Plugins break sites. Sequences save them.
See everything first: wp plugin list, then only what needs updates.
A safe plugin update is one block:
- wp db export
- wp plugin update –all — free plugins update, the paid one fails with “Unauthorized”
- From a folder: zip -rq /tmp/pay-gateway.zip pay-gateway-pro/
- From a file: wp plugin install /tmp/pay-gateway.zip –force –activate
- Verify: wp plugin get pay-gateway-pro –field=version
- wp cache flush
Update. Recover. Verify.
wp-admin shows “There has been a critical error on this website”? WP-CLI still works: wp plugin deactivate broken-plugin –skip-plugins
Practice Cases: real workflows built with WP-CLI commands — not isolated examples, but full sequences that solve actual problems. We built a WP-CLI practice terminal. Break nothing.
Go deeper
- Full guide: 4wp.dev/wp-cli