Are you looking to build a local WordPress instance quickly and easily? In this tutorial, I will show you how to set up a local WordPress site in under 10 minutes, with minimal technical knowledge required.
We will be using a popular tool called MAMP, which will allow you to run WordPress on your own computer, giving you the freedom to experiment and test new features without the need for a live website.
Whether you're a blogger, a developer, or just someone who wants to learn more about WordPress, this Tech-Stack Hack will give you the tools you need to get started.
What is a Local WordPress Instance (and why do I want one)?
A local WordPress instance is a version of WordPress that is installed and runs on your own computer, as opposed to a live website hosted on a remote server. This allows you to develop, test, and experiment with new features, designs, or plugins without affecting your live website.
A local WordPress instance can be valuable for many reasons, below are just a few:
- It's a low-cost solution for testing new features before implementing them on your live website.
- It allows you to work on your website offline without needing an internet connection to a remote host server.
- It's a great way for developers to test and debug their custom code and plugins before deploying them to a live site.
- It's great for beginners to learn about WordPress and experiment with how it works, without the need to pay for hosting.
In short, having a local WordPress instance is an essential tool for anyone who wants to work with WordPress, whether you're a beginner or an experienced developer.
What is MAMP?
MAMP, stands for different things depending on where you look, but originally stood for MacOS (the operating system), Apache (the web server), MySQL (the database), and PHP, Perl & Python (the programming language). MAMP now supports Windows however even on its free tier, so the acronym is really not too important.
Long story short, MAMP is an all-in-one software package to run a WordPress website on your local computer. There are several alternatives to MAMP as well, such as XAMPP, DesktopServer, and DevKinsta but for the purposes of this simple tutorial, MAMP will suffice.
How to Setup Your Local WordPress Instance
This article says less than 10 minutes, my only caveat to that is that doesn't include download times. That being said, the setup is quite simple; after you do it once you can repeat this process anytime you want. If you prefer to watch a video of these steps head on down the page to watch that for more details.
- Download and install MAMP from their downloads page, choose macOS or Windows: https://www.mamp.info/en/downloads/
- Download the latest version of WordPress and extract it to your Desktop: https://wordpress.org/download/
- Open MAMP and click 'Start Servers' and wait for the Apache and MySQL server lights to turn green.
- Click the 'Open WebStart page' button on the MAMP console, this will take you to the MAMP welcome page running locally (you already have a local site up and running!)
- Click Tools > PHPMYADMIN from the top navigation bar, this will take you to the MySQL database admin area.
- Click 'New' from the left databases tree menu
- Enter a 'Database name' in the field that you would like to go with your site (you can call it your site's name if you want)
- From Windows, navigate to the C:\MAMP\htdocs directory and create a new folder in it called whatever you want your site named (MacOS will be in Applications > MAMP > htdocs)
- Copy and paste all of the WordPress files you downloaded earlier into this new folder in the htdocs directory.
- Open the wp-config-sample file with Notepad or another text editor
- Change the db_user and db_password entries to just 'root' (no apostrophes)
- Set the dbname to the name you chose earlier when you created the database
- Save the file but remove the -sample from the end of the filename, it should just be wp-config when you are done
- Open your web browser now and navigate to localhost/<website name>, the website name is the name of the folder you created in the htdocs directory.
- You should now be at the WordPress setup screens, simply answer the questions in the setup wizard and then log in to your new local WordPress instance!
Conclusion
This basic tutorial has shown you how to easily set up a local WordPress instance in under 10 minutes using the popular tool MAMP. It will allow you to develop, test, and experiment with new features, designs, and plugins without affecting your live website. Having a local WordPress instance is a valuable tool for bloggers, developers, and anyone looking to learn more about WordPress. Following the simple steps outlined in this guide, you'll be able to set up your own local WordPress instance quickly and work or experiment on your website without the need for a hosting provider.
