WordPress added ability to define environment type around 5.5.
What:-
WordPress environment type is just a name used to define specific configuration/setup of WordPress(e.g development, staging).
It might affect the behaviour of the WordPress core. It also gives an opportunity/standard way to hosting companies, plugin and theme developers to react to the specific setup.
You could either use a php environment variable named WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE or define a constant with the same name to set it.
The currently allowed values are:-
- local
- development
- staging
- production
If a valid value is not specified, it falls back to ‘production’.
Usage:-
You can either define as environment variable or using constant. I prefer using constant in the wp-config.php
define( 'WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE', 'development' );Existing usage in WordPress core:-
At the moment, the use of environment type is very limited.
In the WordPress core, it is used for the following purpose:-
- To set debug mode on(WP_DEBUG) if the value is set to ‘development’
- In the Site Health panel
- to disable http tests if it is set to ‘development’
- to mark some of the high impact issues as recommended action instead of critical on the status panel.
- to show cache info if environment type is set to ‘production’ (by you or defaults)
- To enable application password support for local development if the value is set to ‘local’. It won’t require https( which is required by default to enable application password in WordPress)
FAQ:-
- How do I find out the current environment of my WordPress setup?
- If you are a site admin, visit dashboard->Tools -> Site Health -> Info->WordPress.
- If you are a developer, you can use wp_get_environment_type() function.
- Can I set the environment via plugin?
- Yes, but it will have no significance other than causing confusion. wp_get_environment_type() checks this only once(before plugins are loaded) and sets a static variable for further calls.
- Avoid defining it in your plugins. Define it in wp-config.php
- What happens if I do not specify a valid value or I do not specify a value at all?
- WordPress will consider the environment to be ‘production’.
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