WordPress Setup Checklist: What to Do After Installing WordPress (2026)
You just installed WordPress. Before you publish anything, a handful of settings and cleanup steps will save you real headaches later, and two of
June 22, 2026
You just installed WordPress. Before you publish anything, a handful of settings and cleanup steps will save you real headaches later, and two of
Use the free generator below to create a fresh set of WordPress security keys and salts, then drop them into your wp-config.php file. Everything
WordPress MCP lets an AI assistant like Claude or ChatGPT securely read and manage your site through the Model Context Protocol. This guide covers what MCP is, how the official WordPress MCP Adapter and Abilities API work, what you can do with it, how to set it up step by step, and the security rules to follow before giving an AI write access.
Five reliable ways to back up a WordPress site: host-provided backups, a backup plugin like UpdraftPlus, a manual backup through cPanel, FTP/SFTP, or WP-CLI. This guide covers what a backup includes, how often to run one, all five methods step by step, the 3-2-1 storage rule, and how to restore.
WordPress transients are a built-in caching layer for storing data with an automatic expiration time. This guide covers what transients are, when to use them, the three core functions (set_transient, get_transient, delete_transient), site transients, where they’re stored, a real example, and the pitfalls that bite first-timers.
A WordPress staging site is a private copy of your live site for testing plugin updates, theme changes, and risky edits before they hit production. This guide walks through 4 ways to set one up (host-provided, plugin, local, manual subdomain) with trade-offs and the gotchas that bite first-timers.
Custom Post Types let you add new content types to WordPress beyond Posts and Pages: products, portfolio items, events, recipes. This guide covers what they are, when to use them, how to register one with register_post_type(), every important $args option, taxonomies and REST API exposure, permalinks, template files, and ACF/CPT UI/Pods compared.
Headless WordPress means using WordPress as a content backend while serving the frontend with a completely separate stack (Next.js, Astro, SvelteKit, etc.). This guide walks through what it actually means, when to use it, the REST API vs WPGraphQL decision, popular frontend frameworks, hosting setup, common challenges, and a step-by-step build.
WordPress 7.0 “Armstrong” shipped May 20, 2026 with native AI integration in Core (AI Client + Abilities API), a modernized dashboard with Command Palette, four new blocks (Gallery lightbox, Heading, Breadcrumbs, Icons), block-level Custom CSS, PHP-only block registration, and a PHP 7.4 minimum. Real-time collaboration was pulled before release. Here’s the full breakdown.
WordPress permalinks are the permanent URLs for your posts, pages, and archives. This guide covers the 6 default permalink structures, which one to choose, and how to change yours safely without breaking your site or losing rankings.
Matt Mullenweg pulled real-time collaboration from WordPress 7.0 on May 8 over surface area, race conditions, server load, memory, and fuzz-test bugs. 7.0 still ships May 20 as a stability release; RTC moves to a future version.
How to use the WordPress REST API in 2026: 4 authentication methods, the endpoints you’ll actually hit, real curl + JavaScript code examples for vibe-coded apps and headless Next.js builds, common errors (HTTP_AUTHORIZATION, CORS, capabilities), and how to add custom endpoints.
functions.php is a theme file, not a WordPress core file. Here’s what code belongs in it, what doesn’t, when to use a plugin or mu-plugin instead, and how to recover when an edit takes the site down.
WP-Cron is WordPress’s built-in scheduler, but it isn’t real cron. Here’s how it actually works, when to replace it with a real server cron, the developer API for scheduling events, and how to debug when scheduled tasks aren’t running.
WordPress shows a blank white page with no error message? That’s the White Screen of Death. Here are 6 fixes in order of likelihood, including the WordPress 5.2+ Recovery Mode that handles most of them automatically.
What .htaccess does for WordPress, the verbatim default block explained line-by-line, the most useful additions you can make, and how to edit safely without taking your site down.
A panic-mode WordPress site shows just “Error establishing a database connection” and nothing else. Here are the 7 fixes that resolve it, in order of likelihood.
Enable WordPress debug mode the production-safe way. Covers all five debug constants, Query Monitor, the WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE pattern, Recover Mode in WordPress 5.2+, WP-CLI debug commands, how to read the debug log, and how to log your own messages.
Hooks are how WordPress lets plugins, themes, and your code change what the platform does. This guide covers actions vs filters, priority and accepted_args, where to put hook code, removing hooks, creating custom hooks, and modern patterns like class-method callbacks and Block Hooks in WordPress 6.4+.
Every WordPress major release from 0.7 in May 2003 to the upcoming 7.0 in April 2026. Codenames, dates, and key features for each version, plus the jazz musician naming tradition and how WordPress evolved from b2/cafelog.
wp-config.php is WordPress’s master configuration file. This guide covers what it does, where to find it, every constant worth knowing, debug snippets, security hardening, and modern patterns like WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE and WP-CLI config commands.
Use get_post_meta() to retrieve any custom field value in WordPress. Function reference, the $single parameter explained, real ACF and WooCommerce examples, performance notes, and how to expose meta through the REST API.
Turn off WordPress comments completely. Six methods covering the Settings UI, single-post toggles, bulk edit, WP-CLI for hundreds of posts, a functions.php snippet, and the Disable Comments plugin, plus how to remove the leftover comments menu and admin remnants.
Compare the best WordPress migration plugins for 2026, including Duplicator, All-in-One WP Migration, and Migrate Guru. Free and paid options tested.
