Blueprints

Blueprints define the WordPress state applied when SpawnWP creates a site. They do not change the container architecture: every site still receives isolated nginx, PHP, MariaDB, Mailpit and Adminer services.

Built-in blueprints

Blueprint	Result
Development (default)	Empty site with WP_DEBUG, Plugin Check, Theme Check, Query Monitor, WP Crontrol, User Switching and the Dev toolkit
Clean	Empty WordPress without sample content, development plugins, Dev toolkit or debug mode
Demo	Presentable starter with Home, About and Contact pages, a static homepage and a Primary menu

Choose the blueprint and PHP version from the catalog on the cockpit's Deploy page. The blueprint controls which PHP versions it permits. WordPress is latest in schema v1.

Each site stores the exact resolved manifest at:

/srv/<site>/.spawnwp/blueprint.json

The cockpit displays its blueprint ID and version. Updating a blueprint affects only sites created afterward; SpawnWP never reapplies it automatically to an existing site.

Custom blueprints

Place custom JSON manifests in /etc/spawnwp/blueprints.d/. The filename must match the blueprint ID, for example plugin-review.json:

{
  "schema_version": 1,
  "id": "plugin-review",
  "name": "Plugin review",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "A focused environment for reviewing a WordPress.org plugin.",
  "php": {"default": "8.3", "allowed": ["7.4", "8.2", "8.3", "8.4"]},
  "wordpress": "latest",
  "debug": true,
  "plugins": ["plugin-check", "query-monitor"],
  "theme": null,
  "devkit": true,
  "content_preset": "empty"
}

Plugin and theme values must be WordPress.org slugs. Supported content presets are empty and demo. Unknown fields, duplicate IDs, arbitrary URLs and executable hooks are rejected. Invalid custom manifests are ignored and reported by the cockpit without hiding valid blueprints.

Validate the catalog from the server with:

/srv/wp-dev/scripts/blueprint.py list
/srv/wp-dev/scripts/blueprint.py resolve plugin-review --php 8.4

PHP 7.4 is available only as a legacy compatibility runtime for retrofitting and testing old code. It is end-of-life, must not be a blueprint default, and should not be used for new or public production sites. SpawnWP still installs the current WordPress release in this runtime rather than the obsolete core bundled with the old upstream PHP image.

Warning

Installing a plugin or theme is part of the site transaction. If WordPress.org is unavailable or a slug cannot be installed, creation fails and SpawnWP removes the partial containers, volumes, directory and nginx routes.