Git Integration

Use Git to version control your WordPress site and push changes directly to staging.

Clone Your Staging Site

Download your staging site's code to your local machine:

git clone ssh://[email protected]/var/www/html mysite-staging
cd mysite-staging

Set Up Staging as a Remote

If you already have a local repository, add staging as a remote:

cd my-wordpress-project
git remote add staging ssh://[email protected]/var/www/html

Push Changes to Staging

After making changes locally:

git add .
git commit -m "Update theme styles"
git push staging main

Your changes are immediately reflected on the staging site.

Pull Changes from Staging

If changes were made on staging (via WP-CLI, file uploads, etc.):

git pull staging main

Typical Workflow

# 1. Clone or set up the remote
git clone ssh://[email protected]/var/www/html mysite
cd mysite

# 2. Create a feature branch
git checkout -b feature/new-header

# 3. Make your changes locally
# ... edit files ...

# 4. Commit and push to staging
git add .
git commit -m "Add new header component"
git push staging feature/new-header

# 5. Test on staging site
# https://mysite-staging.myscalablesite.com

# 6. Merge to main when ready
git checkout main
git merge feature/new-header
git push staging main

What Gets Tracked

The entire /var/www/html directory is a Git repository, including:

• WordPress core files
• Themes (wp-content/themes/)
• Plugins (wp-content/plugins/)
• Must-use plugins (wp-content/mu-plugins/)

What's Ignored

The following are typically in .gitignore:

• wp-content/uploads/ - Media files (stored separately)
• wp-config.php - Environment-specific configuration
• vendor/ - Composer dependencies (regenerated from composer.json)
• node_modules/ - Node dependencies

Running Git Commands on Staging

You can run git commands directly on the staging server via SSH. This is useful for checking status, viewing history, or managing branches without pulling locally.

Check Status

# See uncommitted changes on staging
ssh [email protected] 'git status'

# See what's changed
ssh [email protected] 'git diff'

View History

# Recent commits
ssh [email protected] 'git log --oneline -10'

# Who changed what
ssh [email protected] 'git log --oneline --author="John" -5'

Branch Management

# List branches
ssh [email protected] 'git branch -a'

# Switch branches
ssh [email protected] 'git checkout develop'

# Create and switch to new branch
ssh [email protected] 'git checkout -b hotfix/urgent-fix'

Undo Changes

# Discard uncommitted changes to a file
ssh [email protected] 'git checkout -- wp-content/themes/mytheme/style.css'

# Reset to last commit (discard all uncommitted changes)
ssh [email protected] 'git reset --hard HEAD'

Reset with Care

git reset --hard permanently discards uncommitted changes. Make sure you don't need them!

Interactive Mode

For multiple git commands, use interactive mode:

ssh [email protected]

wp-shell> git status
wp-shell> git log --oneline -5
wp-shell> git diff wp-content/themes/
wp-shell> exit

Handling Conflicts

If staging has changes that conflict with your local changes:

# Pull and rebase
git pull staging main --rebase

# Resolve any conflicts, then continue
git add .
git rebase --continue

# Push your changes
git push staging main

Best Practices

1. Always pull before pushing - Avoid conflicts by getting the latest changes first
2. Use feature branches - Keep main stable, test features in branches
3. Write meaningful commit messages - Makes it easier to track changes
4. Don't commit sensitive data - Keep credentials in environment variables
5. Test on staging before production - That's what it's for!

Production Deployments

Changes pushed to staging don't automatically go to production. Use the Deploy feature in your dashboard to promote staging to production.