DevKinsta: Convenient Local WordPress Development Kit
(This article is created in collaboration with Kinsta. Thanks to the partners who support SitePoint!)
Local development refers to building, editing and testing code on a local machine without an internet connection. It has many advantages:
DevKinsta is a free local WordPress development tool suite from Kinsta to create local WordPress instances containing PHP, Nginx, and MySQL full host stacks in minutes. DevKinsta has a reliable and growing list of features such as one-click WordPress website creation, PHP 7.x and 8.x support, local email management, built-in database manager, seamless integration with MyKinsta, and a community of WordPress experts.
DevKinsta supports macOS, Windows, and Ubuntu/Linux and is free to everyone, not just Kinsta customers.
DevKinsta is available for macOS, Windows, and Ubuntu/Linux. Here is the way to get started:
Docker Desktop is installed as a dependency when DevKinsta is first started. DevKinsta uses Docker Desktop to create a containerized WordPress environment. During the DevKinsta installation, you may see a pop-up message saying "Docker Desktop requires privileged access". If you see the message, click OK and provide your user account password to properly install Docker Desktop. After providing the installation password, DevKinsta will install Docker Desktop with some Docker images. Installation time may vary depending on your internet connection speed, so you can temporarily leave your computer.
To successfully install DevKinsta, you need to make sure your local machine meets the following requirements:
For more detailed information, be sure to read the recommended installation process in our documentation.
DevKinsta supports three ways to create a local WordPress website:
Create a new website with DevKinsta
Create a new WordPress website
To start, select the "New WordPress website" option. For this website creation method, you only need to specify the website name, WordPress administrator username, and WordPress administrator password. After filling in these three fields, click "Create Website".
Clone your live website using the Import from Kinsta feature
Import from Kinsta
The second option is to import the website environment hosted on Kinsta. To do this, click "Import from Kinsta" and provide your MyKinsta login details. After logging in, select the Kinsta environment you want to clone to your local computer. DevKinsta supports both real-time and staging environments on Kinsta, so be sure to choose the right environment. After clicking on the environment, specify whether the site is a multi-site installation, and then click "Import Site" to start cloning your site.
Customize local WordPress installation with DevKinsta
Custom website
The third and last option, “Custom Site”, allows you to configure specific settings for your local WordPress installation. Here are the settings you can adjust using this website creation method: Website name, PHP version (PHP 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, and 8.0), Database name, HTTPS enabled, WordPress website title, WordPress administrator email, WordPress administrator username , WordPress administrator password, WordPress multi-site mode.
After configuring the required settings, click "Create Site" to start the website creation process.
For agencies and developers working on multiple projects simultaneously, DevKinsta allows you to deploy and manage multiple local WordPress websites! Each local WordPress website managed by DevKinsta runs in its own containerized environment. This means that each website has its own customizable PHP version, WordPress version, email inbox, and more. To view your DevKinsta website list, click the website icon in the left sidebar.
Deploy multiple WordPress local environments using DevKinsta
On this screen, you can see a list of all local WordPress sites. To add another website, just click the "Add Site" button.
For users who host WordPress websites on Kinsta, DevKinsta can easily push changes online to the Kinsta staging environment. To push a local website to Kinsta, just click the "Press to Stage" button on the "Website Information" page.
Push your local WordPress website to the Kinsta staging environment
You may be prompted for MyKinsta credentials. Then, you need to select the target website you want to push to. Remember that if a staging environment exists, this process overwrites the contents of the current staging environment.
Lastly, click "Pull to Stage Storage" to confirm the operation.
After pushing a local WordPress website to Kinsta, you can view the website through the staging environment URL. If necessary, you can push the staging store to a live environment in MyKinsta.
DevKinsta comes with a lightweight database management tool called Adminer. Like phpMyAdmin for our websites hosted on Kinsta, Adminer provides you with a web interface to edit database tables, run database queries, import and export backups, and more. To start Adminer, click the Database Manager button at the top of the Site Information page. Adminer will then open in your default web browser.
Click "Database Manager" to access Adminer in DevKinsta
After starting Adminer, you will see the tables for your WordPress database. The following image shows the database of our "kinstalife" test website. In the "Table" column, you can see the default WordPress tables, such as wp_comments, wp_posts, etc.
Adminer also supports database import and export. This is very useful for using database backup files that we include in downloadable backups. To import a database file, click "Import" in the upper left corner of Adminer. Click "Select File" to select a database backup, and then click "Execute" to start the import process. Adminer supports both original .sql files and compressed .sql.gz files.
To export a complete database backup, click "Export" in the upper left corner of Adminer. Select "gzip" for the output format, select "SQL" for the database format, and leave other settings as default settings. Click "Export" to start the backup process. Adminer will then export your WordPress database to a compressed .sql.gz file.
Finally, Adminer supports SQL command execution, which means you can run database queries on your WordPress database. For example, if you try to find the amount of data that is automatically loaded in the database, you can run the following SQL command in Adminer:
SELECT SUM(LENGTH(option_value)) as autoload_size FROM wp_options WHERE autoload='yes';
To run a database query, click "SQL Command" in the upper left corner of Adminer. Specify the database query and click "Execute" to run the command.
Using DevKinsta's Adminer integration, you can provide advanced control over your WordPress database. Whether you need to edit database tables, import or export backups, or run complex SQL commands, DevKinsta has your needs!
DevKinsta includes a built-in SMTP server and email capture tool. This allows your local WordPress website to send out out emails like a live production site. However, the email sent will be captured and stored in DevKinsta’s email inbox. This gives you the best of both worlds. You can use DevKinsta to test outgoing email features such as marketing automation workflows, WooCommerce order confirmations, and more without spam to visitors and customers’ email inboxes. To access DevKinsta’s email inbox, click the mail icon in the left sidebar.
DevKinsta includes a built-in SMTP server and email capture tool
In your email inbox, you will see a list of captured outgoing emails. In the image below, you can see an outgoing email from our kinstalife test site.
To check out out emails, just click on it. For each email, use DevKinsta to check "Sender Address", "Recipient Address", "Text Content", "Delivery Time", and so on.
You can also choose to display emails in HTML, plain text, or original mode. HTML pattern is useful for testing HTML email templates, while original pattern allows you to check email headers directly, such as MIME-Version and X-Mailer.
To learn more about DevKinsta, be sure to join the official community forum and read the DevKinsta documentation. We look forward to seeing what you create!
DevKinsta requires a 64-bit version of Windows 10, macOS 10.14 or higher, or Ubuntu 18.04 or higher. It also requires Docker Desktop to be installed on your system. Docker Desktop requires at least 4GB of RAM, but 8GB is recommended for optimal performance.
To install DevKinsta, you need to download the installer from the official DevKinsta website. After the download is complete, run the installer and follow the on-screen instructions. The installation process is simple and does not require any technical knowledge.
Yes, DevKinsta is available for free for personal and commercial projects. It is a powerful tool that helps you develop and test WordPress websites before deploying them to a live server.
To create a new WordPress website using DevKinsta, open the app and click the "Create New Website" button. You will be asked to provide some details about the website, such as its name and the version of WordPress you want to use. After filling in these details, click the "Create" button and DevKinsta will set up a new website for you.
Yes, DevKinsta allows you to import existing WordPress websites. To do this, you need to follow the steps above to create a new website, however, instead of setting up a new WordPress installation, select the "Import Site" option. You will then be asked to provide details of the website you want to import.
Updating WordPress and plugins in DevKinsta is the same as updating them in a live website. You can do this by going to the WordPress dashboard in the Updates section.
Yes, one of the main advantages of DevKinsta is that it allows you to test in a secure local environment before deploying changes to a live website. This can help you avoid potential problems and ensure your website always runs smoothly.
To deploy a website from DevKinsta to a live server, you need to export the website from DevKinsta and import it into the live server. This process may vary by your hosting provider, so it is best to check its documentation for specific instructions.
If you have problems using DevKinsta, you can check out the DevKinsta documentation or the Kinsta Knowledge Base to find solutions. If you can't find a solution, you can contact the DevKinsta support team for help.
Yes, you can install and use DevKinsta on multiple computers. However, remember that each DevKinsta installation is independent, so if you want to handle them from different machines, you will need to manually transfer websites between computers.
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