Picture this: You're working on a client's website, fine-tuning a new theme you've been developing for weeks in WordPress Studio. The design is perfect in your local environment, and you're ready to push it live using Studio's sync feature.
But there's a catch. You only want to deploy the theme. You don't want to overwrite the plugins already running smoothly in production, and you definitely don't want your local test content affecting the live database.
If that sounds familiar, you're not alone. Until now, Studio's sync feature was all or nothing; you could easily push or pull entire sites between your local environment and WordPress.com or Pressable, but there was no way to sync just part of a site, like a single theme.
That changes today with the release of Selective Sync in WordPress Studio 1.5.5.
Adding granular control
Selective Sync gives you precise control over what gets transferred between WordPress Studio and any connected production or staging sites. You can now choose exactly what to sync, whether it's a single theme, a specific plugin, only the database, or the entire wp-content folder.
The reality of WordPress development is that production sites are constantly changing. While you're working on new features locally, your live site continues to serve visitors, process orders, and collect user data. A full sync in either direction could result in lost changes or disruptions for active users.
Here are a few scenarios where Selective Sync really shines:
- Plugin development: When building a new plugin feature, you often work with test data that shouldn't make its way into production. Selective Sync lets you push only the plugin files, keeping your local database separate. Your live site's data stays intact, and your new feature goes live without disruption.
- Theme updates: Theme developers face similar challenges. You might spend days fine-tuning layouts and testing block patterns with sample content. When it's time to deploy, you want to push only the theme files, not placeholder posts or demo images. Selective Sync makes that easy.
- Privacy and scale: If you're working with a WooCommerce store that has hundreds of products and thousands of customers, cloning the full site locally can be risky or unnecessary. Selective Sync allows you to pull down only the code you need to work on, such as the theme or a specific plugin, without syncing sensitive customer data to your local environment.
- Focused environments: Some developers prefer to separate concerns by using different local Studio sites for different types of work. You might maintain one environment for plugin development and another for theme design. With Selective Sync, each can connect to the same production site and push changes independently, without affecting unrelated parts of the project.
Since full-site sync launched in January 2025, developers, designers, and site builders have asked for more flexibility. Selective Sync was built in direct response, making it easier to adapt Studio to the needs of real-world projects.
How Selective Sync works
If you're new to WordPress Studio, this is a great time to explore what the tool offers beyond its new syncing features. Studio is free, open source, and built to make building WordPress plugins, themes, and full sites more efficient and enjoyable.
Already using Studio? Selective Sync is available now. Just update to the latest version when prompted in the app, then follow the steps below to get started.
TIP: Keep in mind that while WordPress Studio is free to use, the sync feature requires a WordPress.com site on a Business or Commerce plan, or a Pressable site with the Jetpack Security plugin active. For more information, check the official documentation.
Connect a live site
The first step is to connect a local Studio site to an existing production or staging site on WordPress.com or Pressable. You can also create a new site on WordPress.com from the Studio interface:
- Select the site you wish to connect from the Studio sidebar.
- Open the Sync tab.
- Log in to WordPress.com if you haven't already.
- Click the "Connect site" button to see available sites.
- Select the site you want to connect to and confirm by clicking the Connect button.
- (Optional) Create a new site by clicking "Create a new WordPress.com site."
Pull content into Studio
Once your live site is connected in Studio, you can either pull content from the connected site into Studio or push content from your local environment back to the connected site.
Let's start with pulling content:
- Open the Sync tab for the site you want to synchronize (if you're not already there).
- Locate the connected WordPress.com or Pressable site you want to pull content from.
- Click Pull to open the sync modal.
- Choose to sync "All files and folders" or "Specific files and folders," then use the checkboxes to select what you want to include.
- Decide whether to include the Database in the sync.
- Click Pull to confirm and begin syncing.
The process may take some time, as a full backup of your live site will be created. Once complete, you'll be ready to start working locally in Studio.
Push content to a live site
Pushing content from Studio to a connected site follows a similar process to pulling, but with more control. You can choose individual plugins, themes, and other files to sync.
- Open the Sync tab for the site you want to synchronize (if you're not already there).
- Locate the connected WordPress.com or Pressable site you want to pull content from.
- Click Push to open the sync modal.
- Choose to sync "All files and folders" or "Specific files and folders," then use the checkboxes to select what you want to include. You can expand the plugins, themes, and uploads folders to select individual items.
- Decide whether to include the Database in the sync.
- Click Push to confirm and begin syncing.
As with pulling content, the process may take some time. A full backup of the connected site will be created before your local changes are applied. Once the sync is complete, you'll receive an email confirmation with a summary of what was transferred.
Pro tips for using Selective Sync
Selective Sync is built to streamline development, but there are a few key details to understand before getting started.
When pushing from Studio to a production or staging site, development-only files such as .git directories and node_modules folders are automatically excluded. These files remain local, keeping your live site clean and efficient.
As noted earlier, when pulling content into Studio, you can sync entire folders, such as all themes or all plugins, rather than selecting individual items. In contrast, when pushing to a live site, you can choose specific themes and plugins. We found this setup reflects the needs of most workflows, but we're always listening to feedback for future enhancements.
While Selective Sync covers many common scenarios, some projects may still require a more advanced deployment workflow. For those cases, GitHub Deployments on WordPress.com offers more control and works well alongside Studio for complex setups.
What's next for Studio?
Selective Sync is part of a broader effort to support the variety of workflows developers use every day. That work continues, especially within WordPress Playground, the foundation that powers Studio.
Upcoming enhancements include:
- XDebug support: One of the most requested additions, this will bring professional debugging capabilities to WordPress Studio. Follow along on GitHub.
- Performance improvements: Upcoming enhancements in WordPress Playground will make Studio even faster and more responsive.
Community feedback drives these priorities. The WordPress Studio GitHub repository is the central place to suggest features, report bugs, and contribute directly to the project. Every issue, comment, and pull request helps shape the future of Studio.
If this is your first time exploring WordPress Studio, or if it has been a while since you last tried it, now is a great time to take another look. Alongside Selective Sync, dozens of improvements have rolled out this year, with more still to come.
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