Roadie Multisite

A WordPress network keeps every site's tables in one database (wp_options, wp_2_options, wp_11_options) plus the network's own (wp_blogs, wp_site, wp_sitemeta, wp_signups). Roadie copies the whole network or chosen sites, gives each site's host its staging host and points the network's constants at staging. This page covers subdomain and subdirectory networks, mapped domains and copying some sites only.

What changes

The multisite profile adds the network tables to the WordPress rules: blogs.domain and path and site.domain get their staging hosts, sitemeta has its admin_email and siteurl rewritten and its site_admins logins faked, signups (email, login, meta), registration_log (email, IP) and blogmeta are pseudonymised. Every rule written {prefix}{site}... applies to each site's tables, so wp_2_comments and wp_11_comments are covered as wp_comments is (and wp_1_ is never confused with wp_11_). Plugins' profiles apply per site the same way: WooCommerce on site 3 only is found on site 3. rhythm roadie profiles multisite lists the rules.

On a site target the kill switch also sets DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE and PATH_CURRENT_SITE in wp-config.php to the staging URL's host (with any port) and path, in the same step that rewrites WP_HOME and WP_SITEURL. The plan for a copy into a staging network whose wp-config.php still names production's host (here without a terminal, so plain):

FILE EDITS  12
- wp-config.php: WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE is already 'staging'
- wp-config.php: define( 'DISABLE_WP_CRON', true );
- wp-content/mu-plugins/roadie-staging.php: woocommerce_subscriptions_is_duplicate_site returns true; wc_subscriptions_siteurl left as it is
- wp-config.php: DOMAIN_CURRENT_SITE to staging.shop.test
- wp-config.php: PATH_CURRENT_SITE to /
- wp-config.php: the eight salts (AUTH_KEY to NONCE_SALT) regenerated, 64 random characters each
...

Subdomains and mapped domains

The example network has three sites: shop.example.com, fr.shop.example.com and a shop on its own domain, gifts.example.net:

(1,1,'shop.example.com','/',...),(2,1,'fr.shop.example.com','/',...),(3,1,'gifts.example.net','/',...)

A subsite under production's host maps by suffix: fr.shop.example.com becomes fr.staging.shop.test without being asked. A mapped domain can't be guessed, so the copy stops before a write until you name its staging host:

rhythm roadie copy --from prod.sql --to staging.sql --url https://staging.shop.test

url-map: gifts.example.net has no staging URL; add --url-map gifts.example.net=gifts.staging.shop.test.

rhythm-roadie explain url-map

Exit 2. With the map, the plan names every site:

rhythm roadie plan --from prod.sql --to staging.sql --url https://staging.shop.test --url-map gifts.example.net=gifts.staging.shop.test

  ♪ rhythm roadie 1.0.0                                 plan · nothing changes
  ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

  ▸ Source        prod.sql (40.5 KB, 12 tables)
  ▸ Target        staging.sql
  ▸ Stack         WordPress multisite (3 sites) + WooCommerce
  ▸ URLs          shop.example.com (and 2 more) → https://staging.shop.test
                  (serialized and JSON safe)
  ▸ Consistency   per-run key: each real person gets one fake, across every
                  table

  DATA  12 tables ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

    wp_2_comments                    25 rows   comment_author,
                                               comment_author_IP,
                                               comment_author_email → fake;
                                               comment_content → URLs
                                               rewritten
    wp_2_options                      5 rows   option_value → URLs rewritten
    wp_3_comments                    25 rows   comment_author,
                                               comment_author_IP,
                                               comment_author_email → fake;
                                               comment_content → URLs
                                               rewritten
    wp_3_options                      5 rows   option_value → URLs rewritten
    wp_3_wc_order_addresses          25 rows   address_1, city, email,
                                               first_name, last_name, phone,
                                               postcode → fake
    wp_3_wc_orders                   25 rows   billing_email, ip_address →
                                               fake
    wp_blogs                          3 rows   domain → URLs rewritten
    wp_comments                      25 rows   comment_author,
                                               comment_author_IP,
                                               comment_author_email → fake;
                                               comment_content → URLs
                                               rewritten
    wp_options                        5 rows   option_value → URLs rewritten
    wp_site                            1 row   domain → URLs rewritten
    · ... 2 more (rhythm-roadie plan -v lists them)

  ALSO ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

    · 93 production URLs rewritten in 9 tables
...
 ╭────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
 │  PLAN   ready: nothing changes until you run copy  │
 ╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

The copy passes and the network's hosts are the staging's:

  ✓ Data           728 values pseudonymised in 12 tables, 93 URLs rewritten
  ✓ Keys           no live keys found
  ✓ Written        staging.sql (40.7 KB)
...
 │  PASS   staging.shop.test is a pseudonymised copy  │

INSERT INTO `wp_blogs` VALUES (1,1,'staging.shop.test','/',...),(2,1,'fr.staging.shop.test','/',...),(3,1,'gifts.staging.shop.test','/',...)

Put the map in the config so every refresh uses it:

url: https://staging.shop.test
url_map: {"gifts.example.net": "gifts.staging.shop.test"}

A staging network on subdomains needs a wildcard DNS entry and certificate for *.staging.shop.test (or one per subsite), as production has. Roadie reads the network's hosts from wp_blogs, wp_site and wp_sitemeta in any order a dump writes them.

Subdirectories

A subdirectory network (shop.example.com/fr/) has one host, so --url covers every site: /fr/ stays /fr/ under the staging host. A staging under a path (https://staging.agency.test/shop/) sets PATH_CURRENT_SITE to /shop/.

Some sites only

--site <id> (repeatable) copies only those sites. The other sites' tables are dropped from the copy, never copied, so their customers don't reach staging; users are limited to members of the chosen sites plus the super admins. The plan says which tables go:

rhythm roadie plan --from subdir.sql --to sub-staging.sql --url https://staging.shop.test --site 2

DATA  13 tables
wp_11_comments (30 rows): left out of the copy
wp_11_options (5 rows): left out of the copy
wp_2_comments (40 rows): comment_author, comment_author_IP, comment_author_email → fake; comment_content → URLs rewritten
wp_2_options (5 rows): option_value → URLs rewritten
wp_2_wc_order_addresses (40 rows): address_1, city, email, first_name, last_name, phone, postcode → fake
wp_2_wc_orders (40 rows): billing_email, ip_address → fake
wp_blogs (3 rows): domain → URLs rewritten
wp_comments (30 rows): comment_author, comment_author_IP, comment_author_email → fake; comment_content → URLs rewritten
wp_options (5 rows): option_value → URLs rewritten
wp_site (1 row): domain → URLs rewritten
- ... 3 more (rhythm-roadie plan -v lists them)

(That plan ran without a terminal, so it is plain text.) The main site's tables stay: the network needs them to boot.

Verify on a network

verify scans every site's tables and reports findings by table, so wp_3_wc_orders.billing_email names the site. url.production covers every production host of the network, mapped domains included, once they are in production: or the source's wp_blogs.

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