Add the ability to copy an existing site by ndiego · Pull Request #2107 · Automattic/studio

ndiego · 2025-11-20T19:27:48Z

Related issues

Fixes Feature Request: Add action to duplicate a site #41

Proposed Changes

This PR adds the ability to copy (clone, duplicate, etc.) an existing Studio site from both the context menu and from the "More options" menu on the Settings tab. Users have granular control over what gets copied (database, plugins, themes, uploads). Users can also configure different PHP/WordPress versions (and all the other normal settings) for the copied site.

Features

Copy site menu option in site settings dropdown and context menu
Copy wizard with configurable options:
- Database (content, settings, users)
- Plugins
- Themes
- Uploads (media library)
- Site name, path, PHP/WP version overrides
- Custom domain and HTTPS settings
Real-time progress tracking during copy operation

Context menu	Settings

Copy screen

Implementation

Frontend:

New components: copy-site.tsx (menu trigger) and modules/add-site/components/copy-site.tsx (form)
useCloneSite() hook for managing clone state
Extended useSiteDetails hook with copySite() method
Integrated into add-site stepper with /copy route
Progress updates via copySiteProgress IPC events

Backend (copySite handler in ipc-handlers.ts:308-565):

Validates source site and stops it if running (prevents DB corruption)
Creates destination directory structure
Copies WordPress core OR installs different WP version if requested
Always copies mu-plugins (SQLite integration)
Conditionally copies plugins/, themes/, uploads/, database/ based on options
If database copied: Updates URLs via WP-CLI
If no database: Fresh WordPress installation
Registers new site, starts it, generates thumbnail
Restarts source site

Telemetry: Added SITE_COPIED metric

How Copy Site Works

User clicks "Copy site" from settings menu or context menu
Copy wizard opens with source site name pre-filled
User selects what to copy (all checked by default), customizes name/path/versions
Click "Copy site" → progress bar shows current step
New site appears in sidebar and starts automatically

Key features:

WordPress version flexibility (can copy to different WP version)
Automatic URL updates when copying database
Safe operation: stops source during copy, restarts after
Cleanup on failure: trashes partial copy, restarts source site
SQLite integration always copied for database compatibility

Testing Instructions

Copy with all options enabled
Copy with selective options (e.g., only plugins + themes)
Copy with different WordPress/PHP versions
Copy without database (fresh install)
Copy running site (verify restart)
Copy to existing directory (should fail)
Verify URL updates in copied database
Verify thumbnails generate correctly

Pre-merge Checklist

Have you checked for TypeScript, React or other console errors?

github-actions · 2025-11-20T21:36:41Z

📊 Performance Test Results

Comparing 60ddd15 vs trunk

site-editor

Metric	trunk	`60ddd15`	Diff	Change
load	13352.00 ms	7608.00 ms	-5744.00 ms	🟢 -43.0%

site-startup

Metric	trunk	`60ddd15`	Diff	Change
siteCreation	133252.00 ms	132835.00 ms	-417.00 ms	🟢 -0.3%
siteStartup	44249.00 ms	52194.00 ms	+7945.00 ms	🔴 18.0%

Results are median values from multiple test runs.

Legend: 🟢 Improvement (faster) | 🔴 Regression (slower) | ⚪ No change

bcotrim

This is looking good and working great!
Thanks @ndiego 👍

I added some comments, mostly regarding code best practices and structure, but nothing major.

bcotrim · 2025-11-24T12:01:48Z

+				setAddingSiteIds( ( prev ) => {
+					prev.push( newSite.id );
+					return prev;
+				} );


Suggested change

setAddingSiteIds( ( prev ) => {

prev.push( newSite.id );

return prev;

} );

setAddingSiteIds( ( prev ) => [ ...prev, newSite.id ] );

bcotrim · 2025-11-24T12:14:09Z

+		<MenuItem
+			aria-disabled={ isCopyDisabled }
+			onClick={ () => {
+				if ( isCopyDisabled || ! selectedSite ) {


isCopyDisabled is defined as ! selectedSite (line 15), so this condition checks the same thing twice

Unrelated to this PR, but I noticed the DeleteSite component has a similar issue.
It would be a nice time to address it in my opinion.

bcotrim · 2025-11-24T12:20:13Z

 import { moreVertical } from '@wordpress/icons';
 import { useI18n } from '@wordpress/react-i18n';
 import { PropsWithChildren } from 'react';
+import CopySite from 'src/components/copy-site';


Could we move CopySite and DeleteSite to src/modules/site-settings.
AFAIK these aren't being used anywhere else and src/components should be used for generic, reusable components.

bcotrim · 2025-11-24T12:32:21Z

+		fs.mkdirSync( newPath, { recursive: true } );
+	}
+
+	if ( ! ( await isEmptyDir( newPath ) ) ) {


This is a good validation, but it should happen in the Copy Site form, preventing users from submitting an operation we know will fail.

The use-add-site hook already has similar checks that validate directory when the path is selected. Extend this pattern to the Copy Site flow to provide immediate feedback.

Keep the backend validation as a safety net.

bcotrim · 2025-11-24T12:39:46Z

+	sendProgress( 'preparing', __( 'Preparing to copy site...' ), 0 );
+
+	const wasSourceRunning = sourceSite.details.running;
+	if ( wasSourceRunning ) {


tempServer and newServer are both created with identical parameters (details and targetWpVersion). I think we can create the server once at the beginning and reuse it

bcotrim · 2025-11-24T12:47:41Z

+			await fsPromises.mkdir( nodePath.join( wpContentDest, 'themes' ), { recursive: true } );
+		}
+
+		if ( copyOptions.uploads ) {


To reduce duplication let's extract this to a helper function for example copyWpContentDirectory.
We could then do something like:

const directories = [ { name: 'plugins', enabled: copyOptions.plugins, step: 'copying-plugins', percentage: 30 }, { name: 'themes', enabled: copyOptions.themes, step: 'copying-themes', percentage: 50 }, { name: 'uploads', enabled: copyOptions.uploads, step: 'copying-uploads', percentage: 60 }, ... ] as const; for ( const dir of directories ) { await copyWpContentDirectory( ... ); }

bcotrim · 2025-11-24T12:51:23Z

+			await installSqliteIntegration( newPath );
+		}
+
+		const newServer = SiteServer.create( details, {


I think we could do this early on in the process and avoid creating the tempServer on the needsDifferentWpVersion check.

bcotrim · 2025-11-24T14:35:39Z

+
+		sendProgress( 'finalizing', __( 'Finalizing copy...' ), 90 );
+
+		const parentWindow = BrowserWindow.fromWebContents( event.sender );


We could probably only get the parentWindow once at the start and re-use here and in the sendProgress function

ndiego · 2025-12-12T20:40:48Z

Thanks for the feedback @bcotrim 🙏 I'll pick this up after the holiday break and implement these changes. I'll also simplify this to just copying a full site, and we can consider implementing more granular options in future iterations.

sejas · 2025-12-17T10:31:26Z

I set this PR as draft until is ready for another review.

gavande1 · 2026-01-15T08:05:30Z

Hello @ndiego, are you planning to complete this task? If not, I can take over and bring it to completion so you can concentrate on more important matters.

sejas · 2026-01-23T09:59:52Z

I'll be happy to bring it over the finish line next week. 👌

sejas · 2026-02-03T13:39:03Z

Closing this PR in favor of a simpler alternative, see pfHvTO-Nd-p2#comment-721

sejas · 2026-02-03T22:02:25Z

New PR #2528

ndiego added 6 commits November 11, 2025 17:34

Initial commit.

220e813

Adjust checkbox spacing.

e7eaa46

Use the name of the copied site.

53b4d26

Merge branch 'trunk' into add/copy-site-functionality

f31765b

Remove unused file.

735b5e2

Remove console logs and unnecessary comments.

a7c4733

ndiego self-assigned this Nov 20, 2025

ndiego added the Enhancement label Nov 20, 2025

ndiego requested review from bcotrim and sejas November 20, 2025 19:27

Fix linting errors related to this branch.

85c836d

ndiego marked this pull request as ready for review November 20, 2025 20:33

bcotrim reviewed Nov 24, 2025

View reviewed changes

sejas marked this pull request as draft December 17, 2025 10:31

sejas closed this Feb 3, 2026

sejas deleted the add/copy-site-functionality branch February 3, 2026 15:24

sejas mentioned this pull request Feb 19, 2026

Add copy site to site context menu #2528

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Add the ability to copy an existing site - #2107

Add the ability to copy an existing site#2107
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		sendProgress( 'finalizing', __( 'Finalizing copy...' ), 90 );

		const parentWindow = BrowserWindow.fromWebContents( event.sender );

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Related issues

Proposed Changes

Features

Implementation

How Copy Site Works

Testing Instructions

Pre-merge Checklist

github-actions Bot commented Nov 20, 2025

📊 Performance Test Results

site-editor

site-startup

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ndiego commented Dec 12, 2025

sejas commented Dec 17, 2025

gavande1 commented Jan 15, 2026

sejas commented Jan 23, 2026

sejas commented Feb 3, 2026

sejas commented Feb 3, 2026

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ndiego commented Nov 20, 2025 •

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