If you've been developing your WordPress site locally using tools like XAMPP, MAMP, WampServer, or Local, the next step to making it live is requesting a migration to our servers. This article will guide you through the initial phase of preparing your site for migration, which includes exporting your files and database. Once you’ve completed these steps and submitted the migration request, our team will take over to ensure a seamless transition, so you can focus on what matters most —your website.

For some time, the easiest way to create a WordPress installation has been Local and this means that it is also extremely simple to get a backup of your site if you use this solution. Local allows you to generate a backup of your entire site including web files and database with just a few clicks. To do this, simply select your site and click the “three dots” icon next to the site’s title, then click Export:

You will then be asked to add the extensions that you want to exclude from the export. We recommend that if you have already installed backup plugins and backup files already exist in your WordPress installation, add their extension here to prevent the final export from growing too large in size. Finally, click Export Site:

The resulting file will contain the database and all web files. At this time, you can proceed to upload this file using SFTP and submit the migration request.

Detailed step by step instructions are available in this article from our Help Center:

How to use SFTP for Secure File Transfer
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For all the other tools mentioned previously such as XAMPP, MAMP and WampServer, please follow the next steps:

The first thing you need to do is locate your WordPress installation on your disk. To do this, go to WordPress > Tools > Site Health, then click Info, expand Directories and Sizes, and you will see where your files are located.

Navigate to the location of the directory containing the files and select it. Then, right-click, choose Compress to, and click ZIP File. These instructions are very similar for macOS users.

Your website files are now compressed into a single file and are ready to be uploaded via SFTP.

Now we need to export the database. Depending on the platform you’re using, you can access phpMyAdmin in different ways:

With XAMPP, just click the Admin button, and phpMyAdmin will open in your browser:

Alternatively, you can open your browser and navigate to http://localhost/phpmyadmin

For WampServer, go to your system tray, click the WampServer icon, select phpMyAdmin, and then click phpMyAdmin again. This will open phpMyAdmin in your web browser.

In MAMP, click Open WebStart page:

This will open MAMP’s start page in your browser. Now click TOOLS > PHPMYADMIN.

In phpMyAdmin, select your database, go to the Export tab, ensure the export method is set to Quick and the format is SQL. Finally, click Export. Your browser will then download a copy of your database in .sql format.

At this point, you should have an archive or backup of your files as well as a backup of your database. It’s time to upload them to your Rapyd server using SFTP.

Detailed step by step instructions are available in this article from our Help Center:

How to use SFTP for Secure File Transfer

Now that you have exported your files and database, you’re ready to upload them to our Rapyd server using SFTP. Don’t forget to submit your migration request through our official form after the upload. With these steps completed, you’ll be well on your way to having your website up and running on Rapyd!