CanaryWP Testing Environments

Source site vs CanaryWP instance

• Source WordPress site: the original site, usually live or production.
• CanaryWP testing environment: the imported copy running on a CanaryWP URL.
• Archive: the backup file used to create the testing copy.

Why the distinction matters

The testing environment is safe for verification, updates, and destructive cleanup. The source site is not changed by deleting or stopping the CanaryWP instance.

Instance lifecycle

• Creating means CanaryWP is restoring or provisioning the environment.
• Running means the instance can be opened and tested.
• Stopped means compute is not active, but the environment still exists.
• Deleting removes the testing environment and its instance-owned resources.

Best practice

Make changes only in the CanaryWP URL unless you intentionally move them back to production through your normal WordPress release process.