Sync WordPress sites between Local and Kinsta hosting — pull and push files and database, with automatic URL search-replace, safety backups, and rollback.
Community project. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by Kinsta Inc. or WP Engine. "Kinsta" and the Kinsta logo are trademarks of Kinsta Inc. Use at your own risk — see Safety nets for how the add-on protects your data.
- Pull from Kinsta — files + database from Production or Staging into your Local site
- Push to Kinsta — files + database from Local to Production or Staging
- Push preview with selective sync — a Magic Sync-style fullscreen diff before every push: see exactly which files will be added, updated or deleted, untick anything you don't want pushed, and choose between only newer files and all modified files
- Automatic search-replace —
https://,http://and protocol-relative URLs, multisite-aware,guidcolumn untouched - Safety first — local + remote database backups before every destructive step, optional native Kinsta backup before push, automatic rollback if a sync fails or is cancelled mid-import
- Live progress — real rsync progress, per-step status, cancellable at any time
- Cache clearing — clears Kinsta's page, edge and CDN caches after a push (and on demand)
- Site search — quickly find the right site even with 100+ sites on the account
Push preview — a Magic Sync-style fullscreen diff: pick the environment, untick any file, choose only newer vs all modified, then push.
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| Home — link status, environments, and recent sync history under More → Kinsta Sync. | Linking — search across every Kinsta site on your account. |
- macOS or Linux (Windows is not supported — the add-on shells out to
rsync/ssh) - Local 9.x or newer
- rsync — macOS ships with a limited rsync;
brew install rsyncis recommended for full live progress (everything works without it, you just get coarser progress) - A Kinsta account with:
- an API key (create with an expiry and rotate it periodically)
- your Company ID — found in your MyKinsta URL (
my.kinsta.com/?idCompany=<id>) or under MyKinsta → your username → Company settings → Billing details - your SSH key added to MyKinsta (file/database transfer runs over SSH)
- Download the latest
.tgzfrom Releases - In Local: Add-ons → Installed → Install from disk and pick the file
- Enable the add-on and relaunch Local when prompted
cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/Local/addons # macOS
# cd ~/.config/Local/addons # Linux
git clone https://github.com/landerss0n/local-addon-kinsta.git
cd local-addon-kinsta
npm install
npm run buildRestart Local, then enable Kinsta Sync under Add-ons → Installed.
- Connect your account — Local → Preferences → Kinsta Sync: paste your API key and Company ID, click Connect. The key is validated against the Kinsta API before anything is stored.
- Link a site — open a site in Local → More → Kinsta Sync → Link site, search and pick the matching Kinsta site.
- Pull or Push — from the same page. Pick the environment (Production/Staging) and what to sync (files / database) per run. Push always starts with a preview of exactly what will change on the server.
Sites are linked at the site level, so you can sync against Production one time and Staging the next without relinking. A status badge in the site's top-right corner shows the link state and live sync progress.
Pull (Kinsta → Local): rsync files → back up the local database → export the remote database over SSH (WP-CLI) → import into Local's MySQL → search-replace URLs (3 passes: https://, http://, //).
Push (Local → Kinsta): opens a fullscreen preview — a dry-run diff of every file that would be added, updated or deleted on the server. Pick the environment, what to include (database / uploads / native Kinsta backup) and untick any files or deletions you don't want, then push: confirmation dialog for Production → (optional, default on) create a native Kinsta backup → back up the remote database to ~/kinsta-sync-pre-push-backup.sql on the server → rsync exactly the files you selected → delete only the deletions you ticked (nothing is deleted blindly) → export the Local database → import on Kinsta → search-replace → clear Kinsta page/edge/CDN caches.
Excluded from file sync: .git, node_modules, caches, SQL dumps, wp-config.php, .htaccess, Kinsta's mu-plugins and other host-specific files.
- Before a pull, the local database is backed up to a temp file (kept until the next pull).
- Before a push, the remote database is exported to
~/kinsta-sync-pre-push-backup.sqlon the Kinsta server, outside the web root. - Native Kinsta backup before push (checkbox, default on): creates a manual backup via the Kinsta API and waits for it to finish — if it can't be created, the push is aborted. Kinsta allows max 5 manual backups per environment; the add-on only ever deletes its own old backups (tagged
kinsta-sync) to free a slot, never yours. - Automatic rollback: if a sync fails or is cancelled after the database import started, the respective backup is restored automatically — you're never left with a half-imported database. (Pushed file changes and deletions can't be rolled back — only the database.)
- No blind deletes on push: files are never deleted on the server unless you explicitly ticked them in the push preview.
- Production pushes always require an explicit confirmation.
- Your API key never leaves your machine except in HTTPS requests to
api.kinsta.com. It is encrypted at rest with Electron'ssafeStorage(backed by the macOS Keychain / OS credential store) and is never shown in the UI after entry — only a mask. - SSH uses your existing keys/agent — the add-on stores no SSH credentials and no passwords.
- No shell strings — every external command (
rsync,ssh,mysql,wp) is spawned with argument arrays, so site names and paths can't be used for command injection. - No telemetry — the add-on talks to the Kinsta API and your Kinsta SSH host. Nothing else, ever.
wp-config.phpis modified temporarily during database import (to use Local's MySQL socket) and always restored — including crash recovery via a.kinsta-sync-bakcopy.
Stored locally (in Local's app-data directory under addons-data/kinsta-sync/): the encrypted API key, your Company ID, site links with last-sync timestamps, and temporary SQL dumps.
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| No live file-progress during sync | brew install rsync (macOS ships openrsync, which can't report totals) |
| Push preview shows file names without sizes/change type | brew install rsync — openrsync lacks the itemize flags, so the preview falls back to a name-only list |
| "The local site must be running for database sync" | Start the site in Local first — DB import needs its MySQL socket |
| SSH errors during sync | Make sure your SSH key is added in MyKinsta and the environment has SSH access enabled |
| Kinsta backup step skipped | All 5 manual backup slots are taken by your own backups — delete one in MyKinsta |
| "N file(s) were skipped" warning after sync | Those files have names in a legacy encoding (e.g. Latin-1 åäö) that macOS can't store. Everything else synced. Fix permanently by renaming the files on the server (and updating any references) |
npm install
npm run build # main + renderer
npm run watch # rebuild on change (renderer hot-reloads; main needs a Local restart)See CLAUDE.md for architecture notes, the hooks used, and findings about Local's add-on API (including why a native Connect-tab integration isn't possible).
MIT