SpawnWP

A free, open-source, self-hosted WordPress sandbox and remote development lab.
Bring your server. Spawn temporary WordPress projects without server babysitting.

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SpawnWP turns a fresh Debian or Ubuntu server — cloud VM/VPS, dedicated or bare metal — into a WordPress lab for temporary, isolated and sacrificable development environments. A single installer sets up Docker, an nginx TLS edge, and a web cockpit from which you spawn, reset, snapshot and destroy WordPress environments — each in its own container stack.

→ Self-hosted WordPress sandbox · Use cases · Guides · Alternatives

The goal is brutally simple:

install -> open cockpit -> create site -> done

No hand-built nginx config, no Docker commands to remember, no shared test site to accidentally break. Build a plugin, test a theme, demo a project, destroy the environment and create another one. Every site ships ready for WordPress.org plugin/theme development through the default Development blueprint: Plugin Check, Theme Check, PHP_CodeSniffer (WPCS), PHPStan, Query Monitor, Mailpit and more, preinstalled.

The cockpit lives on its own subdomain and is protected by HTTPS plus mandatory application authentication: passkey preferred, or password with TOTP and recovery codes.

Highlights

• One-command install — curl … | bash, no manual setup.
• Web cockpit first — create environments, start/stop, snapshot, restore and destroy without memorizing commands.
• Two-domain design — your content domain stays pure WordPress; all admin tooling lives on a separate, application-authenticated cockpit subdomain.
• WordPress.org QA built in — the exact checks the .org review runs, in-browser and on the CLI.
• Secure by default — random per-install secrets, dropped Linux capabilities, no Docker socket exposure, loopback-only service ports, automatic TLS.
• Portable — Ubuntu 22.04/24.04/26.04 and Debian 12/13, amd64 and arm64; web traffic uses ports 80/443.
• A lab, not a hosting panel — use it for development, testing and demos on infrastructure you control, not for production hosting or client accounts.

Quickstart

You need a fresh supported server (root) and two hostnames you control, both pointing at it — one for your sites, one for the cockpit. The installer handles the server setup; after that, day-to-day work happens in the browser.

curl -fsSL https://spawnwp.com/install.sh | sudo bash

The installer asks for your content hostname, cockpit hostname and Let's Encrypt email. For automated installs you can pass them up front:

curl -fsSL https://spawnwp.com/install.sh \
  | sudo DOMAIN=dev.example.com COCKPIT_DOMAIN=cockpit.example.com EMAIL=you@example.com bash

When it finishes, the installer prints (and saves to /root/spawnwp-credentials.txt) your URLs and the one-time cockpit activation procedure. It does not create a WordPress environment automatically.

Then the workflow is:

1. Open the cockpit URL from the report.
2. Complete administrator activation.
3. Click Create site.
4. Use the new WordPress site.

→ Full documentation: https://spawnwp.com/docs/

Documentation

Guide
Requirements	What you need before installing
DNS setup	Point your two hostnames at the server
Installation	The one-liner, explained
Accessing the cockpit	Passkeys, TOTP and recovery access
Using the cockpit	Create, reset and destroy environments
WordPress development	Plugins, themes, QA tools
Architecture · Security	How it works & threat model

License

MIT — © 2026 spawnwp contributors.

Roadmap

SpawnWP is evolving as a self-hosted WordPress lab for teams. Planned directions include:

• Team access — invited users, shared site visibility, and clear admin/member permissions.
• Disposable-site lifecycle — configurable expiry, advance warnings, and a safe grace period before automatic cleanup.
• Reusable environments — fast local cloning and versioned full-site templates containing the database, uploads, plugins, and themes.
• Developer automation — API tokens, CLI workflows, and Git integration for repeatable plugin and theme development.
• Safer sharing and compatibility testing — temporary demo access, one-click WordPress admin links, and optional multisite environments.

These are planned product directions, not delivery commitments or guaranteed dates. SpawnWP will remain focused on controlled, disposable development environments rather than anonymous public provisioning, WaaS, or production staging synchronization.