How To Install CLI For WordPress

The WP-CLI is a very diverse toolset that can be installed at the command line for managing WordPress websites. If you’re familiar with using such tools at the command line level then the information to follow should be relatively easy. However, if this is not something you’ve done before then we hope this helps you learn.

Installation

A command line interface can save so much time, automate tasks, and make mass management of sites much easier for any software, and WordPress is no exception. If you have any older template, or one from a hosting provider other than Knownhost that lacks wp-cli, you can use the following instructions to install it. To install this CLI for WordPress, start by grabbing the package from Github:

  cd /opt
  curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wp-cli/builds/gh-pages/phar/wp-cli.phar

Check the Phar file to verify that it’s working before proceeding further:

  php wp-cli.phar --info

At this point, you should have the following output in your terminal:

Most WP-CLI guides you encounter will use WP-CLi via the ‘wp’ command, so it is best to stay consistent with this common practice. Let’s configure this with the following commands:

  chmod +x wp-cli.phar
  mv wp-cli.phar /usr/local/bin/wp

To confirm that WP-CLI was installed successfully, run wp –info again:

  wp --info

You should see the following output after these steps:

Using as Root

Don’t run WP-CLi as root when working with your applications! This is a security issue, and WP-CLI warns against this:

Additional Directions for CageFS users

Now, as you have installed wp-cli, let’s add it to the CageFS so that users could access it

Create the file /etc/cagefs/conf.d/wpcli.cfg and add the following content to it:

  [wpcli]
  comment=WP-CLI
  paths=/usr/local/bin/wp

Update CageFS

  cagefsctl --force-update

To test, run WP-CLi as a CageFS user (replace $username below with a CageFS user):

  su -c "wp --info" $username

Managing WordPress with WP-CLI

To use WP-CLI, su to your WordPress user first (they will need shell privileges), change into the directory containing the WordPress installation, and issue the desired commands. There is so much you can do with WP-CLI, such as manage plugins, make database backups, update WordPress core, verify WordPress core files against the current repository (useful for identifying malicious code injections in WordPress core files), manage themes, create posts, and more!

Common tasks/commands are as follows:

wp cli version	Show WP-CLI version
wp help	list all commands
wp help <command> <required_paramater>	Get help on a particular command, e.g., wp maintenance-mode status
wp core download	Download WordPress
wp core install	install WordPress (you can configure basic wp_options by passing url, site_title, admin_user, and admin_email in the command parameters)
wp core update	update WordPress core
wp core version	show WordPress core version
wp core config	Configure the wp-config.php file by passing configuration information in parameters to this command, such as database information (which you could then use ‘wp db create’ to create)
wp core verify-checksums	verify WordPress core checksums
wp plugin list	list installed plugins (a project in underway to allow verification of themes as well)
wp plugin install wordfence –activate	install and activate the Wordfence plugin
wp plugin search wordfence	prints plugin information from repository so that you know what slug to use with ‘wp plugin install $plugin_slug’
wp plugin deactivate wordfence	deactivates plugin wordfence (useful if you are blocked via wp-admin from accessing your site)
wp plugin deactivate –all	deactivates all plugin (useful for troubleshooting white/blank page errors)
wp plugin update wordfence	update the wordfence plugin
wp plugin verify-checksums –all	verify all plugin checksums
wp theme list	list installed themes
wp theme install twentyseventeen –activate	install and activate twentyseventeen theme
wp theme delete twentyseventeen	delete twentyseventeen theme
wp search-replace oldstring newstring	search the database for oldstring and replace with newstring (unserializes and researializes strings that are stored in a serialized format)
wp db size –tables	shows the size of all tables inside the database (useful for helping you determie if you need to clean up post revisions, transients, unused plugun data, etc)
wp db export	make a database backup sql file
wp db import dbprefix_dbname.sql	import the backup file for dbprefix_dbname from dbprefix_dbname.sql file
wp db check	check database using mysqlcheck
wp db repair	repair crashed database
wp db optimize	optimize database
wp db query “SELECT * FROM wp_options”	run custom query in quotes against the database
wp user list –all	list all users
wp user list –role=administrator	lists administrators
wp user reset-password admin editor	resets password for users admin and editor
wp user update 100 –user_pass=newuserpass	update a user information for user ID 100, specifically password in this example
wp rewrite flush	flush rewrite rules
wp rewrite structure ‘/%postname%’	update permalinks as defined in quotes
wp cron event list	list all wp_cron events
wp maintenance mode status	show maintenance mode status
wp maintenance mode activate	activate maintenance mode
wp maintenance mode deactivate	deactivate maintenance mode
wp config get	shows the configuration via wp-config.php
wp config list WP_DEBUG	show WP_DEBUG mode status from wp-config.php
wp config set WP_DEBUG true	enable WP_DEBUG mode
wp config set WP_DEBUG false	disable WP_DEBUG mode
wp option update home ‘https://homeurl.com‘	update wp_options database option to the URL specified
wp option update siteurl ‘https://siteurl.com‘	update wp_options database option to the URL specified
wp transient delete –all	delete all transient data
wp post delete 33	delete post number 33
wp post create –prompt	an interactive prompt to create a new post from the command line
wp post create –post_type=page –page_status=publish –post_title=’Contact Us’ –post-content=’PHONE: 555-555-5555′	Creates a new ‘Contact Us’ page with contact phone number
wp option list –autoload=on –format=total_bytes	get the total size of all autoload options from the database
wp comment delete $(wp comment list –status=spam –format=ids)	delete spam comments

Here is a quick overview of the WP-CLi commands accessible to you through WP-CLI via WP-CLI Commands :

Command	Description
wp admin	Open /wp-admin/ in a browser.
wp cache	Adds, removes, fetches, and flushes the WP Object Cache object.
wp cap	Adds, removes, and lists capabilities of a user role.
wp cli	Review current WP-CLI info, check for updates, or see defined aliases.
wp comment	Creates, updates, deletes, and moderates comments.
wp config	Generates and reads the wp-config.php file.
wp core	Downloads, installs, updates, and manages a WordPress installation.
wp cron	Tests, runs, and deletes WP-Cron events; manages WP-Cron schedules.
wp db	Performs basic database operations using credentials stored in wp-config.php.
wp dist-archive	Create a distribution archive based on a project’s .distignore file.
wp embed	Inspects oEmbed providers, clears embed cache, and more.
wp eval	Executes arbitrary PHP code.
wp eval-file	Loads and executes a PHP file.
wp export	Exports WordPress content to a WXR file.
wp find	Find WordPress installations on the filesystem.
wp help	Get help on WP-CLI, or on a specific command.
wp i18n	Provides internationalization tools for WordPress projects.
wp import	Imports content from a given WXR file.
wp language	Installs, activates, and manages language packs.
wp maintenance-mode	Activates, deactivates or checks the status of the maintenance mode of a site.
wp media	Imports files as attachments, regenerates thumbnails, or lists registered image sizes.
wp menu	Lists, creates, assigns, and deletes the active theme’s navigation menus.
wp network	Perform network-wide operations.
wp option	Retrieves and sets site options, including plugin and WordPress settings.
wp package	Lists, installs, and removes WP-CLI packages.
wp plugin	Manages plugins, including installs, activations, and updates.
wp post	Manages posts, content, and meta.
wp post-type	Retrieves details on the site’s registered post types.
wp profile	Profiles code/file/hook/load process execution depending on the arguments
wp rewrite	Lists or flushes the site’s rewrite rules, updates the permalink structure.
wp role	Manages user roles, including creating new roles and resetting to defaults.
wp scaffold	Generates code for post types, taxonomies, plugins, child themes, etc.
wp search-replace	Searches/replaces strings in the database.
wp server	Launches PHP’s built-in web server for a specific WordPress installation.
wp shell	Opens an interactive PHP console for running and testing PHP code.
wp sidebar	Lists registered sidebars.
wp site	Creates, deletes, empties, moderates, and lists one or more sites on a multisite installation.
wp super-admin	Lists, adds, or removes super admin users on a multisite installation.
wp taxonomy	Retrieves information about registered taxonomies.
wp term	Manages taxonomy terms and term meta, with create, delete, and list commands.
wp theme	Manages themes, including installs, activations, and updates.
wp transient	Adds, gets, and deletes entries in the WordPress Transient Cache.
wp user	Manages users, along with their roles, capabilities, and meta.
wp widget	Manages widgets, including adding and moving them within sidebars.

Managing WordPress Plugins with WP-CLI

You may even find your favorite plugins support WP-CLI. Some examples are given below.

LSCache

One common example of this you may find useful is LSCache management via WP-CLI. A few of the more popular commands for the LSCache plugin are below:

wp lscache-admin get_options	view available options
wp lscache-admin set_option option_name value	change a particular option to a particular value
wp lscache-purge all	purge all cache for the installation

Updraft

Here are some of the options available for another popular favorite, Updraft.

wp updraftplus backup	take a backup using the default options saved in your settings (outputs a job_id)
wp updraftplus restore <nonce>	restore backup with specified nonce (unique identifier for the backup)
wp updraftplus existing_backups	display existing backups
wp updraftplus get_latest_full_backup	get the latest full backup job_id
wp updraftplus backup_progress <Job ID>	displays backup progress by job_id

WP-Optimize

Below you will find many of the options available to WP-Optimize.

wp optimize optimizations	list available optimizations
wp optimize do-optimization –optimization-id=optimizetables	optimize tables
wp optimize do-optimization –optimization-id=revisions	clean post revisions
wp optimize do-optimization –optimization-id=trash	clean trash posts
wp optimize do-optimization –optimization-id=spam	remove spam comments
wp optimize do-optimization –optimization-id=unapproved	remove unapproved comments
wp optimize do-optimization –optimization-id=attachments	remove orphaned attachments
wp optimize do-optimization –optimization-id=transient	remove expired transients
wp optimize do-optimization –optimization-id=pingbacks	remove pingbacks
wp optimize do-optimization –optimization-id=trackbacks	remove trackbacks
wp optimize do-optimization –optimization-id=postmeta	clean post meta data
wp optimize do-optimization –optimization-id=commentmeta	clean comment meta data

Many other plugins offer WP-CLI integration, such as Jetpack, Redis-Cache, PHP Compatibility Checker, Google Sitemap Generator, iThemes Security, BackupBuddy, and many, many more! You can even add WP-CLI support to your own plugin.

WP-CLI Addons

There are some popular addons for WP-CLI that many find useful. These are WP Doctor and WP Profile. WP Profile is helpful for profiling a site to determine what is slowing it down and for finding those bottlenecks. WP DOCTOR is especially useful for exploited sites as it contains the following helpful functions:

wp doctor check –all	runs all checks
wp doctor check file-eval	searches for the eval\(*base64_decod\).* regex (common in malware)
wp doctor check core-update	verifies if core is up-to-date
wp doctor check plugin-update	verifies is plugins are up-to-date
wp doctor check theme-update	verifies is themes are up-to-date
wp doctor check php-in-upload	checks for php files in the uploads directory (common in exploits)

WP Doctor also offers the following functions to assist with optimization:

wp doctor check autoload-options-size	gives the size of autoload data in the wp_options table
wp doctor check constant-savequeries-falsy	checks whether this is off or on as it is resource-intensive and should be disabled in a production environment for optimal performance
wp doctor check constant-wp-debug-falsy	checks the status of WP-DEBUG, which should be off in production
wp doctor check cron-counts	checks that the number of crons is a sane value and issues a warning if not
wp doctor check cron-duplicates	checks for duplicated crons
wp doctor check plugin-active-count	checks for a large number of unused, installed plugins that can be removed to improve performance

WP Doctor can be downloaded here: wp-cli Doctor Command

WP Doctor installation is as follows (you may need to also enable allow_url_fopen):

You would su into the user via ssh that you wish to install this plugin into — it’s done per account and is not a global install.

wp package install git@github.com:wp-cli/doctor-command.git

The output should resemble the following:

WP Profile allows one to break WordPress loading into three stages and profile how long each stage takes, and further break down each stage into its components so that one may track and locate bottlenecks in thier site’s performance. The three stages are as follows:

bootstrap	loading plugins and the main theme, and firing the init hook
main_query	transforming the request (the requested path) into the primary WP_Query
template	determining which theme template to render based on the main query and then rendering it

wp profile stage –fields=stage,time,cache_ratio	gives and overview of each stage

Using the example from the project’s Github page wp-cli profile command, here is the output:

  +------------+---------+-------------+
  | stage      | time    | cache_ratio |
  +------------+---------+-------------+
  | bootstrap  | 0.7994s | 93.21%      |
  | main_query | 0.0123s | 94.29%      |
  | template   | 0.792s  | 91.23%      |
  +------------+---------+-------------+
  | total (3)  | 1.6037s | 92.91%      |
  +------------+---------+-------------+

You can then further profile each stage with `wp profile stage <stage>` like so (example also via the Github page for the project):

  wp profile stage bootstrap --fields=hook,time,cache_ratio --spotlight
  +--------------------------+---------+-------------+
  | hook                     | time    | cache_ratio |
  +--------------------------+---------+-------------+
  | muplugins_loaded:before  | 0.2335s | 40%         |
  | muplugins_loaded         | 0.0007s | 50%         |
  | plugins_loaded:before    | 0.2792s | 77.63%      |
  | plugins_loaded           | 0.1502s | 100%        |
  | after_setup_theme:before | 0.068s  | 100%        |
  | init                     | 0.2643s | 96.88%      |
  | wp_loaded:after          | 0.0377s |             |
  +--------------------------+---------+-------------+
  | total (7)                | 1.0335s | 77.42%      |
  +--------------------------+---------+-------------+

WP Profile installation is as follows (you may need to also enable allow_url_fopen):

You would su into the user via ssh that you wish to install this plugin into — it’s done per account and is not a global install.

wp package install git@github.com:wp-cli/profile-command.git

Extending WP-CLI

WP-CLI is even extendable, allowing one to write and add one’s own commands. More information can be found here:

WP_CLI::add_command() Commands Cookbook

Conclusion

You can take this as far as you’d like to completely automate WordPress hosting by setting WP-CLI commands in sequence in a bash script to completely install and configure WordPress installations with your chosen plugins and themes. You can even attach these to post-account creation hooks in your panel so that these scripts are called automatically upon account creation. To take this to another level, you can further automate account creation in both DirectAdmin and cPanel as they both have extensive APIs that support this. The possibilities are endless and the hosting industry is more automated than ever, thanks to amazing tools such as WP-CLI.