What You Need To Know To Easily Setup A WordPress Site

Stop “cowboy coding.” This is how to easily build WordPress sites locally for free with Local.

Because you do not want to make a “quick” change to a live WordPress site, hit save, and suddenly get the White Screen of Death.

Then your heart drops, your client is calling, or your boss is pinging non-stop Slack messages, while you’re frantically trying to undo a semicolon you misplaced in functions.php 😬

All that apparently has a name: “Cowboy Coding.” It’s the act of editing code directly on a live server without a safety net.

While it may seem fast, it’s a recipe for disaster that ultimately increases long-term costs and technical debt.

The better way? Building on your own machine first!

Today, we’re setting up a local environment using Local (formerly Local by Flywheel).

It’s the tool I used to set up a local THT instance because it’s the most beginner-friendly way to develop WordPress without the headache of managing servers like MAMP or XAMPP.

Tip 👇
You can setup a local WordPress in various ways including using Docker or Lando. As long as you can get Apache (web server), MySQL (database), and PHP stack on your computer, you’re good. Local, however, streamlines a lot of processes that come with managing the WordPress admin and keeping a local database in “sync”.

Why Work Locally? (Especially for Headless!)

Think of using Local like an architect building a scale model. You can test wild designs in a private space where it costs $0 to fix a collapse.

This is essential if you’re working on a headless design (where WordPress acts as a data source for a React or Next.js front-end) due to:

• Safe GraphQL Testing: If you need to register new GraphQL types, you’re going to hit errors. You want those errors on your laptop, not on the live API.
• No “Database Litter”: You often need to create dozens of “Test Post #42” entries to see how your layout handles data. Local keeps that junk out of your production database.

Or, if you just want to create your own custom theme, trad WordPress style, you can go all out, testing variations that may break (or make) your site.

Step-by-Step: Setting Up Your First Site

1. Installation

Download Local from localwp.com. While MAMP is an alternative, Local is built specifically for WordPress and handles most of the “server magic” for you.

Tip ⚠️
Some company VPNs may be picky with apps and restrict use of Local or MAMP. In such a case, I’ve found Docker as a good, versatile alternative.

2. Importing an Existing Site

If you aren’t starting from scratch and want to clone a live site, don’t worry—it’s just a ZIP file away:

• The Manual Way: Download your wp-content folder via FTP and export your SQL database from phpMyAdmin. Compress them together into a single .zip file.
• The Easy Way: Use a migration plugin (like All-in-One WP Migration) to generate a backup file.
• The Magic: Just drag and drop that ZIP file directly into the Local window. It’ll handle the rest.

3. WordPress Credentials & The “Easy Login” Hack

Set your Admin Username and Password.

Tip 🤓
For local work, we often create a specific user like tht.local with a simple password like mylocal. If the WordPress dashboard blocks you for using a “weak” password, don’t fight the UI! Jump into the Database tab in Local, open your users table (via Adminer or Sequel Pro), and swap it there. Just remember to grant yourself Admin privileges or you’ll be locked out of the settings you actually need to fix 😅

Troubleshooting: The “Missing Image” Mystery

One issue we ran into: the site was up, the media gallery looked full, but none of the images would actually load on the page 🕵️‍♂️

If this happens to you, it’s usually because the database is still trying to find the images at yourlivesite.com instead of your local URL.

The Fix: Open your wp-config.php file and ensure these two lines are pointing to your local address:

define( 'WP_HOME', '<http://mysite.local>' );
define( 'WP_SITEURL', '<http://mysite.local>' );

Pro THT Workflows

• One-Click Admin: Toggle this on in the site overview to bypass the login screen.
• Blueprints: Right-click your site and “Save as Blueprint” to package your favorite themes and plugins for the next project.
• Live Links: Use the “Live Links” feature to generate a temporary URL to show a client your progress without needing a staging server. (This is low-key gold!)

It’s a Wrap

That’s pretty much it! You just moved from “Cowboy Coder” to “Professional Dev.”

By working locally, you’ve given yourself the freedom to fail and experiment without pressure.

What we learned:

1. Local > Live: Always build features where they can’t break anything.
2. Headless requires a sandbox: Testing GraphQL types and test content is much cleaner locally.
3. Config is King: If images break, check your wp-config.php constants first.

As a next step, try setting up a local site and connecting it to a basic React app via the WP-JSON API.

Or, go ahead and build that custom theme you’ve been searching for but finding nowhere. You can even sell it and make this a passive income source 💡

Get your creative juices flowing ⚡️