WP CLI: An Intro and Interesting Use Cases

WP-CLI is the command line interface for WordPress. In this talk, I introduce the core concepts of WP-CLI, talk about how to use it to manage your websites, and cover a few interesting use cases for it.

If you’ve never heard of WP-CLI, or you’re an experienced user, hopefully there will be something of interest for you in this talk.

Transcript

1. @johnbillion #WPLDN
   

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3. Interfaces to WordPress
   • Admin area
   • Ajax
   • REST API
   • XML-RPC
   • RSS feeds
   • Themes
   • Comments
   

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4. WP-CLI is a command line interface for WordPress.
   The project’s goal is to offer
   a complete alternative to the WordPress admin.
   For any action you might want to perform
   in the WordPress admin, there should be
   an equivalent WP-CLI command.
   

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5. wp-cli.org
   

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6. $
   

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7. Built-in User Manual
   wp help
   wp help
   wp --help
   Guided Interactive Mode
   wp --prompt
   How to Get Help
   

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8. Online Handbook
   wp-cli.org → Handbook
   Online Command Reference
   wp-cli.org → Commands
   How to Get Help
   

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9. Generally follows "noun [noun]... verb" format
   wp user create
   wp post meta add
   wp plugin install
   But not always...
   wp import
   Command Structure
   

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10. One-off usage in the terminal:
    How to use
    $ wp user create john john@example.com --role=editor
    Success: Created user 6.
    $ wp plugin list
    +-------------------------+----------+--------+---------+
    | name | status | update | version |
    +-------------------------+----------+--------+---------+
    | airplane-mode | active | none | 0.2.4 |
    | email-log | inactive | none | 2.2.5 |
    | query-monitor | active | none | 3.0.0 |
    | revisions-digest | inactive | none | 0.1.0 |
    | rewrite-rules-inspector | inactive | none | 1.2.1 |
    | user-switching | active | none | 1.3.1 |
    | wordpress-importer | active | none | 0.6.4 |
    | wp-crontrol | inactive | none | 1.7 |
    | db.php | dropin | none | |
    | object-cache.php | dropin | none | |
    +-------------------------+----------+--------+---------+
    

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11. For scripting purposes:
    How to use
    #!/usr/bin/env bash
    # Configure the script to exit immediately if any command fails:
    set -e
    # Download WordPress core files if they're not already present:
    if [ ! -f "wp-load.php" ]; then
    wp core download
    else
    echo "WordPress files are already present."
    fi
    # Create a wp-config.php file if it's not already present:
    if [ ! -f "wp-config.php" ]; then
    echo "Please enter your database credentials:"
    wp config create --prompt
    fi
    

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12. "A complete alternative
    to the WordPress admin"
    

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13. $ wp post list
    $ wp post create --post_title="Hello World"
    $ wp post edit
    $ wp term list category
    $ wp term list post_tag
    

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14. $ wp post list --post_type=attachment
    $ wp media import https://example.com/image.png
    $ wp media regenerate
    

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15. $ wp post list --post_type=page
    $ wp post create --post_type=page
    --post_title="About"
    

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16. $ wp comment list
    $ wp comment approve
    $ wp comment spam
    

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17. $ wp theme list
    $ wp theme install wpldn --activate
    $ wp theme mod set colour-scheme light
    $ wp widget move widget-4 --position=2
    $ wp menu delete all-pages
    $ wp theme --edit // nope
    

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18. $ wp plugin list
    $ wp plugin activate wordpress-seo
    $ wp plugin search debug-bar
    

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19. $ wp user list
    $ wp user list --search=john
    $ wp user list --role=editor
    $ wp user create emily emily@example.com
    $ wp user update john --user_password=hunter2
    

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20. $ wp option get blogname
    $ wp option update admin_email admin@example.com
    $ wp option list --search="thumbnail_*"
    $ wp rewrite structure '%post_id%'
    

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21. Why Use WP-CLI?
    

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22. WP-CLI is Fast
    1. Navigate to admin area
    2. Enter username
    3. Enter password
    4. Click on Plugins
    5. Click Add New
    6. Search for plugin name
    7. Find plugin in results
    8. Click "Install"...
    9. Click "Activate"...
    $ wp plugin install
    wordpress-seo --activate
    

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23. WP-CLI is Efficient
    $ wp user update $(wp user list --search="*example.com"
    --search-fields=email --format=ids) --role=subscriber
    Success: Updated user 6.
    Success: Updated user 8.
    Success: Updated user 9.
    Success: Updated user 7.
    Success: Updated user 10.
    Success: Updated user 15.
    Success: Updated user 18.
    Success: Updated user 27.
    Success: Updated user 34.
    Success: Updated user 35.
    Success: Updated user 37.
    Success: Updated user .....
    

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24. Prevent users from using the installers/editors/updaters:
    define( 'DISALLOW_FILE_MODS', true );
    or
    wp config set DISALLOW_FILE_MODS true --type=constant --raw
    WP-CLI remains unaffected; allows for controlled
    management:
    wp core language install it_IT
    wp plugin update --all
    wp theme install twentyeighteen
    Enhance Your Security
    

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25. Skip loading all or some plugins or themes:
    --skip-plugins
    --skip-plugins=a-slow-plugin
    --skip-themes
    Load PHP file before running the command:
    --require=fixer.php
    Show all PHP errors:
    --debug
    Administer broken or slow sites
    

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26. What do you do repeatedly on
    your site that you ought to be
    able to automate?
    Interlude
    

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27. Aliases avoid the need to SSH into remote sites:
    wp @prod theme activate twenty seventeen
    wp @dev user create dan dan@example.com
    wp @all core check-update
    Config:
    @trunk:
    path: /sites/wp/src
    @blog:
    ssh: john@example.com~/var/www/jb
    @dev:
    ssh: vagrant:default
    Administering remote sites
    

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28. Convert a site to HTTPS
    $ wp search-replace http://example.com https://example.com
    +------------------+-----------------------+--------------+------+
    | Table | Column | Replacements | Type |
    +------------------+-----------------------+--------------+------+
    | wp_commentmeta | meta_key | 0 | SQL |
    | wp_commentmeta | meta_value | 7 | SQL |
    | wp_comments | comment_author | 0 | SQL |
    | wp_comments | comment_author_email | 0 | SQL |
    | wp_options | option_name | 0 | SQL |
    | wp_options | option_value | 12 | PHP |
    | wp_options | autoload | 0 | SQL |
    | wp_postmeta | meta_key | 0 | SQL |
    | wp_postmeta | meta_value | 135 | PHP |
    ...
    Success: Made 271 replacements.
    

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29. Quickly connect to MySQL
    $ wp db cli
    MariaDB [trunk.wp]> show fields from wp_term_taxonomy;
    +------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+
    | Field | Type | Null | Key | Default |
    +------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+
    | term_taxonomy_id | bigint(20) unsigned | NO | PRI | NULL |
    | term_id | bigint(20) unsigned | NO | MUL | 0 |
    | taxonomy | varchar(32) | NO | MUL | |
    | description | longtext | NO | | NULL |
    | parent | bigint(20) unsigned | NO | | 0 |
    | count | bigint(20) | NO | | 0 |
    +------------------+---------------------+------+-----+---------+
    6 rows in set (0.00 sec)
    

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30. Blog via the CLI
    $ wp post create --post_title="Hello World" --edit
    // Opens your configured editor
    $ wp post edit 45
    

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31. Shell Friends
    $ wp post delete $(wp post list--format=ids)
    Success: Trashed post 64.
    Success: Trashed post 186.
    $ wp language core list --field=language | xargs -n 1 wp language
    core install
    Downloading translation from https://wordpress.org/.../af.zip...
    Success: Language installed.
    Downloading translation from https://wordpress.org/.../as.zip...
    Success: Language installed.
    Downloading translation from https://wordpress.org/.../az.zip...
    Success: Language installed.
    Downloading translation from https://wordpress.org/.../bel.zip...
    Success: Language installed.
    Downloading translation from https://wordpress.org/.../bg.zip...
    Success: Language installed.
    ...
    

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32. wp-cli.org
    wp-cli.tips
    

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33. Q&A
    @johnbillion #WPLDN
    wp-cli.org wp-cli.tips
    

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