In today’s episode, we dive into the world of local WordPress development, focusing on his experiences with “Local by Flywheel.” We start by emphasizing the importance of local development environments for efficient and faster WordPress development. Dustin discusses how working locally eliminates the need for constant file uploads, caching busting, and waiting for changes to reflect. He introduces “Local by Flywheel” as his preferred tool for local WordPress development in 2023.
What is Local by Flywheel?
Local by Flywheel is a desktop application that provides a local development environment for WordPress. It essentially allows you to set up a miniature web server environment on your computer, complete with a web server (usually NGINX or Apache), a database server (typically MySQL), and PHP, the server-side scripting language that WordPress runs on. This environment is isolated from your live web server, which means you can safely develop and test WordPress websites without affecting your live site.
- Customization and PHP Versions: Dustin highlights the flexibility of Local by Flywheel, which enables users to customize their development environment, including PHP versions and web server configurations. He emphasizes the importance of using the latest PHP versions (e.g., PHP 8.1) for WordPress development.
- Database Management: The podcast covers the built-in database tools within Local by Flywheel, such as phpMyAdmin, which provides direct access to the database. Dustin also mentions third-party tools like TablePlus for more advanced database management.
- Live Links and Integrations: Local by Flywheel allows users to create live links to their local sites, making it easy to share progress with clients or collaborators. Additionally, the tool offers integrations with hosting platforms like WP Engine and Flywheel for seamless site deployment.
- Extensions and Add-Ons: Dustin discusses various add-ons and extensions available for Local by Flywheel, including instant reload for automatic CSS refresh, TablePlus integration, cloud backups, and debugging tools for text editors like Visual Studio Code or PHPStorm.
- Pros and Cons: The podcast provides a list of pros and cons associated with using Local by Flywheel for local WordPress development. Pros include a user-friendly interface, quick setup, SSL support, and PHP version control. Cons include resource intensiveness and limited support for pushing to non-Flywheel hosts.
- Workflow for Importing a Site: Dustin outlines the workflow for importing an existing live WordPress site into Local by Flywheel, including downloading files via FTP, syncing the database with WP Migrate DB Pro, and keeping the local and live environments in sync.
Links Shared During the Conversation:
- Local by Flywheel
- WP Engine
- WP Migrate DB Pro
- TablePlus
- TasteWP
View on YourWebsiteEngineer.com