wp-install

wp-install

Onboard a WordPress site. Connects to an existing installation or installs a fresh one. Ends with all environment variables set and verified so every other skill works immediately.

Step 1 — Detect OS and ask where the site lives

Detect OS first:

# On Linux/macOS (bash/zsh)
uname -s

# On Windows (PowerShell)
$env:OS

Adapt all subsequent commands to the detected OS. Key differences:

Task	Windows (PowerShell)	macOS/Linux (bash)
Set env var	$env:VAR = "value"	export VAR="value"
Path separator	\	/
base64 encode	[Convert]::ToBase64String([Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetBytes("u:p"))	echo -n "u:p" | base64
Background process	Start-Process php -ArgumentList ...	php ... &
Write file	Add-Content or Out-File	echo >> file
Download file	Invoke-WebRequest -Uri ... -OutFile ...	curl -sL ... -o ...

For Windows users: all commands below show the bash version. Use the PowerShell equivalents from the table above, or run inside WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux) for a Linux-identical experience.

Ask the user:

"Do you have a WordPress site already, or should we set one up? If you have one: share the URL and admin credentials. If not: local (on this computer) or remote (a hosting provider)?"

Then branch:

---

Branch A — Existing site

Collect:

• Site URL (must be HTTPS for Application Passwords to work)
• Admin username
• Application Password (guide: WP Admin → Users → Profile → Application Passwords → Add New)

Set and verify:

export WP_SITE_URL="<url>"
export WP_USER="<user>"
export WP_APP_PASSWORD="<password>"

# Verify access
curl -s -u "$WP_USER:$WP_APP_PASSWORD" "$WP_SITE_URL/wp-json/wp/v2/users/me" \
  | jq '{name, roles}'

If this returns the user's name and roles: done. Skip to Step 4. If it fails: troubleshoot (see Gotchas).

---

Branch B — Local install (recommended for development)

Use subagents to run prerequisite checks in parallel, then install.

B.1 — Parallel prerequisite check (use subagents)

Launch subagents to check these simultaneously:

• Agent 1: php --version — need 8.0+
• Agent 2: php -r "echo extension_loaded('pdo_sqlite') ? 'ok' : 'missing';" — need SQLite
• Agent 3: curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wp-cli/builds/gh-pages/phar/wp-cli.phar -o /tmp/wp-cli.phar && php /tmp/wp-cli.phar --version — WP-CLI

Collect all results. If any fail, fix before continuing:

Missing	Fix
PHP	Install PHP 8.0+ via system package manager
pdo_sqlite	Arch: sudo pacman -S php-sqlite; Ubuntu: sudo apt install php-sqlite3; macOS: brew install php
WP-CLI	Already handled by the check above

B.2 — Install WordPress core

WP_DIR="$HOME/Sites/lavon-wp"
mkdir -p "$WP_DIR"
php /tmp/wp-cli.phar core download --path="$WP_DIR" --skip-content

B.3 — Install SQLite integration (parallel with core download if possible)

# Download the official WordPress SQLite plugin
curl -sL "https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/sqlite-database-integration.zip" \
  -o /tmp/sqlite-wp.zip
unzip -q /tmp/sqlite-wp.zip -d /tmp/sqlite-wp/
cp -r /tmp/sqlite-wp/sqlite-database-integration/. \
  "$WP_DIR/wp-content/plugins/sqlite-database-integration/"

# Install the db.php drop-in (routes all DB calls to SQLite)
cp "$WP_DIR/wp-content/plugins/sqlite-database-integration/db.copy" \
   "$WP_DIR/wp-content/db.php"

mkdir -p "$WP_DIR/wp-content/database"

B.4 — Configure

php /tmp/wp-cli.phar config create \
  --path="$WP_DIR" \
  --dbname=lavon \
  --dbuser=wp \
  --dbpass=wp \
  --dbhost=localhost \
  --skip-check \
  --force

# SQLite-specific config (append to wp-config.php)
echo "define('DB_DIR', __DIR__ . '/wp-content/database/');" >> "$WP_DIR/wp-config.php"
echo "define('DB_FILE', 'lavon.sqlite');"                   >> "$WP_DIR/wp-config.php"

B.5 — Run WordPress installer

php /tmp/wp-cli.phar core install \
  --path="$WP_DIR" \
  --url="http://localhost:8080" \
  --title="Lavon" \
  --admin_user="lavon" \
  --admin_password="lavon-dev-2024" \
  --admin_email="lavon@example.com" \
  --skip-email

B.6 — Start PHP built-in server

Linux/macOS:

php -S localhost:8080 -t "$WP_DIR" &> /tmp/wp-server.log &
echo "WordPress running at http://localhost:8080"

Windows (PowerShell):

$WP_DIR = "$env:USERPROFILE\Sites\lavon-wp"
Start-Process php -ArgumentList "-S localhost:8080 -t $WP_DIR" -RedirectStandardOutput "$env:TEMP\wp-server.log" -WindowStyle Hidden
Write-Host "WordPress running at http://localhost:8080"

Windows (simplest — use LocalWP): If PHP isn't available natively on Windows, the easiest path is LocalWP — a free GUI app that handles everything (PHP, MySQL, SSL). After creating a site in LocalWP:

1. Click "Open Site" → note the local URL
2. Click "Admin" → Users → Profile → Application Passwords
3. Set WP_SITE_URL, WP_USER, WP_APP_PASSWORD and skip to Step 4

Note: for a proper local server, replace the built-in PHP server with nginx + php-fpm. The built-in server is single-threaded and fine for development/testing.

B.7 — Generate Application Password

php /tmp/wp-cli.phar user application-password create lavon "wp-skills-dev" \
  --path="$WP_DIR" --porcelain

Save the output — this is the Application Password.

---

Branch C — Remote hosting install

Collect from user:

• Hosting provider (Cloudways, SiteGround, Kinsta, cPanel, etc.)
• SSH or SFTP credentials

Use subagents to run in parallel where possible:

• Agent 1: Check if WordPress is already present at the remote path
• Agent 2: Check if WP-CLI is available on the remote server

Then follow references/remote-install.md for provider-specific steps.

---

Step 4 — Set environment variables

export WP_SITE_URL="http://localhost:8080"   # or the remote URL
export WP_USER="lavon"
export WP_APP_PASSWORD="<generated password>"

Write these to a .env file in the project root so they persist across sessions:

cat > .env << EOF
WP_SITE_URL=http://localhost:8080
WP_USER=lavon
WP_APP_PASSWORD=<password>
EOF

Step 5 — Final verification

curl -s -u "$WP_USER:$WP_APP_PASSWORD" \
  "$WP_SITE_URL/wp-json/wp/v2/users/me" | jq '{name, roles}'

Expected: {"name": "lavon", "roles": ["administrator"]}

Gotchas

• Application Passwords require HTTPS on live sites but work over HTTP in local development. If you get 401 on a remote site, ensure HTTPS is active.
• The SQLite drop-in (db.php) must be in wp-content/, not wp-content/plugins/. If it's in the wrong place, WordPress will try to connect to MySQL and fail.
• PHP built-in server is single-threaded. It cannot handle the block editor's parallel requests well. Use for CLI testing only — open the site in the browser after running the installer.
• WP-CLI with SQLite requires the db.php drop-in before running core install, not after. If you install core first, the SQLite translator won't initialise and the installer will fail trying to connect to MySQL.
• --skip-check on config create is required with SQLite because WP-CLI tries to connect to MySQL to verify the config, which will always fail when using SQLite.

Output

• Site URL and admin URL
• Admin credentials (username + password for dev)
• Application Password (save this — it's only shown once)
• Confirmation: curl test returns the admin user and roles
• Next step: "Run wp-setup-theme to scaffold the visual theme."