Push the Local WordPress site to InstaWP

You can copy an existing local WordPress website, including its files and database, to a new site on InstaWP using InstaCLI. This works for any locally developed site (LocalWP, XAMPP, MAMP or WAMP), and the whole migration runs from a terminal opened at your site's root folder.

The steps below use LocalWP as the example. If you don't have a local site yet, start with Create a site in LocalWP.

Let's get started 🚀

Before you start

You need:

• Node.js 18 or higher, which InstaCLI requires
• npm
• mysqldump available on your PATH, used to export the local database
• An InstaWP account on a paid plan

Create a site in LocalWP

Skip this if your local site already exists.

LocalWP sets up a WordPress development environment on your computer. It creates a database and installs WordPress with the default themes and plugins.

Step 1: Go to the Local dashboard, select Create a new site, and click Continue.

Step 2: Name your site and click Continue.

Step 3: Choose the preferred environment, or set up a custom one for your site.

Step 4: Set a username and password for your site and click Add Site.

LocalWP creates your local site.

1. Start the local website

Open LocalWP, select your site, and click Start site if it isn't already running. Open the site in a browser to confirm what you're about to transfer.

In this example the local URL is http://dummysiteforinstawp.local/.

2. Open the site's terminal

In LocalWP, click Site shell (visible next to Site folder in the screenshot above).

The terminal opens in your WordPress root folder, for example:

C:\Users\<your-user>\Local Sites\dummysiteforinstawp\app\public

That folder contains wp-config.php, wp-content and the rest of the WordPress files. Keep the site running for the whole migration.

Other local stacks

For XAMPP, WAMP or MAMP, open Command Prompt / PowerShell / Terminal and cd into the site's folder yourself (C:\xampp\htdocs\mysite, C:\wamp64\www\mysite, /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/mysite). The site root is the directory containing wp-includes/version.php.

3. Check the prerequisites

Run these one at a time:

node --version
npm --version
mysqldump --version

Each should print a version number. If a command isn't recognised, install that prerequisite before continuing.

4. Install InstaCLI

npm install -g @instawp/cli@beta

When it finishes, verify it:

instawp --version

If InstaCLI is already installed, skip the install step.

5. Log in to InstaWP

instawp login

Complete the login in the browser window that opens, then return to the terminal and confirm the connected account:

instawp whoami

Make sure this is the account you want the cloud site created in.

6. Preview the migration

Run the push with --dry-run first:

instawp migrate push . --name dummysite-cloud --source-url http://dummysiteforinstawp.local/ --dry-run

Part	What it does
instawp migrate push	Migrates an existing local WordPress installation to a new InstaWP site
.	Uses the current folder as the WordPress source
--name dummysite-cloud	Sets the new cloud site's name
--source-url	Specifies the local website's URL
--dry-run	Shows the migration plan without creating or uploading anything

Check that the preview shows the correct WordPress root, source domain and destination name. A successful preview does not guarantee the database export will succeed.

7. Run the migration

Remove --dry-run and run it for real:

instawp migrate push . --name dummysite-cloud --source-url http://dummysiteforinstawp.local/

Keep the terminal open. InstaCLI will:

1. Archive the website files and export the database.
2. Create the hosted site and prepare SSH access.
3. Upload the archives and restore the website.
4. Check that the cloud site responds.

Wait for Migration complete and the website links.

8. Open and verify the cloud website

Click the Site URL printed in the terminal, then open the WP Admin link and log in with your existing local WordPress admin credentials. Your users were migrated along with the site.

Check the homepage, a few internal pages, images, menus, and any important forms or functionality.

Your local site is now live on InstaWP, and the new site appears on the Sites page of your dashboard.

The new site starts on the Sandbox plan

By default the migrated site is created on the Sandbox plan, which is meant for development and testing. For production hosting, change the site's plan to a higher tier from the Sites page. See Upgrade Site Plans for the steps, and Site Plans for what each tier includes.

To migrate another website, replace the source URL and cloud site name, and run the commands from that site's own Site shell.

Why this works from localhost

A local site has no public address, so nothing on the internet can reach into it, which is normally what makes moving a local site to a host awkward.

InstaCLI sidesteps that. It makes an outbound connection from your machine to InstaWP and uploads the archives, the same direction as any other request your computer makes. Nothing has to connect in to your machine, so you do not need a public URL, a tunnel (ngrok, Cloudflare Tunnel), or any port forwarding or firewall change.

| 💡 Did you know - You can also go the other way: export a site from InstaWP and import it into LocalWP. Learn how.

| 💡 Did you know - Your staging site's content can be downloaded into a zip file that you can then import to another WordPress site or host. Learn about Export your staging site.

Related Articles

• Upgrade Site Plans - Move the migrated site off Sandbox
• InstaWP Connect Plugin - How the Connect plugin works
• Add/Connect Plugin to Site - Connect a site to InstaWP
• Create Staging Site - Create a staging copy