Every WP Cloud instance supports a staging environment — a separate copy of your site where you can test changes, updates, or redesigns without affecting your live site.
Creating a Staging Environment
Open Your Instance
From My Instances, click on the instance you want to stage.
Click Staging
Click the Staging button in the top action bar.
Create the Staging Site
PanelAlpha creates a full copy of your live instance as a staging environment with one click. No additional configuration is needed.
The staging site is a fully independent copy of your live site. Changes made to staging do not affect the live site until you push them.
Switching Between Live and Staging
Once a staging environment exists, you will see tabs at the top of the instance — live and staging — allowing you to switch between the two environments and manage them independently.
Pushing Staging to Production
When you are satisfied with changes on staging, you can push them to your live site:
Open the Staging Environment
Click the staging tab at the top of the instance.
Push to Production
Use the available push option to select what to push — files, database, or both.
Confirm
Review and confirm. The live site is updated immediately.
Pushing the database from staging to production overwrites your live database. Create a backup of your live site before pushing if you need to preserve recent changes.
Common Uses
- Testing WordPress core, plugin, or theme updates before applying them live
- Developing a redesign without taking the live site offline
- Verifying configuration changes before they affect visitors
