How Local Connect works with WP Engine
Setup has three steps in Local's documentation. Enable API access for the WP Engine account on the User Portal's API Access page. Update Local to the latest version. Then sign in from Local's Preferences with the same credentials you use for the WP Engine User Portal. Your WP Engine sites then appear in Local's Connect tab, and each local site gets Push and Pull buttons on its Overview page.
A pull downloads the remote site to your computer. A push deploys your local site to a remote environment, and a panel lets you choose what to include. Production is the default target; if a staging environment does not exist, Local prompts you to create one. Local connects to one WP Engine account at a time, so agencies switching between client accounts log out and back in.
MagicSync, available without enabling anything since Local version 9.0, compares local and remote files and lets you pick which changed files to deploy. Choosing All Files sends everything instead.
What moves, what is overwritten and what never moves
If the ignore files are missing, WP Engine says they are recreated with defaults after the first push or pull, so check their contents before relying on them.
| Item | On push | On pull |
|---|---|---|
| Selected files | Overwrite the same files on the destination environment | Overwrite local files |
| Database (optional) | Overwrites all database information on the destination | Overwrites the local database if included |
| wp-config.php | Never transferred; apply local changes by hand | Never transferred |
| Core folders and tooling | Local's exclusion list skips wp-admin, wp-includes, wp-config.php and core root files, plus .git, node_modules and .env wherever they appear | Same exclusions |
| Custom exclusions | Listed in .wpe-push-ignore in the site root | Listed in .wpe-pull-ignore |
| Backup on WP Engine first | Not stated in Local's or WP Engine's Local docs; make one yourself | Back up the local site by exporting it |
Why the database should not go to production
WP Engine's guidance is direct: including the database will overwrite all database information on the destination, and it is never advised to include a database when pushing to production. On a course or membership site, the production database holds the things you cannot recreate from your laptop: new student accounts, enrollments, lesson completions, quiz attempts, subscriptions and orders created since you pulled.
WP Engine's copy-environment tool, which you use for the staging-to-production step, is more careful than a Local push. It backs up the destination before and after the copy, lets you copy files only or choose specific database tables, and warns that copying a full database to production can lose new orders or new users. Note that a file copy there is also destructive: files on the destination that do not exist on the source are removed. That matters for media uploads students or instructors added on live, such as assignment files or new course images.
So the database rule for a membership site is simple. Content and settings changes that live in the database, such as a new course outline, should be rebuilt on live or moved with an export and import tool designed for that content, not by overwriting the whole database.
A safe sequence for live membership data
- In the WP Engine User Portal, create a manual backup checkpoint of production with a description such as before template change. WP Engine keeps 30 days of backups.
- Pull from production with files only, or with a database from staging, unless you need live data locally.
- If you pulled the live database, switch the payment plugin to sandbox keys (Stripe sandbox keys start with pk_test_ and sk_test_) and deactivate email plugins before browsing locally.
- Make the change locally.
- Push to staging with MagicSync, selecting only the changed theme, plugin or template files. Do not include the database.
- Test on staging: log in as a test student, open a lesson, submit a quiz, run a sandbox checkout.
- Copy staging to production with WP Engine's copy-environment tool, choosing file system only. Check that no production-only files, such as uploads added since your pull, would be removed.
- Check production immediately; if something breaks, restore the checkpoint you made in step one, remembering that a database restore rolls back enrollments and orders since then.
Student data and keys on your computer
A pulled production database brings every student's name, email address, progress and order history onto your laptop. Keep disk encryption on, avoid syncing the Local sites folder to personal cloud storage, and delete the local copy when the job is done.
Stripe distinguishes sandbox keys from live keys by prefix; live mode keys start with pk_live_, rk_live_ and sk_live_, and in live mode card networks process real payments. A local copy with live keys can create real charges if anything on it calls Stripe. Stripe also advises keeping keys out of files committed to version control. Local already excludes .env and wp-config.php from pushes and pulls, but your Git repository may not.
Who it fits and who should skip it
Local Connect fits a course creator or developer on WP Engine who edits themes, child themes, custom plugins or template files and wants a short path from a local copy to staging. MagicSync's file selection suits small, frequent changes.
Skip it for database-driven changes on a busy membership site, where a push cannot merge your local data with live data. Skip it, too, for WP Engine's headless platform: Local's documentation says Connect does not support a full headless push or pull, so the front end cannot be moved this way.
Checklist
- API access enabled for the WP Engine account and Local updated.
- Manual backup checkpoint taken on production before any push reaches it.
- Push target is staging or development, not production.
- Database unticked on every push toward production.
- .wpe-push-ignore and .wpe-pull-ignore contents reviewed.
- Any local wp-config.php changes noted for manual application.
- Sandbox payment keys and disabled email plugins on any local copy holding live data.
- Local copy with student data deleted after the work is done.
Questions before you decide
Does Local push the database to WP Engine?
Only if you include it. WP Engine warns that including the database overwrites all database information on the destination and advises never including the database when pushing to production.
Does Local copy wp-config.php to WP Engine?
No. WP Engine says wp-config.php is excluded from push and pull, so any changes you make to it locally have to be applied by hand on the WP Engine environment afterward.
Does WP Engine back up the site before a Local push?
Neither Local's nor WP Engine's Local documentation says so. Create a manual backup checkpoint in the User Portal first. WP Engine's own copy-environment tool does back up the destination before and after a copy.
Sources & verification
Product details and prices can change. Check the linked provider before buying.
- WP Engine: Local and WP Engine Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Local: Local Connect help docs Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- WP Engine: Copy an environment Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- WP Engine: Backup and restore Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Stripe: API keys Accessed 30 Oct 2026
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