How to install a Terra WordPress project?

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:

1. XAMPP installed

   • This provides Apache, PHP, and MySQL.
   • Download here

2. Locate the project in Terra’s repository

   • You need to know where to project repository is for next steps. Our naming convention for projects is project acronym + wp-theme. Example: btw-wp-theme, sei-wp-theme.
   • Search it in Terra’s Github

3. Download Wordpress

   • Download here

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01. Move Wordpress from downloads

Move your Wordpress to the folder htdocs (this is a folder automatically generated by XAMPP, you’ll find it in Applications) with the name of wp-projectName.

Name

You can confirm the exact projectName by checking the project’s GitHub repo (for example, in .env.virtual or config/index.js).

02. Start XAMPP

1. Open XAMPP.
2. Go to Manage Servers.
3. Click Restart All (or start Apache and MySQL if they’re stopped).
4. Confirm it’s working by visiting:

   http://localhost

03. Create the database

1. Go to localhost/phpmyadmin in your browser.
2. Click on Databases at the top.
3. Enter a name for your database (we recommend using db_projectName, being projectName the name of your project) and select Create.

Note

Remember this database name as you will need it in the following steps.

04. Install wordpress theme

4.1. Go to localhost/wp-projectName in your browser.

4.2. Fill in the info

Introduce the database name, in user go with root and leave password empty. Click on Submit.

4.3. wp-config.php

1. A code will appear. Copy-paste it to your wp-config-sample.php file, deleting what was before.

Where’s that file?

You will find the wp-config-sample.php file inside the folder wp-projectName in htdocs (step 1).

2. Change the name of the file from wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php
3. Add these lines after the code you copy-pasted from the browser:

define('FTP_HOST', 'localhost');
define('FTP_USER', 'daemon');
define('FTP_PASS', 'xampp');
define('FS_METHOD', 'direct');

6. Save the new file. Click Run Installation.

4.4. Fill in the info

A new window will appear in your localhost/wp-projectName

Use admin for username and password (confirm you know is a weak password) and write your email. Click Install Wordpress

05: htaccess

Create an .htacess file in your project root.

Info

This .htaccess file is a typical setup for WordPress projects requiring more control over server behavior, especially if you host your website on an Apache server.

Copy this code into your .htaccess file:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteBase /wp-projectName/
    RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteRule . /wp-projectName/index.php [L]
</IfModule>

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
    RewriteBase /wp-projectName/
    RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteRule . /wp-projectName/index.php [L]
</IfModule>

<IfModule mod_headers.c>
    Header set Access-Control-Allow-Origin "*"
</IfModule>

php_value upload_max_filesize 7G
php_value post_max_size 7G
php_value memory_limit 7G
php_value max_execution_time 300
php_value max_input_time 300

# Set unlimited request body size
LimitRequestBody 0

Rewrite the project name

Once you copy-paste this .htaccess code, make sure you rewrite every projectName for the name of the project you’re installing.

06: Give permissions and log in

1. Give permissions to your project using the console:

sudo chmod -R 777 /Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/htdocs/wp-projectName

You’ll be asked for a password. This password is your computer’s.

2. Log in into your local Wordpress with these credentials:

    User: admin
    Password: admin

07. All In One

All in One

Please follow these instructions before continuing.

08. Git clone of the project

1. In your htdocs/wp-projectName/wp-content/themes you will find a folder named projectAcronym-wp-theme that the All In One carried.
2. Delete the projectAcronym-wp-theme folder
3. Make a git clone from the Terra’s Github repository into the htdocs/wp-projectName/wp-content/themes with the same name it had before

09. Install the plugins the project needs

All In One usually carries every plugin the project needs, but it’s important that you know how to use them. Every project has its own plugins, but you’ll see we work mostly with some of them. Learn how plugins work and how to install them here.

10. Login with the correct credentials

1. Refresh the localhost. You will be logged out and admin won’t work if you try to log in.
2. Use the credentials you used to log in into the production Wordpress (find them in the project’s Slack channel)

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Next Steps

Your local WordPress installation is now ready! Now you have your local project connected to Github and aligned with the production project!

How I start working in my local project?

To see your code updates in local, you need to locally install Node.js in case you haven’t already:

nvm install 21
nvm use 21

This will install the Node 21 version (you can ask for the version the project needs) in your project.

To install all the dependencies of the node-modules in your local project:

npm install

Start working in your local project:

npm run virtual

Learn More

• Learn More about Wordpress Structure here
• Learn More about making a Deploy once you’ve worked in your project here
• Learn More about dev commands here (advanced)