Studio Sites

A Studio site is a WordPress instance running locally on your computer, and each of your sites will be listed in the Studio sidebar. 

Studio allows you to create, maintain, and work on unlimited local WordPress websites.

Add a New Site

To add a new site to Studio:

1. Click the Add site button.
2. Name your site, choose a path (or accept the default), and then click Add site.

Any new site is started by default, which is depicted by a green dot in the sidebar:

Add a New Site Using an Existing WordPress Directory

You can also add a site to Studio using an existing WordPress directory:

1. Remove wp-config.php file from the existing WordPress site directory.
2. Click the Add site button.
3. Name your site, choose a path with an existing WordPress site, and click Add site.

If you’d prefer to use an existing wp-config.php file, you can follow these instructions.

Starting and Stopping Sites

You can view any running site in your browser. With a stopped site, viewing the site in your browser will be disabled until you start it again.

To start a site:

1. Click on a site name from the sidebar.
2. Click the Start button. 

The button will now say “Running,” and the WP admin and Open site buttons will be enabled, allowing you to view the site in your browser. 

Another way to quickly start your site is to hover over the gray dot in the sidebar and click the start icon.

When you want to stop your site, click the Running button.

To quickly stop all of your local sites from running, click the Stop all button in the sidebar.

View Sites

Once you start a site, there are two different ways to view it in your browser:

• WP admin: Opens your local site’s dashboard.
• Open site: Opens your local site’s homepage.

You do not need a username or password to view your site’s dashboard as you will be automatically logged in.

Site Overview

Each local site has its own quick-access buttons under the Overview tab for easy navigation and an efficient workflow.

Select one of your sites and make sure that it is running. Under Customize, you can quickly open site setting pages with just one click. 

If you’re using a block theme on your local site, you’ll see the following options:

• Site Editor
• Styles
• Patterns
• Navigation
• Templates
• Pages

If you’re using a classic theme on your local site, you’ll see the following options, depending on their availability in the theme:

• Customizer
• Menus
• Widgets

Under the Open in… heading, Studio will show buttons that will open your site in the following apps if detected on your computer:

• Finder (macOS only)
• File Explorer (Windows only)
• VS Code
• Terminal
• PhpStorm

Site Settings

You can view each site’s settings by selecting a site and then clicking on the Settings heading.

• Site name: Your local site’s name (editable).
• Local domain: The domain you can use to view your site in your browser, provided your site is running. 
• Local path: Where your site files are located on your computer.
• WP Version: The current WordPress version of your local site.
• PHP Version: The current PHP version used for your local site.
• Username: The username for the admin account on your local site and can be used to log into your demo site. 
• Password: The password for the admin account on your local site and can be used to log into your demo site. 
• Admin URL: The login page for your local site.

You may also delete your local site by clicking the Delete site button. You’ll have the option to delete site files from your computer before confirming the deletion.

Last updated: January 14, 2025

Ready to get started with WordPress.com?

Get started