Install WP-CLI for better WordPress management

When managing a WordPress site, most people rely on the WordPress admin dashboard. While it works well, it can feel slow and limited when you need to perform repetitive or bulk tasks. That’s where WP-CLI comes in — a powerful command-line tool that makes WordPress management faster, more efficient, and scriptable.

What is WP-CLI

WP-CLI (WordPress Command Line Interface) is an open-source tool that lets you control and manage your WordPress website directly from the terminal. Instead of clicking through the dashboard, you can run commands to update plugins, manage users, export data, and much more.

It’s especially useful for developers, sysadmins, and agencies managing multiple sites, as it enables automation and integration with server scripts or deployment workflows.

Key Features of WP-CLI

Here are some of the most useful things you can do with WP-CLI. For a complete list of available commands, check the official documentation.

Command	Description
wp core update	Updates WordPress to a newer version.
wp plugin list	Gets a list of plugins.
wp plugin update --all	Updates all plugins.
wp cache flush	Flushes the object cache.
wp db export	Exports the database to a file.

Each command includes a set of parameters that you can combine to perform more specific tasks.

How to Install WP-CLI

First, download wp-cli.phar using wget or curl. For example:

sudo curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wp-cli/builds/gh-pages/phar/wp-cli.phar

Move the downloaded file to /usr/local/bin/wp:

sudo mv wp-cli.phar /usr/local/bin/wp

Make that file executable:

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/wp

To confirm that the installation was successful, run the following command to view WP-CLI details:

wp --info

If you see something like this, then your installation was successful:

OS:	Linux...
Shell:	/bin/bash
PHP binary:	/usr/bin/php...
PHP version:	...
php.ini used:	/etc/php/...
MySQL binary:	/usr/bin/...
MySQL version:	...
SQL modes:
WP-CLI root dir:	phar://wp-cli.phar/vendor/wp-cli/wp-cli
WP-CLI vendor dir:	phar://wp-cli.phar/vendor
WP_CLI phar path:	phar:///usr/local/bin/wp
WP-CLI packages dir:
WP-CLI cache dir:	/home/ubuntu/.wp-cli/cache
WP-CLI global config:
WP-CLI project config:
WP-CLI version:	2.12.0

How to Use WP-CLI

To use WP-CLI, you must navigate to your WordPress installation directory first by using cd command. For example:

cd /var/www/public/wordpress

Then, you can begin to use wp commands from there.

Done. Now you’re ready to use WP-CLI to manage your WordPress site like a pro.