There are countless ways for WordPress developers to set up their environment for building new sites. Based on our experience, this is the ideal setup for us, and we believe it’s worth trying.
The Ideal Custom WordPress Theme Setup
- Develop locally using Shifter-Local
- Use AIO WP Migration to Migrate DB Changes and Uploads
- Track Theme Changes with Git
- Deploy Git-Tracked Theme Changes with WP Pusher
- From Local Development to Production
For example, here’s a brief overview and step-by-step guide for deploying custom theme changes.
Step-by-Step Guide to Deploying Custom Theme Changes
- Create a new local site using Shifter-Local.
- Install the custom theme, develop the code, and commit your changes.
- Push the changes to GitHub, Bitbucket, etc.
- Create a new site in Shifter.
- Install AIO WP Migration and WP Pusher.
- Use AIO WP Migration to create an export from your local site.
- Select only what you need, such as the database and media uploads.
- Upload that backup to the new site you created in Shifter.
- Add the custom theme to the WP Pusher settings, sync, and activate the theme.
- Test to verify that the data and theme are correct.
- Generate a new artifact.
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Deploying Changes (After Initial Setup)
After the initial setup, the process is simple. From your local environment, commit and push new changes to Git. Log in to Shifter and pull them down. At this time, the process is not automated, but Shifter Webhooks become available, we plan to add this feature.
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Additional Notes
Is this the only way? No! There are many ways developers prefer to work, and we can’t cover them all here. However, if you have any suggestions, please let us know.We’ll give it a try and add it to the official documentation.