WP Push Remote

A bash script to push WordPress sites from a SOURCE (LOCAL) server to a REMOTE server using WP-CLI and rsync. Works on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and higher.

Features

• 🚀 One-Time Configuration: Configure once with --config, settings saved automatically
• 🎯 Smart Auto-Detection: URLs and table prefixes detected via WP-CLI
• 📁 Custom Exclusions: Space-delimited exclusion lists via -e flag
• 🔌 Plugin Installation: Install multiple plugins with --install-plugins "plugin1 plugin2"
• 🔄 Database Migration: Automatic export, transfer, import, and search-replace
• 🔐 Modern SSH Keys: Ed25519 key generation for better security
• ⚙️ Multiple Modes: Interactive, unattended, and files-only modes
• 🔄 Table Prefix Sync: Automatic detection and synchronization of mismatched prefixes

Requirements

• Operating System: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or higher (both source and remote)
• WP-CLI: Must be installed on both source and remote servers
• SSH Access: SSH access to the remote server
• rsync: For file synchronization (usually pre-installed)
• openssh-client: For SSH connectivity (usually pre-installed)

Installing Requirements on Ubuntu 22.04+

# Install openssh-client and rsync if not present
sudo apt update
sudo apt install openssh-client rsync

# Install WP-CLI
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wp-cli/builds/gh-pages/phar/wp-cli.phar
chmod +x wp-cli.phar
sudo mv wp-cli.phar /usr/local/bin/wp

# Verify installation
wp --info

Installation

Clone the repository as root or with sudo to /opt/:

sudo git clone https://github.com/WPNET/wp-push-remote.git /opt/wp-push-remote
cd /opt/wp-push-remote
sudo chmod +x wp-push-remote.sh

Install to site user directories:

sudo /opt/wp-push-remote/wp-push-remote.sh --install-for-user
# Select from numbered list of sites in /sites/*/files/
# Script installed as /sites/{domain}/.local/bin/wp-push-remote

Important: After installation, the script must ONLY be run as the site user, never as root. The push operations will not work correctly if run as root.

Usage

Switch to the site user and run from the site directory:

# As the site user (not root)
cd /sites/yourdomain.com
./.local/bin/wp-push-remote --config    # First time: configure settings
./.local/bin/wp-push-remote              # Push to remote server

Display Help

./.local/bin/wp-push-remote --help
# or
./.local/bin/wp-push-remote -h

Command-Line Options

General Options

• -h, --help - Show help message
• -u, --unattended - Run in unattended mode (no prompts)
• -i, --install-for-user - Install script to a user's site directory (skips push operation)
• -c, --config - Configure source/remote settings (saves to ~/.wp-push-remote.conf)
• -D, --del-ssh-key - Delete SSH key pairs for remote user (skips push operation)
• -p, --install-plugins "LIST" - Install plugins (space-delimited list)
• -r, --remote-cmds "CMD" - Run custom commands on remote (quote the commands)

Exclusions

• -e, --exclude "LIST" - Space-delimited list of paths to exclude

  ./wp-push-remote.sh -e "uploads .git .maintenance"

Option Flags

Boolean flags (presence = enabled):

• --search-replace - Run wp search-replace on database (default: yes)
• --no-search-replace - Skip wp search-replace
• --files-only - Skip all database operations
• --no-db-import - Don't import database on remote
• --exclude-wpconfig - Exclude wp-config.php from rsync (default: yes)
• --no-exclude-wpconfig - Include wp-config.php in sync
• --disable-wp-debug - Temporarily disable WP_DEBUG during push
• --all-tables-with-prefix - Use --all-tables-with-prefix option for wp search-replace commands (default: no)

Examples

# Configure settings (first time)
./.local/bin/wp-push-remote --config

# Push to remote (uses saved config)
./.local/bin/wp-push-remote

# Install plugins on remote
./.local/bin/wp-push-remote --install-plugins "woocommerce contact-form-7"

# Files only (no database)
./.local/bin/wp-push-remote --files-only

# Unattended mode with exclusions
./.local/bin/wp-push-remote -u -e "uploads cache .git"

# Skip search-replace
./.local/bin/wp-push-remote --no-search-replace

# Run custom commands on remote
./.local/bin/wp-push-remote -r "wp plugin update --all"

# Delete SSH key pairs
./.local/bin/wp-push-remote --del-ssh-key

# Combined options
./.local/bin/wp-push-remote --install-plugins "akismet jetpack" -e "uploads cache"

SSH Key Management

The script automatically generates SSH keys for secure authentication. After completing a push operation, you can delete these keys if desired.

Deleting SSH Keys

To delete SSH key pairs:

./.local/bin/wp-push-remote --del-ssh-key

This will:

• Search for all SSH keys matching the configured remote user (Ed25519 and RSA)
• Display found key pairs with their locations
• Delete both private and public keys
• Remind you to manually remove the public key from the remote server's ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file

Important: You must manually remove the public key from the remote server after deletion.

Configuration

Persistent Configuration

Run --config once to save your settings to ~/.wp-push-remote.conf. The configuration is automatically loaded on subsequent runs.

What Gets Configured

When you run ./.local/bin/wp-push-remote --config, you'll be prompted for:

• Source path prefix: e.g., /sites/example.com/
• Source webroot: e.g., files or files/public_html
• Remote IP/hostname: e.g., 192.168.1.100 or staging.example.com
• Remote user: SSH username on remote server
• Remote path prefix: e.g., /sites/staging.example.com/
• Remote webroot: e.g., files or files/htdocs

Auto-Detection

The script automatically detects:

• WordPress URLs: Via wp option get siteurl on both sites
• Table prefixes: Via wp db prefix command (WP-CLI best practice)
• File paths: Derived from your configured paths

Smart Defaults

• Path structure defaults to /sites/{domain}/files pattern
• Press Enter to accept defaults shown in [brackets]
• Previous values remembered for easy updates

Default Exclusions

These paths are excluded by default:

• .git
• .maintenance
• wp-content/cache
• wp-content/uploads/wp-migrate-db
• /wp-content/updraft
• .user.ini
• wp-config.php (unless --no-exclude-wpconfig is used)

Key Features Explained

Table Prefix Synchronization

The script uses wp db prefix (WP-CLI best practice) to detect table prefixes on both sites. If they differ:

1. Warns you about the mismatch
2. Prompts for confirmation to synchronize
3. Resets remote database: wp db reset --yes
4. Sets matching prefix: wp config set table_prefix
5. Continues with normal database import

In unattended mode, mismatches are logged but no automatic changes are made (safer).

Plugin Installation

Install multiple plugins on the remote with a single command:

./.local/bin/wp-push-remote --install-plugins "plugin-slug1 plugin-slug2 plugin-slug3"

Plugins are installed after database operations and cache is flushed automatically.

SSH Key Management

The script manages SSH keys automatically:

• Checks for existing key: ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_remote_{user}
• Falls back to RSA key if Ed25519 not found
• Generates new Ed25519 key if none exists (in interactive mode)
• Tests connection before proceeding
• Sets proper permissions (600) automatically

Workflow

1. Configuration: Load saved config or prompt with --config
2. Auto-Detection: Detect URLs and table prefixes via WP-CLI
3. SSH Setup: Use existing or generate Ed25519 SSH key
4. Connection Test: Verify SSH access (optional in interactive mode)
5. Table Prefix Check: Compare and sync if different (with confirmation)
6. Database Export: Export source database (unless --files-only)
7. File Sync: Rsync files to remote with exclusions
8. Database Import: Import database on remote
9. Search-Replace: Update URLs and paths (unless --no-search-replace)
10. Plugin Installation: Install plugins if specified via --install-plugins
11. Cache Flush: Single cache flush after all operations
12. Cleanup: Remove temporary files

Troubleshooting

SSH Connection Issues

If you get a password prompt when connecting to the remote:

1. Ensure the public key is added to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the remote server
2. Check SSH key permissions: chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_rsa_remote_*
3. Verify the remote user has SSH access

WP-CLI Not Found

Ensure WP-CLI is installed and accessible:

wp --info

If not installed, follow the WP-CLI installation guide.

Database Import Fails

1. Verify database credentials in remote wp-config.php
2. Ensure sufficient disk space on remote server

Rsync Errors

1. Verify source and remote paths are correct
2. Check SSH connectivity
3. Ensure sufficient permissions on both source and remote

Security Considerations

• wp-config.php: Excluded by default to prevent overwriting remote configuration
• SSH Keys: Ed25519 keys (preferred) for better security on Ubuntu 22.04+
• Database Cleanup: Temporary SQL files cleaned up after import
• Unattended Mode: Use cautiously - skips confirmations
• Table Prefix Sync: Requires confirmation before resetting remote database

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This script is provided as-is for use in WordPress deployments.

Author

gb@wpnet.nz

Support

For issues, questions, or suggestions, please open an issue on GitHub.

Notes

• This script is optimized for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and higher
• It uses modern bash features (5.0+) and Ubuntu-specific tools
• SSH keys are generated using Ed25519 algorithm for better performance
• The script validates the environment before execution