Changes to a live WordPress website can always affect design, functionality, or accessibility. Especially with major WordPress updates, new plugins, theme changes, or extensive customizations, it is therefore advisable to test changes first in a Staging environment to test.
With Softaculous You can create a separate staging installation from an existing WordPress website in your CURIAWEB hosting. This test environment is based on your current website, but runs separately from the production installation. You can try out changes there without immediately altering the publicly accessible website.
Briefly explained: A staging website is a separate test copy of your live WordPress website. Changes are first made there and, after successful testing with Softaculous, can be selectively transferred to the live website.
What is a WordPress staging environment? #
A staging environment is a working copy of your website. It basically contains the same components as the original installation: WordPress, database, themes, plugins, settings, posts, pages, and media files.
The decisive difference is that visitors continue to see your normal website while you prepare and test changes on the staging version.
Assuming your website can be reached at the following address:
your-domain.ch
The staging version could, for example, be set up under a separate address or in a subdirectory:
deine-domain.ch/staging
You determine which address is actually used when creating the staging installation.
Why shouldn't I test changes directly on the live website? #
Minor changes to a text or image can usually be made directly in WordPress without any problems. The situation is different when it comes to technical changes.
For example, a plugin update can conflict with another plugin. A theme update can affect custom modifications. A new PHP version can make outdated program code visible. Changes to WooCommerce, a page builder, or the WordPress configuration can also have unexpected effects.
On a production website, in the worst-case scenario, not only you will notice such problems, but also your visitors or customers.
With a staging environment, you can try out changes first and check whether the website continues to function correctly afterwards.
When is WordPress staging particularly useful? #
A test environment is particularly recommended before making changes that affect multiple areas of your website or whose effects cannot be reliably predicted.
- major WordPress updates,
- Updates of important plugins,
- Installation of new or technically complex plugins,
- theme changes or extensive theme updates,
- Changes with Elementor or other page builders,
- Changes to WooCommerce and the checkout,
- Changing the PHP version,
- extensive design changes,
- Changes to custom PHP, CSS, or JavaScript code,
- Troubleshooting plugin or theme conflicts.
Rule of thumb: If a change could partially or completely take your website offline in the event of an error, test it in a staging environment first if possible.
Prerequisites for Staging with Softaculous #
The existing WordPress installation must be known to Softaculous. WordPress websites that were installed via Softaculous are normally displayed automatically in the installation overview.
If your website was originally installed manually or migrated to CURIAWEB, it may be necessary to first import the existing WordPress installation into Softaculous.
If you want to set up WordPress again, you can find the complete process in our guide. Install WordPress with Softaculous.
Create a WordPress staging site with Softaculous #
The staging environment is set up via Softaculous in cPanel. You do not need to manually copy the WordPress files or database for it.
- Log in to CURIAWEB Customer Center a.
- Open the relevant hosting package under your services.
- Open via „cPanel Login“ your hosting administration.
- Start Softaculous Apps Installer or rather the WordPress Manager by Softaculous.
- Open the overview of your existing WordPress installations.
- Select the production WordPress website for which you want to create a staging environment.
- Select the function „Staging“.
- Determine the domain or directory for the staging installation.
- Check the information carefully.
- Start the creation of the staging environment.
Softaculous will then create the required copy of the WordPress installation. Depending on the size of your website and the number of files, this process may take a little time.
If you don't know how to get from the customer account directly to cPanel, you can find the procedure in our guide. Single Sign-On: Open cPanel directly from the CURIAWEB customer center.
Important: Check the selected target directory before creating the staging installation. Do not use a directory that already contains another website or important files.
What does Softaculous copy into the staging environment? #
A WordPress website consists of files and a database. Softaculous takes both components into account when creating the staging environment.
This fundamentally also includes for the copy:
- WordPress itself,
- installed themes,
- installed plugins,
- Posts and pages,
- WordPress settings,
- User accounts,
- Media files,
- Plugin and theme settings,
- as well as further information stored in the WordPress database.
At the time of its creation, the staging website thus largely corresponds to the state of the production website.
Live website and staging develop separately afterwards #
This point is important: After creation, the live website and staging website two separate WordPress installations.
If you then, for example, publish a new post on the live website, it will not be automatically transferred to the already existing staging installation. The same applies in the reverse direction.
Therefore, the longer you work with a staging environment, the more both installations can diverge from each other.
Especially important for dynamic websites: For WooCommerce stores, membership sites, booking systems, forums, or other websites with continuously new user data, you should be especially careful when transferring the staging version later on. The live database may in the meantime contain new orders, customers, or other data.
Test changes on the staging website #
After creation, you can log in to the WordPress admin area of the staging installation and make your changes there.
After making technical changes, do not only test the directly modified function. Also check important areas of the entire website.
This includes, for example:
- Home page and important subpages,
- Navigation and menus,
- Display on desktop and smartphone,
- Contact forms,
- WordPress login,
- Plugins and their functions,
- Theme and Layout,
- internal links,
- HTTPS and SSL,
- as well as shopping cart and checkout, if applicable.
If you want to try out a new plugin, we explain installation and activation in detail in the article What is a WordPress plugin and how do you install a plugin?.
Protect staging websites from search engines #
A staging website is usually not intended for visitors or search engines. It often contains the same or very similar content as your live website.
If a test installation is publicly indexed, unnecessary additional URLs can appear in search engines. Therefore, a staging environment should not be operated as a second publicly indexable version of your website.
In WordPress you can find under „Settings“ > „Reading“ a setting for search engine visibility. However, this alone is not true access protection.
SEO Note: A staging website generally does not belong in the Google index. For test systems, additional technical access protection can also be useful so that the installation is not freely accessible to the public.
Be careful with contact forms and sending emails #
Since the staging website is created from a copy of the production installation, settings from form, SMTP, newsletter, and other email plugins are usually also carried over.
A contact form on the staging website could therefore continue to send messages. The same applies to automatic notifications from various plugins.
Therefore, check which emails can be triggered during your tests. Especially on websites with customer accounts, ordering systems, or automated messages, you should avoid real recipients accidentally receiving test messages.
Special caution with WooCommerce staging #
In a WooCommerce store, the staging database may contain customer data, orders, products, coupons, and payment or shipping service settings.
Such a test environment should be secured with particular care. Furthermore, before conducting tests, check whether payment service providers can be switched to a test or sandbox mode and whether automatic emails should be disabled.
Caution with shops: Do not make any unintentional real payments on a staging copy and do not send test orders to real customers. Check payment providers and email dispatch before testing the shop.
What does „Push to Live“ mean? #
Once your changes have been successfully tested on the staging website, you can transfer them back to the live website using Softaculous. Softaculous refers to this process as „Push to Live“.
In doing so, you should not simply assume that every staging installation should completely overwrite the live website. Depending on the configuration, Softaculous offers ways to control the transfer process and determine which components are transferred.
Which variant is correct depends on what you changed on the staging website.
Make sure to create a backup before pushing to live #
Before transferring changes from staging to the production website, you should always ensure that a current backup of the live website exists.
This applies even if all tests on the staging version were successful. The production website may have changed since the creation of the test environment, and only the actual deployment process reveals how the changes behave in the live environment.
Before Push to Live: Always create or check a current backup of the productive WordPress website. In case of an error, you can use it to restore the previous state.
Deploy staging to the live website #
Once you have tested the changes and ensured a recent backup, you can start the push-to-live process via Softaculous.
- Open in cPanel the WordPress Manager by Softaculous.
- Select your staging installation.
- Open the function „Push to Live“.
- Check the offered transfer options.
- Carefully check which files and database information are affected.
- Do not start the process until you have checked the selection.
- Wait until Softaculous has completely finished the process.
Do not interrupt the process unnecessarily and do not close the browser window while a transfer is in progress.
Why a full database push can be problematic #
Assuming you created a staging copy of a WooCommerce store three days ago. While you are developing a new design there, customers continue to place orders on the live website.
As a result, the live database now contains new orders and potentially new customer accounts that did not exist at the time the staging environment was created.
If you were now to inconsiderately overwrite the current live database entirely with an older staging database, data created in the meantime could be affected.
That is why the push-to-live process for dynamic websites is not a feature you should simply confirm without checking.
Simply put: The more the live website changes during your work, the more carefully you must decide which components of the staging installation should actually be transferred back to the production website.
Test the website again after push to live #
Even though everything worked on the staging version, you should thoroughly check the production website again after the transfer.
Check in particular:
- whether the website is accessible,
- whether the layout is displayed correctly,
- whether navigation and internal links work,
- whether forms work,
- whether the WordPress admin area is accessible,
- whether plugins work without errors,
- whether SSL or HTTPS works,
- and in WooCommerce, especially the cart and checkout.
For important business websites, you should not limit the test to the home page. Check the functions that are actually relevant to the operation of the website.
Staging or cloning: Which feature do I need? #
Softaculous offers both Staging as well as Cloning. Both functions create another WordPress installation, but they have different purposes.
Staging you use when you want to test changes to an existing website and later transfer them specifically to the live website.
Cloning you use that more when you need a standalone copy of a website that is to be used independently.
We explain how cloning works in detail in our guide Cloning WordPress: Copying a website with Softaculous.
Delete staging installation after completion #
Once your changes have been successfully transferred to the live website and you no longer need the staging environment, you should check whether it still needs to be kept.
Unused WordPress installations consume storage space and must also be kept up to date and secure. A forgotten test installation with outdated WordPress, plugins, or themes can pose an unnecessary security risk in the long run.
Before deleting an installation via Softaculous, however, check the domain and installation path very carefully.
Do not delete the live website: Always check the domain, URL, and installation directory before removing a staging installation. An accidentally deleted production installation can only be restored using an existing backup.
Summary #
With the staging function of Softaculous, you can create a separate test version of your WordPress website. This allows you to try out WordPress updates, plugins, themes, design changes, and other technical adjustments before they affect your live website.
After successful tests, changes can be made via „Push to Live“ be transferred to the live website. Particular care is required with WooCommerce shops and other dynamic websites, as the production database may have changed since the staging version was created.
Always create a current backup before a push to live and check the productive website again afterwards. You should remove any staging installation that is no longer needed so that no outdated or unnecessary WordPress installations are left on your hosting.
