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WordPress Playground lets you run a temporary WordPress site at playground.wordpress.net, directly in a supported browser. You can open the dashboard, install themes and plugins, build pages, save the site in browser storage, or export a ZIP for use on another Playground. It is ideal for learning, demonstrations and development experiments—not a guaranteed permanent public website.
Start WordPress Playground
- Open playground.wordpress.net in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge or another supported Chromium-based browser.
- Wait for the clean WordPress site to finish loading. When browser storage is available, the new Playground is autosaved.
- To create a clean site from the interface, open the Dock and choose New → Blueprint gallery → Vanilla WordPress.
- Use the address field inside Playground to visit your site, such as
/wp-admin/for the WordPress dashboard.
The runtime is streamed to and executed in your browser rather than installed on a permanent internet server. The official quick-start documentation covers the initial setup and dashboard workflow in detail: Start using WordPress Playground in 5 minutes.
Use the WordPress dashboard normally
Once /wp-admin/ loads, WordPress works much like a conventional installation. Create pages and posts, change settings, upload media, and test themes or plugins from the dashboard. For a quick experiment, manual dashboard setup is usually simpler than writing a Blueprint.
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You can install directory themes and plugins from the dashboard. The quick-start guide also documents URL parameters that preinstall items before or during startup; repeat the documented parameter when you need more than one item. Use those parameters for reproducible demonstrations, but verify behavior in the dashboard because a third-party plugin may depend on services that are unavailable in a browser-only runtime.
Keep expectations realistic
WordPress features that require a continuously reachable server—such as some email delivery, analytics, automation, sharing and backup integrations—may not behave as they would on public hosting. Playground is best for trying a feature or preparing a configuration, not for validating every production integration.
Choose how your work is saved
The Dock shows whether the current state is Autosaved, Saved or Unsaved. These labels describe different levels of safety:
Rank #2
| Method | What it provides | Best use | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autosave | Up to five recent recovery points, according to the documentation updated September 17, 2026. | Recovering from a recent mistake or reload | Short-term recovery, not an archive or backup |
| Store permanently | Saves the Playground in browser storage or, where supported, a local directory. | Continuing in the same browser profile | Browser storage can disappear through storage pressure, private-browsing behavior, profile changes or cleared site data; local-directory storage depends on the File System Access API |
| Export → Download as .zip | A portable copy containing current files, database, plugins, themes, uploads and edits. | Archiving work or moving it to another browser | You must create a new export when you make later changes |
| GitHub export | Selected files can be sent to a GitHub pull request from the Dock. | Development handoff and version-control review | Requires the relevant GitHub action and access; it is not the same as a full public hosting deployment |
If the work matters beyond the current browser session, download a ZIP. Browser persistence is convenient, but it is not a dependable portable backup.
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Export and restore a complete site
- Open the Playground Dock and choose Export → Download as .zip.
- Keep the downloaded archive somewhere outside the browser profile.
- When you need to continue elsewhere, open a new Playground and choose New → Import zip.
- Select the archive and wait for WordPress to rebuild the saved files and database.
A copied setup link recreates the original setup instructions, not edits made afterward. Use a ZIP when you need the current content, settings and uploaded files.
Rank #3
Use a Blueprint for repeatable setups
A Blueprint is a JSON configuration describing how Playground should be created. It is useful when a class, tutorial, demo or test needs the same plugins, theme, content and steps every time. You can start from the Blueprint gallery, write or edit JSON, use a public Blueprint URL, place configuration in a URL fragment, or call the Blueprint API. See Using Blueprints.
Loading a remote Blueprint
A public remote Blueprint must be reachable by Playground as a JSON resource or supported ZIP bundle. The server must allow the browser to fetch it with suitable cross-origin access. A normal repository’s HTML page is not the JSON file Playground needs; use the repository’s raw resource URL or another endpoint that returns the actual Blueprint data.
Blueprint-specific technical details
- When a Blueprint
runPHPstep calls WordPress-specific PHP functions, loadwp-load.phpfirst. - Blueprints configure a setup; they do not replace a ZIP export when you need to preserve later edits and uploaded content.
- For a one-off trial, opening Playground and using the dashboard is faster than creating a Blueprint.
Understand browser and hosting limits
The official limitations page lists Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge among supported desktop browsers and describes the project as designed for major desktop and mobile browsers. Support is not identical on every platform. In particular, local-directory storage may be unavailable where the File System Access API is not supported; browser storage and ZIP export are alternatives. Read the current Limitations page for feature-specific restrictions, including iframe navigation and popup quirks and partial WP-CLI command coverage.
Playground runs locally in the browser and is not uploaded unless you choose an action such as exporting to GitHub. Nevertheless, the public demo is not promised to remain available indefinitely or to handle unlimited traffic. The project documentation recommends hosting a Playground yourself when availability is a requirement; its architectural explanation is in About WordPress Playground.
Quick Recap
A practical workflow
- Explore: open the web instance and use New → Blueprint gallery → Vanilla WordPress for a clean starting point.
- Build: work in
/wp-admin/; install the theme or plugins needed for the experiment. - Protect: use Store permanently for same-browser continuity and download a ZIP for anything you cannot recreate.
- Repeat: turn a stable setup into a Blueprint when others need to launch the same configuration.
- Hand off: import the ZIP with New → Import zip, or export selected files to a GitHub pull request for a development workflow.
- Deploy appropriately: move to conventional WordPress hosting—or host Playground yourself—when the site must have a dependable public address, integrations or uptime.
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