Govard Wordpress

Govard WordPress Commands

WordPress-specific shortcuts and commands for Govard environments.

Related Skills

REQUIRED BACKGROUND: Load govard-toolbox first — this skill only covers WordPress-specific shortcuts layered on top of Govard's base environment commands (govard up, govard sh, govard db, remote sync, Xdebug setup).

For generic PHP (strict_types/PSR-12/PHPStan/Security) see php-dev-core.

WP-CLI

WP-CLI (wp) runs inside the PHP container via Govard:

# Any wp command
govard tool wp --info
govard tool wp core version
govard tool wp plugin list

# Alternative: open shell
govard sh
wp --info

Govard default for WordPress (verified 2026-08-28 govard-test-wordpress): stack.php_version 8.0 (PHP 8.0.30), web_root /, db mariadb 10.6. Verify with govard config get stack.php_version. Note: request --framework-version 6 currently installs WP 7.1 (latest); PHP/DB versions are template defaults and may differ per bootstrap.

Bedrock layout web/wp/wp-includes/version.php is auto-detected via web/wp/wp-includes/version.php (see govard-toolbox for provider details).

Audit

For generic PHP (strict_types/PSR-12/PHPStan/Security) see php-dev-core. For 4-framework matrix and govard audit run --checks lint --lint-provider govard --mode project --format json see govard-toolbox ## Audit.

Cache Management

# Object cache flush (requires installed site; object-cache drop-in else no-op)
govard tool wp cache flush  # fresh DB without install returns "The site you have requested is not installed"

# Transients
govard tool wp transient delete --all

# If using a caching plugin (e.g. WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache)
govard tool wp rocket clean --confirm

Verified 2026-08-28: cache flush succeeds after wp core install (Success: The cache was flushed), fails pre-install.

No Govard-level frontend_sync for WordPress — use govard tool npm run watch if the theme uses a build step.

Plugin & Theme Management

# List — requires installed site (verified: fresh govard-test-wordpress shows akismet 5.7.2 + hello 1.7.2 after install, fails pre-install)
govard tool wp plugin list
govard tool wp theme list

# Install / activate
govard tool wp plugin install query-monitor --activate
govard tool wp theme install twentytwentyfour --activate

# Update
govard tool wp plugin update --all
govard tool wp theme update --all

# Must-use plugins are in wp-content/mu-plugins (not managed by wp plugin)

Rewrite & Core

# Flush rewrite rules (after CPT/taxonomy changes) — requires installed site; fresh install with empty DB warns "Rewrite rules are empty"
govard tool wp rewrite flush
govard tool wp rewrite list

# Verify core checksums
govard tool wp core verify-checksums

# Search-replace (after domain change, e.g. staging sync)
govard tool wp search-replace 'https://staging.example.com' 'https://wordpress.test' --all-tables

# Fresh install — Govard bootstrap creates wp-config.php but leaves DB empty (verified 2026-08-28: govard-test-wordpress required manual install)
govard tool wp core install --url=https://wordpress.test --title="Local" --admin_user=admin --admin_email=admin@example.com
# After install: govard tool wp core is-installed && govard tool wp db query "SHOW TABLES" shows wp_* tables

Govard injects wp-config.php salts automatically on govard env up. For multisite (WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE true), add extra_domains in .govard.yml for each site domain.

Database

# Via WP-CLI
govard tool wp db query "SHOW TABLES" 
govard tool wp db export --add-drop-table

# Via Govard DB layer (auto-handles table_prefix)
govard db query "SHOW TABLES"
govard db query "SELECT option_value FROM wp_options WHERE option_name='siteurl'"

# Prefix note: default $table_prefix is wp_ — if .govard.yml sets table_prefix, Govard's
# privacy filters (--no-pii/--no-noise) target prefixed tables automatically
govard db query "SELECT * FROM wp_users LIMIT 5"

Import/export also works via govard db import --file backup.sql --drop and govard db dump --no-noise -e staging.

wp-config.php & Environment

Govard auto-generates salts and wires DB credentials into wp-config.php on govard env up:

# Inspect current Govard DB credentials
govard db info
govard config get stack.db_version

# Show wp-config.php salts section
govard shell -c "grep -A2 AUTH_KEY wp-config.php | head -10"

• Do not commit wp-config.php salts — Govard regenerates them if missing.
• For staging/prod overrides use GOVARD_ENV=staging govard env up (loads .govard.staging.yml).
• extra_domains example for additional vhosts:

# .govard.yml
extra_domains:
  - shop.wordpress.test

Common Workflows

After Pulling Code

govard tool composer install
govard tool wp plugin update --all
govard tool wp rewrite flush
govard tool wp cache flush

Sync from Staging (privacy-safe)

govard bootstrap --clone -e staging --no-pii --no-noise --yes
# or DB-only
govard sync -s staging --db --no-pii --no-noise
govard tool wp search-replace 'https://staging.example.com' 'https://wordpress.test' --all-tables