Request-selected WordPress overlay environments for sandboxes.

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What is Rudel?

Rudel is a WordPress plugin for running disposable overlay sandboxes inside one normal WordPress installation.

A sandbox is selected per request with a trusted header, Rudel cookie, or CLI environment variable. Once selected, Rudel switches WordPress to that sandbox's cloned database tables and copied active theme. Host WordPress core, plugins, uploads, and users remain shared by default.

Rudel does not require multisite. It does not use SQLite. Runtime metadata is stored only in host WordPress MySQL tables.

Requirements

• PHP 8.2+
• WordPress 6.4+
• MySQL/MariaDB through the normal WordPress database connection
• write access to wp-config.php during initial runtime bootstrap installation

Quick Start

composer require rudel/rudel
wp plugin activate rudel
wp rudel status

Create a sandbox:

wp rudel create --name=alpha --theme=twentytwentyfour

Run WP-CLI against a sandbox:

RUDEL_ENVIRONMENT=alpha-1234 wp option get siteurl

Route an HTTP request to a sandbox:

curl -H 'X-Rudel-Environment: alpha-1234' http://localhost:8000/

Runtime Model

Every Rudel environment is a sandbox overlay:

• Each sandbox has its own WordPress table prefix, for example wp_a4nmv7_.
• Each sandbox gets a copied active theme under wp-content/rudel-environments/{id}/themes/{theme}.
• Child themes keep their parent template relationship; Rudel copies the child and parent theme directories when the selected active theme is a child theme.
• Plugins and uploads are intentionally shared from the host WordPress installation.
• Users are intentionally shared for now through the normal WordPress users tables.
• Request selection controls whether WordPress uses host state or one sandbox's state.

The selected sandbox does not replace WP_CONTENT_DIR. Rudel overrides the active theme root for the selected theme and switches the WordPress table prefix before core finishes booting.

Runtime State

Rudel stores operational metadata in WordPress tables:

• wp_rudel_environments
• wp_rudel_worktrees

Those tables are the source of truth for sandbox identity, worktrees, lifecycle policy, snapshots, and cleanup metadata.

Sandbox site data lives in cloned WordPress tables using the sandbox prefix. Rudel metadata tables always live in the host WordPress database. There is no runtime JSON config and no per-sandbox SQLite database.

WP-CLI Surface

• wp rudel create
• wp rudel list
• wp rudel info
• wp rudel update
• wp rudel destroy
• wp rudel status
• wp rudel cleanup
• wp rudel logs
• wp rudel snapshot
• wp rudel restore
• wp rudel template save
• wp rudel template list
• wp rudel template delete
• wp rudel push

Standalone Core Access

Rudel's registry can be inspected outside a WordPress request with a direct MySQL connection. Standalone mode is for metadata and registry access: list environments, inspect worktrees, and read lifecycle state.

Operations that clone WordPress tables, copy themes, install the bootstrap, or execute live sandbox lifecycle still require WordPress because they depend on the active WordPress database connection and filesystem layout.

Development

composer install
npm install

composer cs
composer stan
composer test

bash tests/e2e/run-all.sh
node scripts/check-docs-content.mjs
bash tests/run-all.sh

Documentation

Full documentation lives as portable Markdown in docs/.

License

GPL-2.0-or-later