WP Client¶

Documentation

This is a step-by-step tutorial. Reading the Panda installation notes and our WP Core docs is assumed.

Click here to see the full documentation…

Introduction¶

Summary

Panda can be controlled in various ways, one of it being the command-line client or CLI.

WP Client allows easy and automated maintenance of both database and server.

In detail the backend consists of the following key components:

Web server
PHP server for development
Apache or Nginx server for production
GUI dashboard or admin interface based on WP Core
CLI client
REST API
SQL database

Hint

It is recommended to use the CLI or the API instead of the GUI for scripts and regular tasks.

Overview¶

Summary

This tutorial covers the most important CLI commands.

See wp help or wp.org for a full list of available commands.

In this tutorial we will learn how to…

Get system information like the path of the wp binary or the php.ini file.
Manage environment variables and .env files, including secrets.
Install, update, and manage the core installation.
Read and set site options, including plugin and theme settings.
Perform database operations and connect to the MySQL console.
…and more.

First steps¶

Summary

Let us start with some basics: Command name, system information, and client updates.

Command name¶

Note

Before starting we need to know the exact path to the wp binary.
This document will use wp without path for better readability.

The command name may vary depending on our installation.

When using Composer

./vendor/wp-cli/wp-cli/bin/wp (or the ./vendor/bin/wp symlink)
When using Docker

docker exec wp-cli wp (or docker-compose exec wp-cli wp)
For global or system-wide installations

wp

System information¶

Summary

Whenever information about the current system is needed, the wp cli info or wp --info command is our friend.

The client will retrieve the following:

OS information
Shell information
PHP binary used
PHP binary version
php.ini configuration file used, which is typically different than web
WP CLI root dir, i.e. where the client is installed (if non-Phar install)
WP CLI global config, i.e. where the global config YAML file is located
WP CLI project config, i.e. where the project config YAML file is located
WP CLI version, i.e. the currently installed release

So in cases where changes to the php.ini are needed, the CLI shows us the path.

Command

Display details about the current installation.

wp --info

Example

The output might look as follows.

Name	Value
OS	`Linux 5.4.0-44-generic`
Shell	`/bin/zsh`
PHP binary	`/usr/local/bin/php`
PHP version	`7.3.11`
php.ini used	`/etc/php/7.3/cli/php.ini`
WP-CLI root dir	`phar://wp-cli.phar/vendor/wp-cli/wp-cli`
WP-CLI vendor dir	`phar://wp-cli.phar/vendor`
WP_CLI phar path	`/var/www/html`
WP-CLI packages dir	`/home/redtux/.wp-cli/packages/`
WP-CLI global config	`/var/www/wp-cli.yml`
WP-CLI project config	`/var/www/wp-cli.yml`
WP-CLI version	`2.4.0`

See wp help cli or wp.org for more options.

Client updates¶

Command

Check for updates.

wp cli check-update

Success: WP-CLI is at the latest version.

Command

Update the client to the latest release.

wp cli update --nightly --yes

Warning

Phar files have self-updating powers. As shown below, this will not work when using Composer or Docker.

Error: You can only self-update Phar files.

Environment¶

Summary

wp dotenv manages all environment variables defined in an .env file.

./.env is set as default. This can be changed by using the --file parameter.

Command

List the content of the .env.example file.

wp dotenv list --file=.env.example

Example

The output might look as follows.

Variable	Value
`DB_HOST`	db
`DB_PREFIX`	wp_
`DB_ROOT_PASSWORD`	database_root_password
`DB_NAME`	database_name
`DB_USER`	database_user
`DB_PASSWORD`	database_password
`DOCROOT`	/var/www/htdocs
`WP_ENV`	development
`WP_HOME`	https://localhost
`WP_SITEURL`	https://localhost/wp
`WP_DEBUG_LOG`	/var/log/debug.log
`WP_TITLE`	Panda-CMS
`WP_ADMIN_USER`	admin_user
`WP_ADMIN_PASSWORD`	admin_password
`WP_ADMIN_EMAIL`	mail@example.com
`SFTP_HOST`	sftp.example.com
`SFTP_USER`	remote_user
`SFTP_PASSWORD`	remote_password
`AUTH_KEY`	generateme
`SECURE_AUTH_KEY`	generateme
`LOGGED_IN_KEY`	generateme
`NONCE_KEY`	generateme
`AUTH_SALT`	generateme
`SECURE_AUTH_SALT`	generateme
`LOGGED_IN_SALT`	generateme
`NONCE_SALT`	generateme

See wp help dotenv or wp-dotenv for more options, and phpdotenv for further information.

Core installation¶

Command

Run Panda Core installation process and populate the database.

wp core install \
        --path=$DOCROOT/wp \
        --url=$WP_HOME \
        --title=Panda-CMS \
        --admin_user=$WP_ADMIN_USER \
        --admin_password=$WP_ADMIN_PASSWORD \
        --admin_email=$WP_ADMIN_EMAIL

See wp help core or wp.org for more options.

Options and settings¶

Summary

Configure Panda settings like site description, title, theme, URL, or mail server.

Site title¶

Command

Get the site name or title.

wp option get blogname

Output

Panda-CMS

Command

Change the site name or title.

wp option update blogname "Panda"

Output

Success: Updated 'blogname' option.

Site description¶

Command

Update the site description.

wp option update blogdescription "Next Generation E-Commerce Platform"

Output

Success: Updated 'blogdescription' option.

Time zone¶

Command

Set the time zone.

wp option update timezone_string "Europe/Vienna"

Output

Success: Updated 'timezone_string' option.

Time format¶

Command

Set the time format.

wp option update time_format "H:i"

Output

Success: Updated 'time_format' option.

Date format¶

Command

Set the date format.

wp option update date_format "j. F Y"

Output

Success: Updated 'date_format' option.

URL format¶

Hint

In case you do not know what permanent links are and how to use them, see Using Permalinks.

Command

Set the permalink structure to use the post title in the URL.

wp rewrite structure '/%postname%/'

Output

Success: Rewrite structure set.
Success: Rewrite rules flushed.

Command

Display .htaccess permalink rewrite rules

wp rewrite list --format=csv

See wp help rewrite or wp.org for more options.

Options help¶

See wp help option or wp.org for further assistance.

Database management¶

List tables¶

Command

List database tables.

wp db tables

Display size¶

Command

Display the size of all tables in human readable format.

wp db size --tables --human-readable

Example

The output might look as follows.

Name	Size
`wp_commentmeta`	50 KB
`wp_comments`	99 KB
`wp_links`	33 KB
`wp_options`	2 MB
`wp_postmeta`	50 KB
`wp_posts`	82 KB
`wp_term_relationships`	33 KB
`wp_term_taxonomy`	50 KB
`wp_termmeta`	50 KB
`wp_terms`	50 KB
`wp_usermeta`	50 KB
`wp_users`	66 KB

Check integrity¶

Command

Check database integrity.

wp db check

Output

Success: Database checked.

DB optimization¶

Command

Optimize the database running mysqlcheck -optimize=true.

wp db optimize

Output

Success: Database optimized.

DB export¶

Command

Export the database to an SQL file running mysqldump.

wp db export --porcelain

Hint

The PROCESS privilege for the DB_USER is needed for this operation. Use:
GRANT PROCESS ON *.* TO 'db_user'@'%';

DB import¶

Command

Import a database dump from an SQL file.

wp db import <file>

MySQL client¶

Command

Open the SQL console using the mysql client.

wp db cli

Database help¶

See wp help db or wp.org for further assistance.

Theme menus¶

Command

List available menu locations for the current theme.

wp menu location list

Example

The output might look as follows.

Location	Description
`primary`	Desktop Horizontal Menu
`expanded`	Desktop Expanded Menu
`mobile`	Mobile Menu
`footer`	Footer Menu
`social`	Social Menu

Command

Create a new menu.

wp menu create "Panda Menu"

Output

Success: Created menu 2.

Command

Assign the new menu to the primary menu location.

wp menu location assign panda-menu primary

Output

Success: Assigned location primary to menu panda-menu.

Display menus¶

Command

Gets a list of menus.

wp menu list

Example

The output might look as follows.

term_id	Name	slug	locations	count
2	Panda Menu	panda-menu	primary	0

Custom menus¶

Command

Add custom menu items to the navigation bar.

wp menu item add-custom panda-menu "🐼 Code" https://github.com/pandainfo/panda --porcelain
wp menu item add-custom panda-menu "📘 Docs" https://pandainfo.github.io/panda --porcelain

Command

Get a list of items associated with a menu.

wp menu item list panda-menu

Example

The output might look as follows.

DB ID	Type	Title	Link	Position
10	custom	🐼 Code	pandainfo/panda	1
11	custom	📘 Docs	https://pandainfo.github.io/panda	2

See wp help menu or wp.org for more options.

Last update: January 28, 2021

WP Client¶

Introduction¶

Overview¶

First steps¶

Command name¶

System information¶

Client updates¶

Environment¶

Core installation¶

Options and settings¶

Site title¶

Site description¶

Time zone¶

Time format¶

Date format¶

URL format¶

Options help¶

Database management¶

List tables¶

Display size¶

Check integrity¶

DB optimization¶

DB export¶

DB import¶

MySQL client¶

Database help¶

Menus and navigation¶

Theme menus¶

Menu creation¶

Menu assignment¶

Display menus¶

Custom menus¶

List menu items¶

Menu help¶