Shifter supports custom themes. It also supports most page builders, premium themes, and WordPress Dot Org themes. When developing a custom WordPress theme on Shifter, there are some tips and considerations to make the process easier.
Custom Theme Workflow
There are many ways for WordPress developers to set up their environment for building new sites. Based on our experience, this is the ideal setup for us, and we believe it’s worth trying.
The Ideal Custom WordPress Theme Setup
By combining the following tools, you can achieve an efficient development workflow.
- Develop locally using Shifter-Local
- Migrate database changes and uploads using AIO WP Migration as needed
- Track theme changes via Git
- Deploy Git-tracked theme changes using WP Pusher
From Local Development to Production
For example, here’s a brief overview and step-by-step guide for deploying custom theme changes:
- Create a new local site using Shifter-Local
- Install a custom theme, develop the code, and commit your changes
- Push the changes to GitHub, Bitbucket, etc.
- Create a new site in Shifter
- Install AIO WP Migration and WP Pusher
- Use AIO WP Migration to create an export from your local site. Select only what you need, such as the database and media uploads
- Upload that backup to the new site you created in Shifter
- Add the custom theme to your WP Pusher settings, sync, and activate the theme
- Test to verify that the data and theme are correct
- Generate a new artifact
After the initial setup, the process is straightforward. From your local environment, commit and push new changes to Git. Log in to Shifter and pull them down. Currently, this process isn’t automated, but we plan to add this feature once Shifter Webhooks become available.
[IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER_1]
Is this the only way?
No! There are many ways developers prefer to work, and we can’t cover them all here. However, if you have any suggestions, please let us know. We’ll test them out and add them to the official documentation.