Quick Start Guide – Automated WordPress Deployment

This guide shows you how to use the fully automated WordPress deployment system that requires NO manual setup.

Deployment Targets

You can deploy to:

• Local LAMP server – For development and testing (see LOCAL-DEPLOYMENT.md)
• Remote LAMP server – For staging and production (this guide)

Both use the same automation scripts!

What Gets Automated

✓ WordPress installation (no browser wizard!)
✓ Database creation
✓ Theme activation
✓ Initial content generation
✓ Deployment tracking
✓ Content syncing between local and remote
✓ Automatic updates to status-site when changes happen

Prerequisites

One-Time Setup

1. Install WP-CLI (WordPress Command Line Interface):

# Install locally
./scripts/utils/install-wpcli.sh local

Install on remote server
./scripts/utils/install-wpcli.sh remote 192.168.1.91 YOUR_USERNAME

Replace YOUR_USERNAME with your SSH username (e.g., milos).

1. Configure SSH key authentication (recommended):

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096
ssh-copy-id [email protected]

1. Update site configuration for remote URL:

# Edit config/sites/status-site.json
Change dev.siteUrl to: "http://192.168.1.91/status-site-dev"

Or use this command:

sed -i 's|"siteUrl": "http://localhost:8000"|"siteUrl": "http://192.168.1.91/status-site-dev"|' config/sites/status-site.json

Deploy Status-Site (Fully Automated!)

Single Command Deployment

./scripts/deploy/deploy-automated.sh status-site dev remote 192.168.1.91 YOUR_USERNAME

This ONE command does everything:

1. ✓ Creates database
2. ✓ Downloads and installs WordPress
3. ✓ Configures wp-config.php
4. ✓ Runs WordPress installation (no browser!)
5. ✓ Activates your theme
6. ✓ Generates initial content from project data
7. ✓ Sets up pages and posts automatically

No manual clicking required!

Configure Apache

After deployment, SSH to your remote server and configure Apache:

ssh [email protected]
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

Add this inside the block:

Alias /status-site-dev /var/www/html/status-site-dev

<Directory /var/www/html/status-site-dev>
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride All
    Require all granted
</Directory>

Reload Apache:

sudo systemctl reload apache2

Access Your Site

Visit: http://192.168.1.91/status-site-dev

Login credentials are saved in:

logs/credentials-status-site-dev.txt

Automated Content Generation

The status-site automatically creates content from your project data:

• Sites Page: Lists all sites from config/sites/*.json
• Features Page: Tracks features being developed
• Deployments Page: Logs all deployments
• Blog Posts: Automatically created for each deployment

Content stays in sync with your project!

Sync Content Between Local and Remote

Pull from Remote (Remote → Local)

# Sync database
./scripts/sync/sync-database.sh status-site dev pull 192.168.1.91 YOUR_USERNAME

Sync uploads (images, files)
./scripts/sync/sync-uploads.sh status-site dev pull 192.168.1.91 YOUR_USERNAME

Push to Remote (Local → Remote)

# Sync database
./scripts/sync/sync-database.sh status-site dev push 192.168.1.91 YOUR_USERNAME

Sync uploads
./scripts/sync/sync-uploads.sh status-site dev push 192.168.1.91 YOUR_USERNAME

The sync scripts automatically:

• ✓ Backup databases before syncing
• ✓ Update URLs (localhost ↔ remote IP)
• ✓ Preserve file permissions
• ✓ Log all operations

Complete Workflow Example

1. Create a New Site

# Create site configuration
node scripts/content/add-site.js

Enter details:

• Site ID: my-blog
• Site Name: My Personal Blog
• Description: A blog about technology
• Theme: (press Enter for default)
• Dev URL: http://192.168.1.91/my-blog-dev

2. Deploy Automatically

./scripts/deploy/deploy-automated.sh my-blog dev remote 192.168.1.91 YOUR_USERNAME

Done! WordPress is installed, theme activated, content generated.

3. Work Locally

# Pull content from remote to work locally
./scripts/sync/sync-database.sh my-blog dev pull 192.168.1.91 YOUR_USERNAME

Make changes in WordPress admin locally...

Push changes back to remote
./scripts/sync/sync-database.sh my-blog dev push 192.168.1.91 YOUR_USERNAME

4. Add Features Programmatically

# Add a feature (this will update status-site automatically)
node scripts/content/add-feature.js my-blog "User authentication system"

Update status-site to show the new feature
./scripts/content/update-wp-content.sh status-site dev 192.168.1.91 YOUR_USERNAME

How Status-Site Tracks Changes

The status-site automatically monitors and displays:

1. New Deployments: When you run deploy-automated.sh, it logs the deployment and creates a post on status-site

1. New Features: When you add features with add-feature.js, status-site is updated

1. Site List: Automatically reads from config/sites/*.json and displays all active sites

1. Real-time Updates: Run update-wp-content.sh anytime to refresh status-site content from project data

Manual Edits via WordPress Admin

You can still use WordPress admin normally:

1. Visit: http://192.168.1.91/status-site-dev/wp-admin
2. Login with credentials from logs/credentials-status-site-dev.txt
3. Add/edit posts, pages, upload media
4. Sync changes to local: ./scripts/sync/sync-database.sh status-site dev pull

Advanced: Multiple Environments

Deploy the same site to dev, staging, and production:

# Development
./scripts/deploy/deploy-automated.sh my-site dev remote 192.168.1.91 YOUR_USERNAME

Staging
./scripts/deploy/deploy-automated.sh my-site staging remote 192.168.1.91 YOUR_USERNAME

Production
./scripts/deploy/deploy-automated.sh my-site production remote 192.168.1.91 YOUR_USERNAME

Sync content: dev → staging → production
./scripts/sync/sync-database.sh my-site dev pull    # Get from dev
./scripts/sync/sync-database.sh my-site staging push  # Push to staging

Command Reference

Deployment

# Automated deployment
./scripts/deploy/deploy-automated.sh <site-id> <env> remote <host> <user>

Manual steps (if needed)
./scripts/deploy/create-database-remote.sh <site-id> <env> <host> <user>
./scripts/deploy/auto-deploy-remote.sh <site-id> <env> <host> <user>

Sync

# Database sync
./scripts/sync/sync-database.sh <site-id> <env> pull|push <host> <user>

Uploads sync
./scripts/sync/sync-uploads.sh <site-id> <env> pull|push <host> <user>

Content Management

# Create site
node scripts/content/add-site.js

Add feature
node scripts/content/add-feature.js <site-id> "Feature name"

Update status-site content from project data
./scripts/content/update-wp-content.sh status-site dev <host> <user>

Generate fresh content
./scripts/content/generate-wp-content.sh <site-id> <env> <host> <user> <wp-path>

Troubleshooting

WP-CLI not found

# Install WP-CLI
./scripts/utils/install-wpcli.sh remote 192.168.1.91 YOUR_USERNAME

Permission denied errors

# On remote server
ssh [email protected]
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/status-site-dev

Database sync fails

Check credentials in config/sites/.json:

cat config/sites/status-site.json | grep -A 5 '"dev"'

Content not updating

Manually trigger update:

./scripts/content/update-wp-content.sh status-site dev 192.168.1.91 YOUR_USERNAME

Architecture

This system uses:

• WP-CLI: For headless WordPress installation and management
• rsync: For efficient file syncing
• mysqldump: For database backups and syncing
• SSH: For secure remote operations
• JSON configs: For site and project configuration
• Bash + Node.js: For automation scripts

Benefits

✓ No manual setup: Everything is automated
✓ Reproducible: Deploy identical sites easily
✓ Trackable: All changes logged and visible
✓ Syncable: Work locally or remotely seamlessly
✓ Programmatic: Control WordPress via scripts
✓ Status tracking: Automatic monitoring of all sites

Next Steps

1. Deploy status-site with automated deployment
2. Add more sites and features
3. Set up automated backups with cron
4. Create custom content generation scripts
5. Integrate with CI/CD for continuous deployment

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Welcome to fully automated WordPress site management! 🚀