How to Push a WordPress Staging Site Without Overwriting the Database

A staging site is essential for testing new features, plugins, themes, or updates without affecting the live website. Once changes are validated in the staging environment, the next step is pushing those changes to the live site. However, a common concern during this process is preventing the staging site’s database from overwriting the live site’s database, which can result in the loss of important live data, such as user comments, transactions, or blog posts.

This guide will walk you through the process of pushing changes from a WordPress staging site to a live site without overwriting the live database, ensuring you can safely transfer design, functionality, and structural changes while preserving important content.

Why You Might Not Want to Overwrite the Live Database

WordPress websites are dynamic, meaning the database constantly updates as users interact with the site. Overwriting the live database can erase these interactions. Some scenarios where database overwriting can cause issues include:

• Ecommerce websites: Overwriting the live database could result in lost orders, customer details, or inventory data.
• Membership sites: If users register, login, or modify their profiles, that information can be wiped out.
• Active blogs or news sites: New posts, comments, or edits could be lost if you overwrite the database.

Therefore, if your changes don’t involve the database (like theme design, plugin functionality, or layout changes), you can push the staging site without affecting the live database.

Steps to Push a Staging Site Without Overwriting the Database

There are a few methods to safely push your staging site to live without overwriting the database. Below, we outline the most efficient ways to handle this process.

1. Use a Hosting Provider’s Staging Feature

Many managed WordPress hosting providers offer built-in staging features that simplify the deployment process. Popular hosting companies like WP Engine, Kinsta, SiteGround, and Flywheel offer tools to merge changes from the staging site into the live site without touching the database.

Here’s how to push changes from staging to live without overwriting the database using a typical hosting provider:

• Login to your hosting dashboard: Navigate to the staging environment section.
• Select the staging site: Most hosting providers allow you to see the differences between the staging and live environments, such as file changes.
• Exclude the database: Before pushing the changes, select the option to push only files, leaving the live database intact.
• Confirm and deploy: After excluding the database, push the file changes. This ensures that the theme, plugins, and other structural changes move to the live site while the live database remains unchanged.

If your hosting provider offers granular controls over what to push, ensure you double-check that the database is not included in the deployment.

2. Manual File Transfer via FTP or SFTP

If your hosting provider doesn’t have a staging feature or if you prefer more control over the process, manually transferring files via FTP or SFTP is another option. This method allows you to move only the files you’ve updated, without touching the database.

Follow these steps to transfer only the necessary files:

• Download the updated files: Using an FTP client like FileZilla or Cyberduck, connect to the staging server and download the files you’ve changed (themes, plugins, etc.).
• Connect to the live site: Similarly, use FTP or SFTP to connect to the live server.
• Upload files to the live server: Navigate to the appropriate directories (usually /wp-content/themes/ or /wp-content/plugins/) and upload the updated files from the staging site to the live site.
• Clear the cache: After uploading, clear the website’s cache (both browser and server-side if applicable) to ensure the changes reflect on the live site.
• Test the site: After the transfer, carefully test the live site to confirm the updates have been successfully implemented without affecting the database.

This approach gives you direct control over which files are transferred, but it also requires more technical know-how.

3. Using a WordPress Migration Plugin

Several WordPress plugins allow you to move files between environments while excluding the database. These plugins are ideal for users who prefer a more automated approach than FTP.

Recommended plugins for this task include:

• WP Migrate DB Pro
• All-in-One WP Migration
• Duplicator Pro

For example, here’s how you would use WP Migrate DB Pro to push files from a staging site to a live site without overwriting the database:

• Install and activate the plugin: Ensure you have the plugin installed on both the staging and live sites.
• Set up the migration: From the staging site, go to Tools > Migrate DB Pro.
• Exclude the database: In the migration settings, you’ll find an option to exclude the database. Check this option so that only file changes are migrated.
• Select the target: Enter the details of your live site as the destination.
• Initiate the migration: Once everything is set, start the migration process. The plugin will automatically handle the file transfer, skipping the database.

Using migration plugins can simplify the process and reduce the likelihood of making errors, but always ensure you’re selecting the right settings to avoid unwanted database changes.

4. Deploy via Git for Version Control

For more advanced users or developers, using Git for version control is a reliable way to push code and theme changes without touching the database. Git tracks every file change, making it easy to selectively push updates while ignoring the database.

Here’s a basic overview of how to use Git to push updates:

• Initialize a Git repository: If you haven’t already, initialize a Git repository in both your staging and live environments.
• Make code changes on staging: Commit any changes you make to the theme, plugin, or custom code.
• Push the changes to the live environment: Once you’ve verified that everything is working as expected on the staging site, push the updates to the live site.
• Exclude the database: Since Git is designed for file tracking, it naturally won’t involve the database unless you explicitly commit database files (which you shouldn’t in this case).

Git provides developers with granular control over code deployments and ensures only the necessary changes are pushed to the live environment.

Best Practices for Staging to Live Site Deployments

Regardless of the method you choose, it’s essential to follow best practices to ensure a smooth transition between your staging and live environments.

• Back up your live site: Before pushing any changes, always back up both the files and the database of your live site. In case something goes wrong, you can quickly revert to the previous version.
• Test extensively: Ensure that the changes you make in the staging environment work as expected before pushing them live. This includes testing for functionality, compatibility with existing plugins, and performance.
• Monitor live site traffic and interactions: After deploying changes, closely monitor the live site to ensure everything is working correctly, and there are no issues with user interactions.
• Keep your staging environment updated: Regularly update the staging environment to reflect the live site. This ensures the changes you test and implement on staging are applicable when pushed live.

Conclusion

Pushing a staging site to a live environment without overwriting the database is a crucial process for maintaining the integrity of user data and interactions. By using a hosting provider’s staging tools, manual FTP file transfers, migration plugins, or Git for version control, you can selectively push updates while keeping the live database intact.

Always ensure that you’re working with backups and have thoroughly tested the staging environment before pushing changes to live. Following these steps will help you maintain a secure, up-to-date WordPress site without risking data loss or user disruption.