Modern Development Workflow for WordPress

Based on my experience using underscoretw.com for theme development, I propose the following workflow for a modern WordPress development process:

1. Dev on Local: Develop the theme locally on your own machine.
2. Content on Staging: Allow your team to add content to the staging website while you focus on development on the local machine.
3. Sync DB & Files to Local: When you need new content or updated data, import it from the staging website (step 2) to your local development environment.
4. Push Theme to Git: Once the theme reaches a satisfactory stage, push it to a Git repository. Configure a deployment process using sFTP to upload the updated theme to the staging website.
5. Go Live: When ready to deploy the theme to the live production environment, clone the staging website to the production server. Depending on your update frequency and workflow, you may choose to integrate Git with the production server as well.

Notes:

• From (3) DB Migration: For migrating database changes between local, staging, and production environments, I recommend using WordPress Migrate DB Pro. However, if you’re on a budget, you can manually migrate the database using tools like phpMyAdmin.

• From (4) sFTP Deployment: For pushing theme updates to the staging server via sFTP, I suggest using this GitHub Action: https://github.com/marketplace/actions/sftp-deploy. It’s free and offers the option to perform a pre-deployment build process.

Learning WordPress Theme Development with _tw:

If you’re interested in learning how to develop themes using _tw, I highly recommend attending this free Meetup event: https://www.meetup.com/bangkok-wordpress/events/298389796/

By following this modern development workflow and utilizing the recommended tools and resources, you can streamline your WordPress theme development process, enhance collaboration, and ensure the delivery of high-quality themes.