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WordPress Studio: Frequently asked questions

On this page you’ll find answers to common questions about the WordPress Studio app and certain features like the Studio Code and Studio Sync.

As a reminder, WordPress Studio is an open source project that welcomes all contributions. If you spot a bug or the Studio feature you need is missing, we have some options:

General FAQs

Here are some answers to common questions about WordPress Studio:

How can I export a theme I created in WordPress Studio?

Themes created in Studio are the same as themes created on traditional WordPress sites. You can export your theme by following these steps:

  1. Select the local site within Studio.
  2. Ensure that your site is already running.
  3. Click on the Overview tab.
  4. Click the “Site Editor” button.
  5. Once the site editor loads in your browser, expand the editor by clicking anywhere on the site preview.
  6. Click the Options menu button in the top right of the screen, represented by the ellipsis icon (⋮). 
  7. Click Export, and your browser should begin downloading a .zip file of your theme.

You can then upload your theme to any live or staging WordPress site by following these instructions.

How can I publish my Studio site so that it’s publicly available?

While preview sites are intended for sharing with clients and gathering early feedback for up to seven days, a hosting plan is required to make your site permanently accessible.

To publish your local site on WordPress.com, follow the steps outlined in the Studio Sync doc.

To publish your local site on another WordPress host, follow the Import and Export guide to create an export of your source site. When the export is ready, you can import that content to the destination site, for example, following the Manually Restore Your Site from a Jetpack Backup File on WordPress.com guide.

How can I manage the Studio site’s SQLite database?

WordPress Studio uses SQLite instead of MySQL server. SQLite is a lightweight, self-contained SQL database engine that stores your database in a single file. Each of your sites will have a database file available in the following path: wp-content/database/.ht.sqlite.

We discourage editing this SQLite file directly using third-party tools like a terminal client or a standalone SQLite GUI app. Direct edits can be risky — it’s easy to corrupt the file, break WordPress’s expected schema, or end up with a database that isn’t portable if you later migrate to MySQL.

Instead, Studio includes a built-in phpMyAdmin interface, adapted to work safely with SQLite while preserving the familiar phpMyAdmin experience. This is the recommended way to browse tables, run queries, and edit your site’s database.

Using phpMyAdmin

  1. Select the local site within Studio.
  2. Click on the Overview tab.
  3. Click the phpMyAdmin button.
  4. Studio will open phpMyAdmin in your browser, connected directly to your site’s database.

From there, you can browse tables, inspect data, run SQL queries, and make edits through a familiar, safe interface — without needing to touch the underlying .ht.sqlite file directly.

How can I use Studio with the MySQL server of my choice?

WordPress Studio has built-in support for a SQLite database, but you can use the MySQL server of your choice, e.g., Homebrew or Docker, to test your site with different database engines.

If you have a local site already configured to work with a custom MySQL server of your choice, you can add it to Studio. If the site files include a wp-config.php file, Studio will skip the SQLite database setup and use the already configured database.

If you have already created a site in Studio, and want to switch SQLite to the MySQL server of your choice, follow the steps below:

  1. Stop the site.
  2. Open your Studio’s site directory.
  3. Navigate to the wp-content directory and delete the db.php file and the database directory.
  4. Navigate to the mu-plugins directory and delete sqlite-database-integration-main directory.
  5. Update wp-config.php file and fill in your MySQL server’s credentials.
  6. Start your MySQL server.
  7. Start the Studio’s site.
  8. Open the site.

How do I select the PHP and WordPress versions for my site? 

You can select the PHP version or the WordPress version for your site when you first create it. This option is located in the “Advanced Settings” section. After creating a site, the current PHP and WordPress versions are displayed in the site’s settings tab, where you can also edit and change them.

  1. Select the relevant site in the sidebar. 
  2. Click the Settings tab. 
  3. Click the Edit button in the top right corner. 
  4. Within the dialog, select the desired PHP and WordPress versions. 
  5. Click the Save button to persist the changes. 

Why isn’t the “Open In” button available for my preferred app?

For each of your local sites, the following “Open in…” options are available:

File Browsers:

  • Finder (for macOS)
  • File Explorer (for Windows)

Code Editors:

  • Antigravity
  • Cursor
  • Visual Studio Code
  • PhpStorm
  • Sublime Text
  • Webstorm
  • Windsurf
  • Zed

Terminal Applications:

  • Terminal (for macOS)
  • iTerm (for macOS)
  • Warp (for macOS)
  • Command Prompt (for Windows)
  • Ghostty

Database Administration Tools:

  • phpMyAdmin

WordPress Studio, the code editors, and terminal applications must live in your Applications folder to ensure the Open in… options are available.  If you haven’t selected a preferred code editor in your User Settings, no code editor button will appear in the Open in… area. Similarly, if no terminal application is selected, the default will be:

  • Terminal on macOS
  • Command Prompt on Windows

How can I make Studio faster on Windows?

If the Real-Time Protection Service of Windows Defender is enabled on your machine, it may slow down the process of creating and starting a site, particularly when running PHP files of WordPress.

This is why WordPress Studio prompts you to “speed up site creation” when you create your first site, so an exclusion policy can be added to the Real-Time Protection Service.

You can add this exclusion policy manually by navigating to Help -> Want to speed up site creation? in Studio .

How can I regenerate my thumbnails?

If some thumbnails are missing after importing your site, you can regenerate them by first installing the Studio CLI, and then running the following CLI command:

studio wp media regenerate --yes --only-missing

How can I access Studio logs?

Occasionally, actions like Push or Pull in the Sync tab, or Import and Export, could fail due to different reasons related to PHP, the site’s database, or custom code issue.

If this happens, WordPress Studio will allow you to open logs and may ask to contact support. You can also open the logs manually.

If you use Studio on Mac:

  1. Open Terminal.
  2. Enter command:
    open ~/Library/Logs/Studio
  3. Locate the latest log file and open it.

If you use Studio on Windows:

  1. Open Terminal.
  2. Enter command:
    ii AppData\Roaming\Studio\logs
  3. Locate the latest log file and open it.

Is it possible to change the port or URL of my Studio site?

By default, Studio sites are assigned a unique port starting from 8881. For example, your first Studio site uses the URL http://localhost:8881, and your second site uses http://localhost:8882. While the port of localhost URLs cannot be modified from Studio, you can always use a custom domain instead of localhost.

How can I use a tunneling tool (ngrok) with Studio?

You can use WordPress Studio for local WordPress development that requires incoming connections by setting up a tunneling tool like ngrok. ngrok, which is free to use, redirects external requests to your localhost, making your site accessible from the internet. This is especially useful for plugins like Jetpack, which default to offline mode when running locally. By using a tunneling tool, your local site can reconnect to WordPress.com, which unlocks the full capabilities of Jetpack and creates a more realistic development environment.

Follow the steps below to set up your site for this workflow. Begin by starting your local Studio site and setting up the tunneling tool.

If your site uses a local domain in the form of localhost:port:

  1. Start your Studio site and note its port (e.g., 8883). The port can also be found on the Settings tab.
  2. Open a terminal and set up ngrok if you haven’t already.
  3. Set up a tunnel to expose your local site using the following command:
    ngrok http 8883

 If your site uses a custom local domain:

  1. Start your Studio site and note the domain (e.g., my-wordpress-website.wp.local). The domain can also be found on the Settings tab.
  2. Open a terminal and set up ngrok if you haven’t already.
  3. Set up a tunnel to expose your local site using the following command:
    ngrok http --host-header=my-wordpress-website.wp.local http://my-wordpress-website.wp.local

When your tunnel is active, make sure to note the tunnel URL and update it in your Studio site’s WordPress configuration file.

  1. Copy the generated tunnel URL. It will look something like this:
    https://6xb2-12-13-14-15.ngrok-free.app
  2. Update your WordPress configuration (wp-config.php) by adding:
    define( 'WP_SITEURL', 'https://6xb2-12-13-14-15.ngrok-free.app' );
    define( 'WP_HOME', 'https://6xb2-12-13-14-15.ngrok-free.app’ );
  3. Refresh your site in the browser.

Your local Studio site should now be accessible through the tunnel URL. If it doesn’t redirect automatically, clearing your browser cache may help. You can also access the site directly by using the generated tunnel URL. 

The Local URL shown in the Settings tab will not update to reflect the new tunnel URL, and since the ngrok URL changes each time you restart the tunnel, you will need to update the wp-config.php file accordingly.

To reset your local site, stop the tunnel in the terminal and shut down the Studio site. Then, remove the changes made to wp-config.php and restart your Studio site. It will now revert to the localhost or custom domain shown in the Settings tab.

How can I export my site for use on the WordPress playground website?

To import your local site to playground.wordpress.net, create a ZIP file from the contents of your site folder and use the Site Explorer to import the ZIP in your browser.

Please note that top-level entries like wp-config.php should live at the root of the archive. To accomplish this, select all files and directories inside the site folder when creating the ZIP file instead of the site folder itself.

Studio Code FAQs

Here are some answers to common questions about the Studio Code. Please review the Studio Code doc for step-by step instructions and helpful tips for using this feature.

What languages does the Studio Code support?

You can talk with Studio Code in any language you prefer.

Can I use the Studio Code without a WordPress.com account?

No, you must log into Studio with your WordPress.com account to use the Studio Code. This is because we use WordPress.com infrastructure to generate messages and manage access.

Is there any cost to use the Studio Code?

Studio Code is currently free in beta. Features, capabilities, and usage limits will change as it evolves.

How many prompts can I use per month?

Each user has free access with certain limits per month across all of their Studio sites. You can monitor your usage in the settings modal. If you reach this limit, you will need to wait until the next month for the limit to reset, or use your own AI keys.

Where can I give feedback about the Studio Code responses?

You can write into support to share specific feedback about the Studio Code responses. 

Studio Sync FAQs

Here are some answers to common questions about the Studio Sync feature. Please review the Studio Sync doc for step-by step instructions and helpful tips for using this feature.

Why don’t my local users appear on the WordPress.com site after pushing?

When pushing, WordPress Studio exports all your content and your entire database except for the wp_users and wp_usermeta tables. This ensures that the Jetpack-powered features on your WordPress.com website (like single sign-on or image optimization) continue working after the push.

Last updated: July 28, 2026

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