Test Changes Safely With a Staging Site

A staging environment is a private copy of your live WordPress site where you can try new plugins, themes, and content changes without any risk to visitors. When you are happy, you publish the changes to the live site.

What staging includes

Both environments share plugins, themes, users, debugging, server settings such as the PHP version, and WordPress management options. Some items only exist on the live site: domain management, production analytics, and canceling the subscription. Staging has its own web address and admin access, and live-only areas are clearly marked as unavailable there.

Set up staging

1. Make sure the site has an active WordPress hosting subscription.
2. Go to Sites > WordPress and click Manage Website.
3. Click + Create Environment and wait while it is prepared.
4. When ready, you will see the staging address and admin access details.
5. Use the Live | Staging selector in the top-right header to switch between the two.

Publish to live

1. Test thoroughly in staging.
2. Click Publish.
3. Confirm. Your changes reach the live site within about two to five minutes.

Publishing pushes everything from staging to live and cannot be undone, so review carefully first. To start over, use Delete on the staging environment.

Good habits

• Back up the live site before major work.
• Write a short testing checklist covering forms, checkout, and key pages.
• Remember that edits made directly on the live site do not appear in staging; avoid editing both at once.
• Delete old staging copies to keep things tidy.

Good to know: Create a fresh staging copy right before each big project so it matches the current live site.