Run updates in WordPress with WP-CLI
WP-CLI is a command line tool that helps you perform different actions on your WordPress site. If you're comfortable with using SSH commands, you'll notice that WP-CLI has simplified commands created for WordPress sites. Here's how you can update WordPress, plugins, and themes with commands available in WP-CLI.
Warning: You should always back up your site before running any updates.
Required: You'll need the following to complete these steps:
- An SSH app. We suggest PuTTY for Windows, or Terminal for macOS.
- Your FTP details. If you don’t have them already written down, you should find your FTP host, username, and password:
- For your FTP host, you can use either your domain name or your IP address.
- You can find your FTP username and password in your hosting account for Linux Hosting with cPanel or Managed WordPress Hosting (steps 1-7).
Note: If you have a VPS or DED Server, you need to install WP-CLI before you can start using it. WP-CLI is not available on our Windows Hosting plans.
- Connect to your hosting account with SSH.
- Use the bash command ls to list files and folders, and cd and ../ to move through directories until you're in the directory with your WordPress files.
- Enter the following commands to run updates:
- To update WordPress core:
wp core update
Note: Managed WordPress plans run on the latest version of WordPress. Anytime there's an update, we install if for you automatically. - To update one plugin:
wp plugin update plugin-name
In the code above, replace plugin-name with the actual name of the plugin you want to update. - To update all plugins:
wp plugin update --all
- To update one theme:
wp theme update theme-name
In the code above, replace theme-name with the actual name of the theme you want to update. - To update all themes:
wp theme update --all
- To update WordPress core:
- After you see the success message, visit your site in a browser and check for errors. For any errors you find, check your plugin or theme developer’s documentation.
For security reasons, we recommend keeping WordPress, plugins, and themes up to date.
