Configure multiple WordPress environments

Most web applications need more than one environment. You might have development, staging, and production, each with its own database settings. WordPress can handle that with a multi-site installation, but that did not fit the way I wanted to work.

In my case, the WordPress site was hosted on Pagoda Box. It was a good hosting option for PHP applications, but it was limited when it came to configuring WordPress. Plugins had to be installed locally and committed to the repository. I first followed their documentation to get WordPress running, but I did not like how the database connection had to be configured both locally and on Pagoda Box.

The version I ended up with checks an environment variable called ENVIRONMENT and loads the matching configuration file. It defaults to dev, so a local setup loads wp-config/wp-config.dev.php.

To make WordPress load those files, change wp-config.php to this:

php
<?php
/** Absolute path to the WordPress directory. */
if ( !defined('ABSPATH') )
    define('ABSPATH', dirname(__FILE__) . '/');
/** Load configuration based on the server's environment **/
$env = isset($_SERVER['ENVIRONMENT']) ? $_SERVER['ENVIRONMENT'] : 'dev';
require_once ABSPATH . 'wp-config/wp-config.' . strtolower($env) . '.php';
/** Sets up WordPress vars and included files. */
require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php');

Now your environment configuration file can look like this, for example when connecting to a Pagoda Box database instance:

php
<?php
/**
 * The base configurations of the WordPress.
 *
 * This file has the following configurations: MySQL settings, Table Prefix,
 * Secret Keys, WordPress Language, and ABSPATH. You can find more information
 * by visiting {@link http://codex.wordpress.org/Editing_wp-config.php Editing
 * wp-config.php} Codex page. You can get the MySQL settings from your web host.
 *
 * This file is used by the wp-config.php creation script during the
 * installation. You don't have to use the web site, you can just copy this file
 * to "wp-config.php" and fill in the values.
 *
 * @package WordPress
 */
// ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', 'database_name_here');
/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', 'username_here');
/** MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password_here');
/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
/** Database Charset to use in creating database tables. */
define('DB_CHARSET', 'utf8');
/** The Database Collate type. Don't change this if in doubt. */
define('DB_COLLATE', '');
/**
 * Authentication Unique Keys and Salts.
 *
 * Change these to different unique phrases!
 * You can generate these using the {@link https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/ WordPress.org secret-key service}
 * You can change these at any point in time to invalidate all existing cookies. This will force all users to have to log in again.
 *
 * @since 2.6.0
 */
define('AUTH_KEY',         'put your unique phrase here');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY',  'put your unique phrase here');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY',    'put your unique phrase here');
define('NONCE_KEY',        'put your unique phrase here');
define('AUTH_SALT',        'put your unique phrase here');
define('SECURE_AUTH_SALT', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('LOGGED_IN_SALT',   'put your unique phrase here');
define('NONCE_SALT',       'put your unique phrase here');
/**
 * WordPress Database Table prefix.
 *
 * You can have multiple installations in one database if you give each a unique
 * prefix. Only numbers, letters, and underscores please!
 */
$table_prefix  = 'wp_';
/**
 * WordPress Localized Language, defaults to English.
 *
 * Change this to localize WordPress. A corresponding MO file for the chosen
 * language must be installed to wp-content/languages. For example, install
 * de_DE.mo to wp-content/languages and set WPLANG to 'de_DE' to enable German
 * language support.
 */
define('WPLANG', '');
/**
 * For developers: WordPress debugging mode.
 *
 * Change this to true to enable the display of notices during development.
 * It is strongly recommended that plugin and theme developers use WP_DEBUG
 * in their development environments.
 */
define('WP_DEBUG', false);
/** Sets up WordPress vars and included files. */
require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-settings.php');