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What are you syncing about?

A WordPress database migration tool for pushing and pulling databases between sites with automatic URL/path replacement and backups. Vibe-coded – use at your own risk!

by Jack Parker · github.com/jackmparker/what-are-you-syncing-about · website

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Install

No release zip yet. The repository archive installs, but the folder name will carry the branch suffix and updates will not flow:

wp plugin install https://github.com/jackmparker/what-are-you-syncing-about/archive/refs/heads/master.zip
Readme github.com/jackmparker/what-are-you-syncing-about ↗

A WordPress database migration tool for pushing and pulling databases between sites with automatic URL/path replacement and backups. Vibe-coded – use at your own risk!

Features

  • Push & Pull Migrations: Sync databases between WordPress sites
  • URL/Path Replacement: Automatic replacement of URLs, file paths, protocol-relative URLs, and serialized string byte counts
  • Automatic Backups: Creates backups before any migration (with disk space pre-check)
  • Secure: HMAC-SHA256 signature verification for all requests
  • Parallel Processing: Multiple tables sync simultaneously (configurable, default 3)
  • Gzip Compression: SQL compressed in transit (~70–90% smaller payloads)
  • Small Table Batching: Empty/tiny tables grouped into single batch requests
  • Robust: Works on staging sites behind HTTP Basic Auth or with self-signed SSL certs

Dynamic Chunk Sizing

  • Small tables (< 100 rows): 50 rows per chunk
  • Medium tables (100–10K rows): 250–1000 rows per chunk
  • Large tables (> 100K rows): Up to 5000 rows per chunk

Optimized Processing

  • URL replacement only processes INSERT statements (skips DDL)
  • Serialized s:N: byte counts recalculated after URL length changes
  • Tables < 4 KB batched into single export/import requests
  • 3 tables processed simultaneously by default (configurable 1–10)

Installation

  1. Upload the what-are-you-syncing-about folder to /wp-content/plugins/
  2. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
  3. Go to Tools → What are you syncing about?

Upgrading from vat-are-you-zinking-about

On activate, the plugin migrates your connection key (vayz_settings → sync_settings), backup folder under uploads, and any in-progress migration state. Push and pull require both sites to run 1.1.0+ (AJAX actions use the sync_ prefix). Either rename the plugin folder in place on each site or deactivate the old plugin, install this folder, and activate.

Usage

  1. Get your connection key from the plugin settings
  2. Share the key with the remote site
  3. Enter remote site details (URL and their connection key)
  4. Verify connection to ensure both sites can communicate
  5. Pull or Push the database as needed

Advanced Settings

Expand Advanced Settings under the Remote Site Connection section to configure:

Setting Purpose
HTTP Basic Auth Username/Password For staging sites behind auth_basic (common on WP Engine, Kinsta staging, etc.)
Skip SSL verification For sites with self-signed certificates (DDEV, Local, custom staging)
Parallel Tables Number of tables processed simultaneously (default 3; set to 1 on restrictive shared hosts)

Settings are saved per-site and persist across syncs.

Requirements

  • PHP 7.4 or higher
  • WordPress 5.0 or higher
  • MySQL/MariaDB
  • export capability for the WordPress user

Security

  • HMAC-SHA256 signatures for all remote requests
  • WordPress nonce verification for local requests
  • Capability checks (requires export capability)
  • CORS headers for cross-site requests
  • SSL verification enabled by default (opt-out per-connection only)

Technical Details

  • Temp Table System: Imports to temporary tables first, then atomically swaps to live
  • Crash Recovery: Automatic rollback if migration fails mid-flight
  • Health Checks: Verifies database integrity after finalization
  • Gzip Transport: SQL payloads gzip-compressed (level 6) when gzencode is available
  • Backward Compatible: Sites running 1.1.0 can still sync with 1.2.0 (falls back to plain SQL)
  • Retry Logic: Chunk requests retry up to 3× on network failure (2s/4s/8s backoff)

Changelog

1.2.0

  • Parallel table processing (configurable concurrency, default 3 simultaneous tables)
  • Gzip compression for SQL transfer (~70–90% payload reduction)
  • Small table batching (empty/tiny tables grouped into single requests)
  • HTTP Basic Auth support for staging sites
  • SSL verification skip option for self-signed certificates
  • Chunk retry with exponential backoff (3 attempts)
  • Protocol-relative URL replacement (//example.com/...)
  • Fixed s:N: serialized byte counts after URL-length-changing replacements
  • Disk space pre-check before backup creation
  • Charset/collation mismatch warning
  • Improved error messages (WAF detection, actionable hints)

1.1.0

  • Renamed plugin to What are you syncing about? (what-are-you-syncing-about)
  • Replaced vayz / VAYZ internals with sync / SYNC
  • One-time upgrade for existing installs (settings, backups, migration state)

1.0.0

  • Initial release with performance optimizations
  • Dynamic chunk sizing
  • Optimized URL/path replacement
  • Enhanced progress display

License

GPL v3