blueprint-example.json --port=80

The Blueprint to listen on port 80 will look like this:

{
	"steps": [
		{
			"step": "defineWpConfigConsts",
			"consts": {
				"WP_HOME": "http://myurl.wpnow",
				"WP_SITEURL": "http://myurl.wpnow"
			},
			"virtualize": true
		}
	]
}

Defining Debugging Constants

In the similar way we can define WP_DEBUG constants and read the debug logs.

Run wp-now start --blueprint=path/to/blueprint-example.json where blueprint-example.json is:

{
	"steps": [
		{
			"step": "defineWpConfigConsts",
			"consts": {
				"WP_DEBUG": true,
				"WP_DEBUG_LOG": true
			},
			"virtualize": true
		}
	]
}

This will enable the debug logs and will create a debug.log file in the ~/.wp-now/wp-content/${project}/debug.log directory.

If you prefer to set a custom path for the debug log file, you can set WP_DEBUG_LOG to be a directory. Remember that the php-wasm server runs udner a VFS (virtual file system) where the default documentRoot is always /var/www/html.

For example, if you run wp-now start --blueprint=path/to/blueprint-example.json from a theme named atlas you could use this directory: /var/www/html/wp-content/themes/atlas/example.log and you will find the example.log file in your project directory.

{
	"steps": [
		{
			"step": "defineWpConfigConsts",
			"consts": {
				"WP_DEBUG_LOG": "/var/www/html/wp-content/themes/atlas/example.log"
			},
			"virtualize": true
		}
	]
}

Known Issues

• Running wp-now start in 'wp-content' or 'wordpress' mode will produce some empty directories: WordPress/wordpress-playground#328
• Inline images are broken when site starts on a different port: WordPress/wordpress-playground#356
• wp-now doesn't build or start on Windows: WordPress/playground-tools#66, WordPress/playground-tools#11
• Pretty permalinks aren't yet supported: WordPress/playground-tools#53
• It's not possible to set WP_DEBUG and other wp-config.php constants: WordPress/playground-tools#17
• In 'wordpress' mode, wp-now can connect to a MySQL database with define( 'DB_HOST', '127.0.0.1' );, but define( 'DB_HOST', 'localhost' ); does not work: WordPress/wordpress-playground#369
• wp-now published versions can appear random: WordPress/wordpress-playground#357

Comparisons

Laravel Valet

If you are migrating from Laravel Valet, you should be aware of the differences it has with wp-now:

• wp-now does not require you to install WordPress separately, create a database, connect WordPress to that database or create a user account. All of these steps are handled by the wp-now start command and are running under the hood;
• wp-now works across all platforms (Mac, Linux, Windows);
• wp-now does not support custom domains or SSL (yet!);
• wp-now works with WordPress themes and plugins even if you don't have WordPress installed;
• wp-now allows to easily switch the WordPress version with wp-now start --wp=version.number(make sure to replace the version.number with the actual WordPress version);
• wp-now does not support Xdebug PHP extension (yet!)

Some similarities between Laravel Valet and wp-now to be aware of:

• could be used for non-WordPress projects;
• deployments are not possible with neither Laravel Valet, nor wp-now;
• possible to switch easily the PHP version;
• possibility to work on multiple WordPress sites simultaneously

wp-env

If you are migrating from wp-env, you should be aware of the differences it has with wp-now:

• wp-now supports non-WordPress projects;
• wp-now does not need Docker;
• wp-now does not support Xdebug PHP extension (yet!);
• wp-now does not include Jest for automatic browser testing

Some similarities between wp-env and wp-now to be aware of:

• no support for custom domains or SSL;
• plugin, themes and index modes are available on wp-env and wp-now;
• deployments are not possible with neither wp-env, nor wp-now;
• possible to switch easily the PHP version

Contributing

We welcome contributions from the community!

In order to contribute to wp-now, you'll need to first install a few global dependencies:

• Make sure you have nvm installed. If you need to install it first, follow these installation instructions.
• Install nx by running npm install -g nx.

Once the global dependencies are installed, you can start using the repo:

git clone [email protected]:WordPress/playground-tools.git
cd playground-tools
nvm use
npm install
npm run build
nx preview wp-now start --path=/path/to/wordpress-plugin-or-theme

If you'd like to make the wp-now executable globally available when using this installation method, run npm link. It's not particularly reliable, however.

Testing

To run the unit tests, use the following command:

nx test wp-now

Publishing

The wp-now package is part of a larger monorepo, sharing its space with other sibling packages. To publish the wp-now package to npm, you must first understand the automated release process facilitated by lerna. This process includes automatically incrementing the version number, creating a new tag, and publishing all modified packages to npm simultaneously. Notably, all published packages share the same version number.

Each package identifies a distinct organization in its package.json file. To publish the wp-now package, you need access to the @wp-now npm organization.

To initiate the publishing process for wp-now, execute the following commands:

npm login # this is required only once and it will store the credentials in ~/.npmrc file.
npm run build
npm run release:wp-now