Testing WordPress plugins with wp-env

Testing WordPress plugins on a live site can go very wrong! I have discovered a simple way to test WordPress plugins locally: wp-env. This CLI tool makes it really easy to create an instance of a docker container which runs the latest verson of WordPress.

To add wp-env as a local developer dependency:

npm i @wordpress/env --save-dev

npm i @wordpress/env --save-dev

Set-up

I recommend creating a config file for wp-env. If you have a repo where you are developing a plugin, then use something like the following in your .wp-env.json file. This example tells wp-env that you are working on two plugins, and lists the directories which contain the plugin files:

{
    "$schema": "https://schemas.wp.org/trunk/wp-env.json",
    "plugins": [
        "./tdp-plugin-1",
        "./tdp-plugin-2"
    ]
}

{
    "$schema": "https://schemas.wp.org/trunk/wp-env.json",
    "plugins": [
        "./tdp-plugin-1",
        "./tdp-plugin-2"
    ]
}

Running wp-env

The command to start up the WordPress containers is:

npx wp-env start

npx wp-env start

Once the containers are up and running, you should be able to access the WordPress site at localhost:8888. The default username and password are admin and password! The plugins should be pre-installed and ready for testing.

The command to stop the containers is:

npx wp-env stop

npx wp-env stop

References

• @wordpress/env

• Quick and easy local WordPress development with wp-env

• wp-env: Simple Local Environments for WordPress.