wp-now

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 a configuration flag. Under the hood, wp-now is powered by WordPress Playground and only requires Node.js.

Quickstart

Launch wp-now in a plugin or theme directory

Running wp-now is as simple as accessing your plugin or theme directory and running the following command:

cd my-plugin-or-theme-directory
npx @wp-now/wp-now start

Launch wp-now in the wp-content directory with options

You can also start wp-now from any wp-content folder. In this example, you pass parameters to change the PHP and WordPress versions and apply a Blueprint file.

cd my-wordpress-folder/wp-content
npx @wp-now/wp-now start  --wp=6.4 --php=8.0 --blueprint=path/to/blueprint-example.json

Table of Contents

• Quickstart
• Requirements
• Usage
  • Automatic modes
  • Arguments
• Technical details
• Using Blueprints
  • Define custom URLs in a Blueprint
  • Define debugging constants in a Blueprint
• Known issues
• Comparisons
  • Laravel Valet
  • wp-env
• Contributing
• Testing
• Publishing

Requirements

The minimum supported version of Node.js is 18. For Blueprint support, install Node 20.

Usage

You don't have to install wp-now—you can run it with a single npx command. That's the recommended way to use wp-now and requires no installation or setup:

npx @wp-now/wp-now start

You can also install @wp-now/wp-now globally to run it from any directory:

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

Once installed, start a new server like so:

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

Important

Note the different syntax above. While the preceding npx @wp-now/ isn't required after installing the package locally, wp-now <command> will produce an error without it.

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

npx @wp-now/wp-now start --wp=5.9 --php=7.4

In supported modes, wp-now creates a persistent SQLite database and wp-content directory in ~/.wp-now.

Use the --reset argument to create a new project.

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

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

Automatic modes

wp-now operates in a few different modes for both the start and the php commands. The selected mode depends on the directory in which you execute the command:

• plugin, theme, or wp-content: Loads the project files into a virtual filesystem 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 file system (VFS). wp-now uses the latest WordPress version unless you define the --wp=<version> argument.

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. If it exists, wp-now will use the wp-config.php file or create one with a SQLite database.
• wordpress-develop: Same as wordpress mode, except the build directory is the web root.
• index: When an index.php file is present, wp-now starts a PHP web server in the working directory and passes requests to the file.
• playground: If no other conditions are matched, wp-now launches a virtualized WordPress site.

Arguments

You can run wp-now with the --help flag to get an overview of all the available options.

npx @wp-now/wp-now --help

# or
npx @wp-now/wp-now start --help

# or
npx @wp-now/wp-now php --help

wp-now start supports the following optional 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. The default version is 8.0.
• --port=<port>: The port number on which the server will listen. The default port number is 8881. If it's in use, wp-now picks an open port number.
• --wp=<version>: The version of WordPress to use. The default is the latest WordPress version.
• --blueprint=<path>: The path to a JSON file with the Blueprint steps (requires Node 20). If provided, wp-now executes the steps. See Using Blueprints for more details.
• --reset: Creates a fresh SQLite database and wp-content directory for modes that support persistence.
• --skip-browser: skip opening the browser after starting the server.

wp-now php supports the --path=<path> and --php=<version> arguments.

Technical details

wp-now stores all relevant files in a hidden directory within your user home directory: ~/.wp-now.

• When running in plugin, theme, wp-content, and playground modes, the WordPress core files and wp-content will be available in ~/.wp-now/wp-content/${projectName}-${directoryHash}. 'playground' mode shares the same ~/.wp-now/wp-content/playground directory, regardless of where it runs.
• For the database setup, wp-now uses SQLite database integration plugin. The path to the database is ~/.wp-now/wp-content/${projectName}-${directoryHash}/database/.ht.sqlite

Using Blueprints

Blueprints are JSON files that define a list of steps to execute after starting wp-now. Blueprints automate the setup of a WordPress site, including defining wp-config constants, installing plugins and themes, and creating content.

Below is an example of a Blueprint that runs the latest versions of WordPress and PHP, installs bundled PHP extensions, logs the user in as an Administrator, and opens a new post window.

{
	"$schema": "https://playground.wordpress.net/blueprint-schema.json",
	"landingPage": "/wp-admin/post-new.php",
	"preferredVersions": {
		"php": "latest",
		"wp": "latest"
	},
	"phpExtensionBundles": ["kitchen-sink"],
	"steps": [
		{
			"step": "login",
			"username": "admin",
			"password": "password"
		}
	]
}

You can prototype and test your Blueprint in a dedicated online editor.

To run it, create a file named blueprint-example.json and run the following command:

npx @wp-now/wp-now start --blueprint=path/to/blueprint-example.json

Define custom URLs in a Blueprint

As the building blocks of Playground, Blueprints offer advanced functionality, and we recommend you learn more about how to use them before you get started.

Here's an example of a Blueprint that defines a custom URL constant in wp-config.php using WP_HOME and WP_SITEURL.

Assuming you added myurl.wpnow to your hosts file, your site will be available at http://myurl.wpnow.

Note that the method is set to define-before-run to avoid modifying the shared wp-config.php file. The default method, rewrite-wp-config, modifies the wp-config.php on the disk.

{
	"steps": [
		{
			"step": "defineWpConfigConsts",
			"consts": {
				"WP_HOME": "http://myurl.wpnow:8881",
				"WP_SITEURL": "http://myurl.wpnow:8881"
			},
			"method": "define-before-run"
		}
	]
}

You can use this instance with ngrok:

1. Run ngrok http 8881
2. Copy the URL, and
3. Replace WP_HOME and WP_SITEURL in the Blueprint file.

You can also define a different port:

npx @wp-now/wp-now start --blueprint=path/to/blueprint-example.json --port=80

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

{
	"steps": [
		{
			"step": "defineWpConfigConsts",
			"consts": {
				"WP_HOME": "http://myurl.wpnow",
				"WP_SITEURL": "http://myurl.wpnow"
			},
			"method": "define-before-run"
		}
	]
}

Define debugging constants in a Blueprint

Similarly, you can define WP_DEBUG constants and inspect the debug logs.

Here's the example Blueprint:

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

Because you didn't define a method for defineWpConfigConsts, the Blueprint uses the default rewrite-wp-config and updates the file stored in ~/.wp-now/wordpress-versions/latest/wp-config.php. The next time you execute wp-now start in any project, the variable WP_DEBUG will be set to true.

If you open wp-config.php, you'll see the following lines:

define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );

You can find the debug.log file in the ~/.wp-now/wp-content/${projectName}/ directory.

Set a custom path for the debug.log file

The php-wasm server runs under a VFS where the default documentRoot for wp-now is always /var/www/html. So, a Blueprint executed from a theme named atlas would look like this:

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

You can find the example.log file in your project's directory.

Known issues

• Running wp-now start in 'wp-content' or 'wordpress' mode creates empty directories. See GitHub issue #32.
• The wp-now NPM package may appear to have a random version number. See GitHub issue #31.

Comparisons

Laravel Valet

Here's what you need to know if you're migrating from Laravel Valet:

• wp-now handles the entire WordPress installation for you. Just run the wp-now start command.
• wp-now works across all desktop platforms (Mac, Linux, Windows).
• wp-now does not set up custom domains for you.
• wp-now works with WordPress themes and plugins even if you don't have WordPress installed (see item #1 above).
• wp-now allows you to switch the WordPress version with wp-now start --wp=VERSION_NUMBER(replace VERSION_NUMBER with the actual WordPress version).

wp-env

Here's what you need to know if you're migrating from wp-env:

• wp-now supports non-WordPress projects.
• wp-now does not require Docker.
• wp-now does not include lifecycle scripts.

Contributing

We welcome contributions from the community!

Code contribution

Clone the repository, install the dependencies, build the project, and start wp-now in preview mode:

git clone git@github.com:WordPress/playground-tools.git
cd playground-tools
npm install
npm run build
npx nx preview wp-now start

Tip

Adding the --path=/path/to/wordpress-plugin-or-theme argument to the command above is a handy way to test wp-now in different modes:

npx nx preview wp-now start --path=/path/to/wordpress-plugin-or-theme

To run the unit tests, use the following command:

npx nx test wp-now