WPClone — WordPress Site Migration Tool

One-command WordPress migration between servers using SSH, rsync, and WP-CLI.

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✨ Features

Feature	Details
File Transfer	rsync over SSH — incremental, resume-safe, fast
Database Export	WP-CLI (wp db export) or mysqldump fallback
Database Import	WP-CLI (wp db import) or mysql fallback
URL Replacement	wp search-replace — handles serialized PHP safely
Config File	Reusable .conf files for repeatable migrations
Dry Run	Preview every step without touching anything
Post-migration	Cache flush, rewrite rules, permission hardening
Logging	Full log of every operation to wpclone.log

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📊 Community Stats

Track how many migrations have been run and sites moved using wpclone.

Metric	Badge
Total migrations run
Open issues / bug reports
Closed (resolved) issues
Stars (people using it)

💬 Ran a successful migration? Tell us about it in Discussions! If the "new discussion" page returns 404, see the troubleshooting guide: docs/troubleshooting.md.

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📦 Requirements

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📚 Documentation

The main documentation is built with FumaDocs and is fully featured and interactive.

👉 Visit the documentation: https://vexxo-dev.github.io/wpclone_cli/

• Source code for docs: docs-fumadocs/

On your local machine (where you run wpclone):

• bash ≥ 4.0
• ssh
• rsync
• scp

On the source server:

• ssh access
• wp-cli (recommended) or mysqldump

On the destination server:

• ssh access
• wp-cli (recommended) or mysql
• A working WordPress installation with wp-config.php already in place

Tip: No extra packages needed beyond what's standard on any Linux server.

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🚀 Quick Start

⚡ One-liner (no cloning required)

Run wpclone directly from GitHub — no installation, no git clone:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Vexxo-Dev/wpclone_cli/main/wpclone.sh) \
  --src-host deploy@old-server.com \
  --src-path /var/www/html \
  --dst-host deploy@new-server.com \
  --dst-path /var/www/html \
  --old-url https://old-site.com \
  --new-url https://new-site.com

Install locally (recommended for repeated use)

# Download and make executable
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Vexxo-Dev/wpclone_cli/main/wpclone.sh -o wpclone
chmod +x wpclone

# Optional: install system-wide
sudo mv wpclone /usr/local/bin/wpclone

# Verify
wpclone --version

Run a full migration

./wpclone \
  --src-host deploy@old-server.com \
  --src-path /var/www/html \
  --dst-host deploy@new-server.com \
  --dst-path /var/www/html \
  --old-url https://old-site.com \
  --new-url https://new-site.com

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⚙️ Usage

wpclone [OPTIONS]
wpclone --config <file>

Required Options

Option	Description
--src-host <user@host>	SSH string for the source server
--src-path <path>	Absolute WP root path on the source
--dst-host <user@host>	SSH string for the destination server
--dst-path <path>	Absolute WP root path on the destination
--old-url <url>	Old site URL (as stored in the WP database)
--new-url <url>	New site URL

Optional Flags

Option	Description
--config <file>	Load options from a config file
--src-port <port>	SSH port on source (default: 22)
--dst-port <port>	SSH port on destination (default: 22)
--src-key <path>	SSH private key for source
--dst-key <path>	SSH private key for destination
--db-method <m>	wpcli (default) or mysqldump
--exclude <pattern>	Rsync exclude pattern (repeatable)
--skip-files	Skip rsync transfer (DB only)
--skip-db	Skip database migration (files only)
--skip-url-replace	Skip search-and-replace after import
--dry-run	Simulate without making changes
--verbose	Verbose rsync output
--no-color	Disable colored output
--version	Print version and exit
-h, --help	Show help

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
WPCLONE_DEBUG=1	Enable debug output
WPCLONE_LOG=<path>	Override log file location

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📄 Config File

Copy migration.conf.example to migration.conf, fill in your values, and run:

./wpclone --config migration.conf

Config file format (key=value, comments with #):

SRC_HOST=deploy@old-server.com
SRC_PATH=/var/www/html
DST_HOST=deploy@new-server.com
DST_PATH=/var/www/html
OLD_URL=https://old-site.com
NEW_URL=https://new-site.com
DB_METHOD=wpcli
VERBOSE=0
DRY_RUN=0

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🎯 Use Cases

Migrate live → new host

./wpclone --config production.conf

Clone live → staging

./wpclone --config production.conf --new-url https://staging.example.com

Sync files only (e.g. after a code deploy)

./wpclone --config production.conf --skip-db

Restore database only

./wpclone --config production.conf --skip-files

Preview everything before running

./wpclone --config production.conf --dry-run

Exclude large upload folders

./wpclone --config production.conf \
  --exclude wp-content/uploads/videos \
  --exclude wp-content/uploads/2020

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🔄 Migration Flow

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       wpclone                           │
│                                                         │
│  1. Validate args & check deps (local + remote)         │
│                                                         │
│  2. rsync: source → local staging → destination         │
│                                                         │
│  3. Export DB: source (wp db export / mysqldump)        │
│     ↓ scp to local                                      │
│  4. Import DB: scp to destination → wp db import / mysql│
│                                                         │
│  5. wp search-replace: old URL → new URL                │
│     (handles serialized PHP safely)                     │
│                                                         │
│  6. Post-migration:                                     │
│     - wp cache flush                                    │
│     - wp rewrite flush                                  │
│     - chmod 755/644, wp-config.php 600                  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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🛡️ Security Notes

• SSH BatchMode=yes is used — no interactive password prompts. Use SSH keys.
• wp-config.php is set to chmod 600 on the destination after migration.
• Database credentials are never written to local disk (only the dump file is, in /tmp).
• The local staging area is always cleaned up on exit (even on error).

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🐛 Bug Reports & Support

Ran into a problem? Please open a GitHub Issue and include:

Field	What to include
OS / environment	Local OS, bash version (bash --version)
SSH setup	Key auth or password? Direct access or jump host?
WP-CLI available?	Run wp --info on both servers
Error message	Full output from the terminal
Log file	Contents of wpclone.log (redact passwords/IPs if needed)
Command used	The exact wpclone command (redact credentials)

Tip

Run with --dry-run and WPCLONE_DEBUG=1 first to capture full output without making any changes:

WPCLONE_DEBUG=1 ./wpclone --config migration.conf --dry-run 2>&1 | tee debug.log

Then attach debug.log and wpclone.log to your issue.

Quick links:

• 🐛 Report a bug
• 💡 Request a feature
• 💬 Start a discussion

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are very welcome! This project is in early development.

Ways to contribute:

• Add support for direct SSH tunnelling (src ↔ dst without local staging)
• Add progress bars using pv for database transfer
• Add Slack/email notifications on completion
• Add a rollback mechanism (snapshot before migration)
• Write tests (BATS framework)
• Improve Windows/WSL compatibility

Please open an issue before submitting large PRs. See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

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📋 Roadmap

• Direct server-to-server rsync (no local staging required)
• --backup flag — snapshot destination before overwriting
• Interactive TUI mode
• Slack/webhook notifications
• BATS test suite
• brew install / apt install packaging
• Docker image for environments without rsync/ssh

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📜 License

MIT © 2026 — See LICENSE for details.