External theme folder?

DevKinsta Feature Requests
1

We are considering switching from WPEngine/LocalWP to Kinsta but have a question about our workflow.

Environment Setup

I use TailPress for my WordPress themes, then I use a GitHub action to compile and zip my theme. We then install that theme on the production site. This means our production environment only has a compiled and bundled theme.

With DevKinsta, if I pull down a site, it will be the compiled theme folder. Currently with LocalWP, since its not containerized, I use a symlink to put my dev theme folder into my localsite folder.

With this, my dev code never gets overwritten when doing a pull. I made a LocalWP addon to automatically do the symlinking for me and that process works great.

I’m concerned with our dev workflow with Kinsta and how to achieve something similar. The main reason for putting the theme in an external folder is so that pulls don’t wipe out any work you had in your theme.

Dev Kinsta Addons?
Is there anyway to build an “addon” for DevKinsta and hook into on push/on pull. I probably can get away with keeping the theme folders in a shared docker folder, but its super nice not having to manually recreate symlinks everytime I pull a site.

Curious if the Kinsta team can give any suggestions on how to handle this where our production site doesnt include our dev theme files.

Local WP Addon
Just to give some more insight, my LocalWP addon lets me pick a theme dev folder. I can then click a relink button to generate the symlink should it get overwritten. Makes it super fast and easy and LocalWP doesnt push symlinks so the dev theme is never uploaded to production.

image

With multiple team members and themes in git, having a dev theme folder get pushed to production causes a lot of issues.

3

Hi @Joe_Jankowiak :waving_hand:

Welcome to the Kinsta Community.

When the Files and Database are checked to perform a Pull site action to Devkinsta, unfortunately, the action will override any custom folders or files that exist in Devkinsta.

To circumvent this limitation, you can keep your theme dev code indeed in a shared Docker folder or locally outside DevKinsta. Then perhaps create a Bash script to manually sync the theme folder to the DevKinsta site theme directory after the DevKinsta Pull action.

I will also submit a feature request for a “Dev Kinsta Addons” feature, similar to what Local offers. However, I cannot guarantee a timeline or promise that it will be implemented.

Let us know if you need any further clarification or have other questions. :slightly_smiling_face: