WP Manifestindependent plugin directory
manifest / updates / wordpress-rmd-migrate-to-localdev

RMD Migrate to Localdev

WordPress plugin that creates a download of a live site for local development with XAMPP: zip of all files plus a database dump with serialization-safe search and replace.

by Philipp Reichelt, reichelt media.design · github.com/reicheltmediadesign/wordpress-rmd-migrate-to-localdev · website

★ 0stars

Install

Download source zip No release zip yet

This is the repository archive. It installs, but the folder name will carry the branch suffix and updates will not flow.

Install straight from GitHub with WP-CLI:

wp plugin install https://github.com/reicheltmediadesign/wordpress-rmd-migrate-to-localdev/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
Updates itself. It ships its own updater (Plugin Update Checker), so new versions appear under Dashboard → Updates.
Readme github.com/reicheltmediadesign/wordpress-rmd-migrate-to-localdev ↗

WordPress plugin that creates a copy of a live site for local development with XAMPP. It packs all files into a zip archive and writes a database dump in which every address and path of the live site is replaced by that of the local copy, safe for serialized data. You download both, unpack the archive into htdocs and import the dump in phpMyAdmin. The live site is not changed. Built by reichelt media.design.

It is the counterpart of RMD Migrate from Localdev, which prepares a local site for upload.

Features

  • Serialization-safe search and replace. Serialized PHP values (widgets, theme and plugin settings) are parsed, rewritten and re-serialized with correct lengths. Objects are never instantiated, so classes that are not loaded survive unchanged. Serialized data nested inside strings is handled as well.
  • Every spelling of the live address: http:// and https://, with and without www., protocol-relative (//example.com), JSON-escaped (https:\/\/example.com) and URL-encoded. E-mail addresses and the bare domain in text stay as they are.
  • Root-relative links to WordPress folders (src="/wp-content/…", url(/wp-includes/…)) get the local folder in front, because the copy lives in a subfolder of localhost.
  • Server paths stored by plugins (/mnt/web123/…/htdocs/site) are replaced by the local path (C:/xampp/htdocs/<folder>).
  • The live database is only read. Replacements happen while writing the dump.
  • One zip archive with a top-level folder named like your local folder. It is written in short steps and can be continued after an interruption; archives above 4 GB or with more than 65,535 files work (Zip64).
  • Ready to run: the archive contains a wp-config.php with your local database access, new security keys and WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE local, and a fresh .htaccess with the right RewriteBase. FORCE_SSL_ADMIN and WP_CACHE are switched off, the cache drop-ins are left out.
  • The dump creates the database (CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS), so it can be imported in phpMyAdmin without preparing anything. Collations of MySQL 8 and new MariaDB versions are replaced by ones every XAMPP version knows.
  • Complete by default, optionally without the media library for a quick, small copy, or database only.
  • Leaner dump: transients, this plugin's own data and optionally revisions and spam are left out; tables like Yoast's indexables are exported empty because the plugin rebuilds them.
  • Search engines discouraged in the copy, in case it is ever reachable from outside.
  • Report (MIGRATION.txt) with the steps for XAMPP, rows and changed values per table, and every value that still refers to the live site.
  • Safe on a public server: exports are stored in a folder with a random name that is closed to the web, downloads only work for logged-in administrators, and exports are deleted automatically after 24 hours and when the plugin is deactivated.

Requirements

WordPress 6.8 or newer, PHP 8.1 or newer with the zlib extension, a single site (no multisite). The site needs free disk space for the archive, roughly the size of the installation.

Installation

  1. Download rmd-migrate-to-localdev.zip from the latest release. Do not use the “Source code” downloads, they lack the update library.
  2. On the live site go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, choose the zip and activate it.
  3. Open Tools → Migrate to localdev.

The plugin is not part of its own exports and is removed from the list of active plugins in the dump. Deactivate it on the live site when you are done; that also deletes all exports.

Usage

  1. Enter the folder in htdocs the copy will live in, e.g. example.com, and the local database access. The database is named like the folder unless you enter another name.

  2. Click Create export. The progress bar shows the current table or file count. If a step fails (e.g. a time limit of the host), click Continue.

  3. Download the files:

    Download Use
    Files (zip) Unpack into C:\xampp\htdocs. It creates the folder with the complete site, wp-config.php and .htaccess.
    Database Import in phpMyAdmin (http://localhost/phpmyadmin → Import) without selecting a database first. Existing tables with the same names are replaced.
    MIGRATION.txt The steps, statistics and remaining references to the live site.

  4. Open http://localhost/<folder>/wp-admin/, log in with the users of the live site and save Settings → Permalinks once.

Large downloads can be resumed by the browser. If a download through PHP does not work on your host, fetch the files via SFTP from the export folder in wp-content (its name starts with rmd-migrate-to-localdev-).

All plugins are active in the copy as on the live site. Cache and security plugins may need to be deactivated locally, and plugins that send e-mails or orders to third parties keep doing so from the copy.

Settings

Setting Default Description
Folder in htdocs host name of the site Name of the local folder. Top-level folder of the archive and last part of the local address.
Database name same as the folder Name of the local database, written into wp-config.php and created by the dump.
Database user root User of the local MySQL server for wp-config.php.
Database password empty Password of that user for wp-config.php. Saved on the site for the next export.
htdocs path C:/xampp/htdocs Server paths in the database are replaced by this path plus the folder.
Local address http://localhost Address of the local web server without the folder, e.g. http://localhost:8080.
Files on Pack the complete WordPress folder. Off = database only.
Uploads on Include the media library. Off = much smaller archive, images are missing locally.
Leave out see below Exclusion rules, one per line.
Tables without data actionscheduler_logs, yoast_indexable, yoast_indexable_hierarchy, yoast_seo_links Tables (without prefix) that are created empty.
Relative links on Put the local folder in front of links like /wp-content/….
Revisions off Leave out post revisions.
Spam on Leave out spam and trashed comments.
Search engines on Set "Discourage search engines from indexing this site" in the copy.

Exclusion rules

The syntax follows .gitignore: name matches a file or folder at any depth, /name only directly in the WordPress folder, a trailing / only folders, * and ? stay within a path segment, ** spans segments. Matching is case-insensitive. Defaults:

.git/
.svn/
node_modules/
/wp-content/cache/
/wp-content/upgrade/
/wp-content/upgrade-temp-backup/
/wp-content/advanced-cache.php
/wp-content/object-cache.php
/wp-content/ai1wm-backups/
/wp-content/updraft/
/wp-content/backups-dup-lite/
/wp-content/uploads/backwpup-*/
/wp-content/wflogs/
*.log
error_log
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db

Always left out: the export folder and this plugin. wp-config.php and .htaccess are replaced by versions for the local copy; the .htaccess of the live site is included as .htaccess.live for reference, because its redirects and server settings usually do not work with XAMPP. Linked folders (symlinks) are skipped.

Developer hooks

  • REST (administrators only): GET|POST|DELETE /wp-json/rmd-migrate-to-localdev/v1/export, POST …/export/step.

Privacy

The plugin makes no external requests, except for checking GitHub for plugin updates from the WordPress admin. Exports contain the complete database including user accounts and password hashes, and the wp-config.php of the copy keeps other secrets of the live site (e.g. API keys defined there). Exports are deleted from the server after 24 hours; keep the downloaded files private.

License

GPL-2.0-or-later. Uses plugin-update-checker (MIT).