How to manage staging sites in Kiravo

A staging website gives you a separate place to test a redesign, application update, or new project before applying changes to a live website. You can start with blank web space, install WordPress, deploy from GitHub, or clone a website already available in your account.

Open the hosting control panel and choose Websites → Add website. Check the subscription and its staging allowance at the top of the form.

Where staging sites live

Choose Staging website instead of Production website. The form shows the staging domain, currently mystagingsite.dev, beside the Staging domain field. Enter the name before that suffix. For example, myproject becomes myproject.mystagingsite.dev.

You do not need to register that staging subdomain or change the nameservers of your production domain to use it. Wait for creation to finish, then check that the staging address loads over HTTPS before sharing it.

Caution

A staging address does not make a website private. Check access restrictions before copying customer data or sharing confidential content. Search-engine indexing settings do not prevent someone with the URL from opening the site.

Create a staging site

1. In Add website, select the subscription if a choice is available.
2. Select Staging website and check the staging allowance shown beside it.
3. Choose one of the four creation methods described below.
4. Fill in Staging domain and the fields required by your chosen method.
5. Review the source, destination, and application settings, then click Add. Check for validation errors and wait for creation to finish before opening the site.

Start from scratch

Choose Start from scratch for blank web space. This method does not install WordPress. Upload your files or install an application afterwards. See Manage files.

Install an app

Choose Install an app to install WordPress during website creation. Select the application and version, then enter the WordPress administrator’s username, email address, password, and password confirmation.

These credentials belong to WordPress. See Install an app for the fields and password requirements.

Deploy from GitHub

Choose Deploy from GitHub to deploy an application from a repository. If the account has no connection, the form shows No GitHub connection yet and Connect GitHub. Complete the connection and review the repository and deployment options before creating the website.

Review the requested GitHub permissions before authorizing access. Automatic deployment can update the staging site when the configured repository changes, so check the selected source before enabling it.

Clone a website

Choose Clone a website when you want to test changes against a copy of an existing site.

1. Select Staging website and Clone a website.
2. Enter the Staging domain name.
3. Under Select a website to clone, select the source website. Use search if needed.
4. Review Perform a WordPress search and replace. It is selected by default. For a WordPress clone, this option updates references to the source URL for the destination address.
5. Confirm that you selected the intended source and staging destination, then click Add.

After cloning, check the site’s links, media, login, and application settings. Do not assume every integration is isolated just because the files and database are in a separate website.

Work on the staging site

Open the staging website from Websites. Its dashboard provides the same areas for files, databases, and other website settings. For a detected WordPress installation, use Apps and the WordPress Toolkit.

Before testing a copied application, review outgoing email, scheduled jobs, payment gateways, webhooks, and external API connections. A clone can retain production settings and still send requests to real services. Use the providers’ test settings where available.

Check search-engine indexing settings and access restrictions separately. For WordPress, review Settings → Reading → Discourage search engines from indexing this site. Keep private content behind an access restriction rather than relying on that checkbox.

Push the staging site live

Before publishing, take a manual backup of the destination and download the data you need to keep. Check whether content, orders, users, or comments have changed on the live site since you made the staging copy.

Open the staging website’s Overview dashboard and click Push live. Choose To an existing website or To a new website. Review the destination and deployment options before confirming the final Push live action.

Push to a new website

Use Push live → To a new website when the project will go live on its own domain. The Push staging website live dialog states that publishing consumes one website from the package resources.

1. Select Package. The Domain field becomes available after choosing a package.
2. Keep Production website selected for a live domain and check its allowance.
3. Enter Domain without the www. prefix already shown beside the field.
4. Review Perform a WordPress search and replace, which is selected by default.
5. Check the package and domain, then click Push live when ready to publish.

After deployment, connect the production domain and check HTTPS, links, forms, and application access. Check both the production and staging entries in Websites to confirm their resulting state.

Push to an existing website

Choose Push live → To an existing website. The Push staging to existing site dialog warns that it copies files and databases to the destination and overwrites existing data.

1. Select Destination website and check its domain carefully.
2. Review EXCLUDE FILES. Selecting a path excludes it from copying. The dialog lists public_html/wp-config.php and public_html/wp-content, and Add custom file lets you add another exclusion with Add.
3. Review the items selected under DATABASES and USERS. These refer to database resources, not WordPress user accounts.
4. Review OTHER OPTIONS. In the inspected dialog, Delete files from the destination website if they do not exist on the source, Sync PHP version, and Perform a WordPress search and replace are selected by default.
5. Confirm the destination, backup, exclusions, and database selections before clicking the final Push live button.

The deletion option can remove files that exist only on the destination. File exclusions do not by themselves protect new orders or other records in a database that you overwrite.

Caution

Deployment can overwrite the destination’s files and database. New orders or other live changes made after the clone may be lost if the deployment replaces that data. Plan how to preserve those changes before confirming Push live.

After publishing, check the live site’s indexing settings, access restrictions, outgoing email, scheduled jobs, and production integrations. Do not assume staging-specific settings have been removed automatically.

Delete a staging site

When the copy is no longer needed, download any work you want to keep and follow Delete a website. Check the domain named in the confirmation so you remove the staging website you intended.

If you need to keep the website but pause access, use Disable a website. Check its resource usage and subscription allowance separately. Disabling a website is not the same as deleting it or cancelling a hosting subscription.