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My Favorite WordPress CLI Commands

The WordPress Command Line Interface (WP-CLI) is one of my favorite tools for working with WordPress sites. The WP-CLI gives me quick and direct access to many common WordPress management tasks.
While there are many great tutorials on how to install and use WP-CLI I wanted to share a few of the commands I use most often.
Install New Sites
wp core download
Downloads a copy of the latest WordPress to your current working directory. Can also be used to download specific old versions of WordPress if needed.
wp core config
Creates a wp-config.php file. You can’t run a WordPress site (or most of the WP-CLI commands) without one!
wp core install
Creates the database tables needed to run WordPress.
Maintain Existing Sites
wp core version
Prints the current WordPress core version number.
wp core update
Updates WordPress to the latest version.
wp search-replace foo bar
When moving WordPress databases between sites (e.g. staging, testing, development, etc) it’s common for the site URL to change. The WordPress database stores the site URL; in many places those URLs are inside PHP serialized strings. This command searches through your database, finds all instances of one string (e.g. an old URL) and replaces them with the new string (e.g. a new URL) without breaking the PHP serialized strings.
wp user create bob [email protected] --role=administrator
Don’t know the admin login for a site? No problem! Just create a new user.
wp transient --delete
Especially helpful when writing code that reads and writes transients and you need to test from a clean slate.
Work With Plugins
wp plugin list
Prints a handy list of all currently installed plugins along with their version, current activation status, and whether or not a newer version is available.
wp plugin install foo
Install a plugin! Can also be used to install specific versions of a plugin if needed.
wp plugin install foo
Activate a plugin!
wp plugin deactivate foo
Deactivate a plugin!
Work With Databases
wp db export
Quick and easy database exports.
wp db import
Quick and easy database imports.
wp db cli
No need to pull the database password from the wp-config.php file–this command connects to your database and gives you a console so you can run ad-hoc queries.