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Start using WordPress Playground in 5 minutes

WordPress Playground can help you with any of the following:

This page will guide you through each of these. Oh, and if you're a visual learner – here's a video. Some interface details in the video predate the Dock; follow the written steps below for the current UI.

Start a new WordPress site​

Open the official demo on playground.wordpress.net to start WordPress in your browser.

You can create pages, upload plugins, install themes, import content, and do most things you would do on a regular WordPress site.

When browser storage is available, new Playgrounds are autosaved. You can find up to five recent autosaves in Your Playgrounds from the Dock. If you need a site that is discarded on refresh, open Playground with ?storage=temp.

WordPress Playground is private

The Playground runs locally in your browser. It does not upload your site unless you choose an action such as Export to GitHub. Once you're finished, you can store the Playground permanently, export it as a ZIP, or start over from New Playground.

Try a block, a theme, or a plugin​

You can upload any plugin or theme you want in /wp-admin/.

To save a few clicks, you can preinstall plugins or themes from the WordPress plugin directory by adding a plugin or theme parameter to the URL. For example, to install the coblocks plugin, you can use this URL:

https://playground.wordpress.net/?plugin=coblocks

Or this URL to preinstall the pendant theme:

https://playground.wordpress.net/?theme=pendant

In case you would like to install multiple themes and plugins, it is possible to repeat the theme or plugin parameters:

https://playground.wordpress.net/?theme=pendant&theme=acai

You can also mix and match these parameters and even add multiple plugins:

https://playground.wordpress.net/?plugin=coblocks&plugin=friends&theme=pendant

This is called Query API and you can learn more about it here.

Store a Playground in browser storage​

Click the Autosaved or Unsaved status in the Dock to open Store permanently, then choose Save in browser storage.

The Store permanently pane with browser storage selected

A saved browser Playground appears in Your Playgrounds. Autosaves also appear there, but Playground keeps up to five recent autosaves. Store a Playground permanently when you want to keep it beyond the autosave lifecycle.

Browser storage still belongs to the browser. Export a ZIP when you need a file you can move, archive, or restore later.

Export a portable ZIP​

Open Export from the Dock and use Download as .zip.

The Export pane with ZIP, setup link, and GitHub options

The exported file contains the current files, database, plugins, themes, uploads, and edits. You can restore it in Playground or host it on a server that supports PHP and SQLite.

The SQLite database file is included at wp-content/database/.ht.sqlite. Files starting with a dot are hidden by default on most operating systems, so you may need to enable hidden files in your file manager.

Restore a ZIP​

Open New Playground from the Dock, choose Import zip, and select the ZIP file.

The New Playground pane with Import zip selected

This restores the files and database from the ZIP into a new Playground.

Use a specific WordPress or PHP version​

Open Site Settings from the Dock to choose WordPress, PHP, language, multisite, and networking options.

The Site Settings pane

Test your plugin or theme

Compatibility testing with so many WordPress and PHP versions was always a pain. WordPress Playground makes this process effortless – use it to your advantage!

You can also use the wp and php query parameters to open Playground with the right versions already loaded:

This is called Query API and you can learn more about it here.

Use php=next to preview the next PHP version built from the php-src development branch. For example, see the PHP 8.6 feature preview.

To learn more about preparing content for demos, see the providing content for your demo guide.

Major versions only

You can specify major versions like wp=6.2 or php=8.1 and expect the most recent release in that line. You cannot, however, request older minor versions so neither wp=6.1.2 nor php=7.4.9 will work. Generic aliases like latest and next are exceptions.

Import a WXR file​

You can import a WordPress export file by uploading a WXR file in /wp-admin/.

You can also use JSON Blueprints. See getting started with Blueprints to learn more.

This is different from restoring a Playground ZIP. A WXR file imports WordPress content into an existing site. A Playground ZIP restores files and the database into a new Playground.

Build apps with WordPress Playground​

WordPress Playground is programmable, which means you can build WordPress apps, set up plugin demos, and even use it as a zero-setup local development environment.

To learn more about developing with WordPress Playground, check out the development quick start section.