Create Staging Site
Once you have connected to your existing live site, InstaWP allows you to create 1-click staging websites from within the WP admin panel. A staging site is an exact copy of your live site hosted in a secure environment. This allows you to test as many changes as possible without affecting your live website.
Is your site hosted with InstaWP? This page covers creating a staging copy of a live site that is hosted somewhere else, using the InstaWP Connect plugin. The staging site created here is a separate site, charged on whichever plan you pick for it. A site hosted on InstaWP has its own built-in staging environment instead, which is not charged and is managed only in the InstaWP app: see Staging Environment for Hosted Sites.
In this documentation, we will explore the steps to create a staging site from the existing live site.
Let’s get started 🚀
How to Create a Staging Site with InstaWP
Plugin 0.1.4.0 and later
Staging sites are built with InstaWP's new migration engine. Once the copy starts, the plugin gives you a Track Migration link that shows every phase of the copy as it runs, so you can close the WP Admin tab and check back whenever you like. Update InstaWP Connect to the latest version before you start.
Go to the Plugins section of your connected site’s WP panel. Create Staging from your added plugin InstaWP Connect. To download the plugin, you can refer to this link.
Create a Staging Site
Step 1: Locate the InstaWP Connect plugin from the admin panel's** Plugins > Installed Plugins** and click Create Staging.
Step 2: Click Connect with InstaWP to connect with InstaWP production.
Step 3: Click Approve to accept the access request.
Step 4: Now, click the Create Staging Site button.
Step 5: Select the type of staging site you want:
| Types | Description |
|---|---|
| Quick Staging | Create a staging environment without including the media folder. |
| Full Staging | Create an exact copy as a staging environment. Time may vary based on site size. |
| Custom Staging | Choose the options that match your requirements. |
You can also click Enter Site Name at the bottom to give the staging site a name of your own. Then click Next Step.
Step 6: Under Select Your Information, tick any options you want, then click Next Step:
- General Options: Active Plugins Only, Active Themes Only, Skip Media Folder, Skip Large Files and Skip Log Tables.
- Sync Options: Enable Sync Recording, if you want to record changes on the staging site for 2-Way Sync.
Step 7: On the Exclude step, choose any files or database tables you want to leave out of the staging copy. Click Expand under Files or Tables to see the full list, use Size to sort by size, or Select All to tick everything in a list. Then click Next Step.
Some items cannot be excluded
Their checkboxes are greyed out, so Select All cannot tick them either:
- The nine WordPress core database tables (options, posts, postmeta, terms, term_taxonomy, term_relationships, termmeta, users and usermeta). A staging site cannot be built without them.
- The wp-content folder itself. Leaving it out would produce a site whose database refers to themes and plugins that are not there. You can still exclude what is inside it, for example the media folder or inactive plugins and themes.
Step 8: The Confirmation step shows the staging type you picked and the Space Required for the copy, which is worked out from your files plus your database. Wait for the size to finish calculating, then click Create Staging.
Step 9: The copy starts straight away and the step shows In Progress. Click Track Migration to open the progress page in a new tab. You can safely close the WP Admin tab while the copy runs. If you need to stop it, click Cancel Migration.
Track the Staging Copy
The Track Migration page shows each phase of the copy as it finishes: Preparation, Database Export, Files Export, Database Import, Files Import, Search & Replace, Finalize and Visual Compare. Use the Copy button at the top to save the page link, so you can check the progress later from any browser.
When every phase is done, the page shows Migration Complete. Click Visit Your Migrated Site to open your new staging site. You will also find it in the Sites list of your InstaWP dashboard, and the copy is listed on the Migrations page.
| 💡 Did you know - You can generate a exact copy of your existing staging website with the same credentials from your dashboard. Learn how to Clone a site.
Related Articles
- Add/Connect Plugin to Site - Connect your live site first
- 2-Way Sync - Push staging changes to live
- Clone Site - Make another copy of a site
- InstaWP Connect Plugin - How the Connect plugin works