Remote Media Fallback WP Registry grade A. No security issues foundWP RegistryNo security issues foundOpen the reportA

A single-file must-use WordPress plugin for local development sites. Existing uploads remain local; missing files are fetched from the configured production site and streamed without being stored permanently.

Credit

This project was inspired by Bill Erickson's BE Media from Production, which solves the same local-development problem by rewriting missing media URLs to their production equivalents. Remote Media Fallback takes a different approach: it keeps media requests on the local origin and fetches missing files server-side with an identifying user agent. This works around SiteDistrict's firewall behavior and may also help with other firewalls that block embedded cross-origin media. Thank you to Bill Erickson for the original idea and plugin.

Install

Copy remote-media-fallback.php directly into wp-content/mu-plugins, then add the production site URL to wp-config.php:

define( 'REMOTE_MEDIA_FALLBACK_URL', 'https://example.com' );

The local web server must route missing upload requests through WordPress.

Development

Symlink the main file into a test site's MU-plugin directory:

ln -s /path/to/remote-media-fallback.php /path/to/site/wp-content/mu-plugins/remote-media-fallback.php

Run the dependency-free checks with:

php tests/validate.php

Distribution

Publish remote-media-fallback.php and its SHA-256 checksum as release assets. The installation skill can compare the plugin version, verify the checksum, and replace the file atomically even when WordPress is stopped.

Pushing a version tag such as v1.2.3 creates those release assets automatically. Keep the tag and the plugin's Version header in sync.