Level Up

Level Up

A collection of resources for WordPress Developers, written and curated by experts

Workflow30 resources

Install WP-CLI

The Complete Guide to Installing WP-CLI

The WordPress command line interface (WP-CLI) is a powerful WordPress-developer focused tool. We use it to help us write tests, manage changes to site databases, and we even have WP-CLI…

Erik

Oct 24, 2024

The Best Local WordPress Development Environment: XAMPP vs MAMP vs Laragon vs Local

A local development environment lets you make changes to dev sites quickly without having to transfer files. It also greatly reduces the risk of making and breaking changes on a…

Mike Davey

Mar 28, 2024

WP-CLI Packages: Supercharge Your WordPress Development

WP-CLI packages take the increased efficiency of the command line even further by extending it with new or modified commands. In this article, we’ll show you how to install packages,…

Mike Davey

Mar 21, 2024

How to Test Webhooks From Public APIs in Local Development

Webhooks are a mechanism for receiving notifications about events from disparate systems without having to continuously poll them. Also called Reverse APIs, they can be thought of as providing “API…

Sanjucta Ghose

Feb 15, 2024

Everything You Need to Know About Installing WordPress in a Subdirectory

In this article, we look at the benefits and limitations of installing WordPress in a subdirectory, how to install and manage subdirectory installs, and how to move WordPress core out…

Iain Poulson

Nov 30, 2023

JavaScript in the Shallow End: Browser-Based React Native With Expo Snack

“Learn JavaScript. Deeply,” is good advice, but jumping right into the deep end when you’re first learning to swim may not be the smartest move. In this article, we’re going…

Mike Davey

Jun 8, 2023

Mastering Migrations: Faster, Easier, and Safer Ways to Move Your WordPress Sites

Every WordPress developer knows the feeling of despair when a migration fails, balanced by the immense feelings of relief when one succeeds. It’s a frustrating process for many devs, with…

Kevin Hoffman

Mar 9, 2023

The Developer’s Advanced Guide to the wp-config File

How well do you really know wp-config? There’s a surprising amount of power in those few lines of PHP! This article is a tour of some bits of wp-config that…

Ross Wintle

Sep 27, 2022

How to Switch Your WordPress Site from HTTP to HTTPS

Just about every WordPress website should be served over HTTPS instead of HTTP, for reasons of both security and SEO. HTTP content isn’t encrypted, leaving your site vulnerable, and Google…

Matt Shaw

Aug 10, 2022

Managing Your WordPress Site With Git and Composer

Managing WordPress with Git and Composer has some big advantages. In particular, it can give you version control and helps get new people up to speed quickly. But it’s not…

Ross Wintle

Jul 6, 2022

Backup Plugin Battle: Which is the Best WordPress Backup Plugin in 2022?

Backing up your site is a little like buying fire insurance. You never need it outside of a catastrophe, but not having it is just going to make the catastrophe…

Mike Davey

May 10, 2022

Debugging React, JavaScript, and PHP at the Same Time With PhpStorm

Ever since I discovered how to configure PhpStorm with Xdebug for debugging, it’s been my go-to solution for hunting down difficult to reproduce bugs. What I didn’t know until very…

Jonathan

Mar 29, 2022

Create Your Own SSL Certificate Authority for Local HTTPS Development

In 2018 Google started advocating that sites adopt HTTPS encryption, by marking sites not using an SSL certificate as “not secure” in their Chrome browser. This was widely accepted as…

Brad

Nov 23, 2021

Understanding WordPress GUIDs: What They Are, and Why Change Them

The WordPress GUID is a unique identifier for individual posts, pages, media, and practically any other custom post type. As such, it’s a key element in rendering your WordPress content…

Brad

Nov 17, 2021

Reviewing Craft Nitro & DevKinsta for WordPress Local Development

One of the cool things about my job as Developer Educator at Delicious Brains is that sometimes I get to try out new things that I might otherwise never discover.…

Jonathan

Jul 28, 2021

Why You Should be Using WP_DEBUG_LOG in Your WordPress Development

Whether you’re a developer, or a site owner troubleshooting a problem with your site, understanding the WP_DEBUG_LOG constant for turning on the WordPress debug log is very important. In this…

Brad

Apr 13, 2021

VS Code Wins Best PHP IDE/Editor for WordPress Development in 2021

When building software or websites, you’ll need to use an integrated development environment (IDE), a code editor or if you’re really brave, a text editor. They each offer different benefits…

Caillie West

Jan 9, 2021

Switching to Windows for Local WordPress Development

As you may have noticed from reading our blog, we’ve highly favored Mac and Linux for WordPress development. And we’re not alone – through my very scientific and thorough research,…

Matt Shaw

Oct 15, 2020

The Best Setup for Your Local WordPress Development Environment

When running a WordPress website it’s best practice to at least run a local copy of the site so you can make changes without running the risk of completely ruining…

Iain Poulson

Sep 16, 2020

Valet vs VVV vs Chassis: A Comparison Guide to CLI-Based Local WordPress Development Environments

In my last article, I reviewed the best WordPress development environment apps out there. But that’s not all of it, there are a number of great options available as well…

Ram Ratan Maurya

Sep 1, 2020

Vagrant vs Docker: Which is better for WordPress development?

Before Docker came on the scene Vagrant was the go-to solution for creating development environments that can be configured independently of your machine and shared with a team. There are…

Gilbert Pellegrom

Mar 31, 2020

Advanced Migration Workflow Tips For The Lazy WordPress Developer

Sure you migrate WordPress databases on the regular and have a pretty good idea of what you’re doing, but is there anything that could make your migrations go more quickly…

Peter Tasker

Feb 19, 2019

Using Devilbox for Local WordPress Development in Docker

For some time now I’ve been wanting to move all of my local development sites over to Docker instead of running them natively on my machine or running them in…

Gilbert Pellegrom

Feb 13, 2018

Automating Local WordPress Site Setup with Scripts Part 3: Automating the Rest

This is article 3 of 3 in the series “Automating Local WordPress Site Setup with Scripts” In my last post in the Automating Local WordPress Setup series, I created a…

Matt Shaw

Feb 21, 2017