Publish WordPress Studio site to my own domain

  • Unknown's avatar
    starcopysnc · Member ·

    I built my local site with WordPress Studio (thanks to whoever helped me reinstall it, everything went smoothly!), and now I’d like to publish it; but I didn’t realize the direct publishing feature is only designed for WordPress.com. I already have my own domain with a standard WordPress installation, and that’s where I’d like to publish the site.

    I thought the “Export” feature might be right for me, but from what I’m reading here there seems to be some issues: https://wordpress.org/support/topic/studio-by-wordpress-to-hosting-migration/

    What do you suggest for the least amount of hassle? :D

  • Unknown's avatar
    james3265166 · Member ·

    The reason you’re seeing issues in that thread is because WordPress Studio uses a local SQLite database, while live hosting servers rely on MySQL/MariaDB, making standard database migrations crash. To bypass this database incompatibility with the absolute least amount of hassle, install the All-in-One WP Migration plugin on your local Studio site, export your site as a ‘File’, and download the resulting .wpress package. Then, go to your live WordPress site, install the same plugin, and import that file. This specific plugin handles the complex SQLite-to-MySQL translation automatically behind the scenes, ensuring your layout, text, and media library move over perfectly without breaking your site’s structure. Just remember to go to Settings > Permalinks and click ‘Save Changes’ twice on the live site after the import is complete to lock in your live URLs!

  • Unknown's avatar
    starcopysnc · Member ·

    Thank you @james3265166, I’ll try it! I already have a temporary theme and some plugins installed on my live site, do I have to delete them before importing the .wpress file?

  • melvend5 · Staff ·

    Hi @starcopysnc,

    James’ suggestion is a good one. Since your Studio site is local and uses SQLite, a migration plugin like All-in-One WP Migration is probably one of the easier ways to move it over to a regular WordPress site using MySQL/MariaDB.

    For the temporary theme and plugins on the live site, you usually do not need to delete them first. When you import the .wpress file, it will generally replace what’s currently on the live site and bring over the content, media, themes, plugins, and settings from your Studio site.

    That said, I’d definitely recommend making a full backup of the live site before importing, just in case there’s anything there you may want to keep.

    After the import finishes, (depends on your plan)you may also want to go to Settings > Permalinks and click Save Changes to refresh the site’s permalink structure.

    So in short: if the live site only has placeholder content, a temporary theme, and temporary plugins, you should be fine importing over it. Just back it up first to be safe.

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