Working with staging clones
Spin up a sandbox copy of your site, work in it, promote when ready.
3 min read
Staging clones on shared hosting are available on Pro and above. Use them to test plugin updates, theme changes, or schema migrations without risking the live site.
Create a clone from your service page: Apps → Staging → New clone. The clone runs at a subdomain we generate (something like `staging-x9y2z.vintonyhost-staging.com`) and inherits the database, files, and configuration at the moment of cloning.
While you work in staging, the live site is untouched. The two databases diverge; we don't sync changes back automatically because real-world workflows almost always need manual diff-review.
When you're ready to promote, click Promote. We swap the staging filesystem and database into production atomically — typical downtime is under 30 seconds. The previous production state is kept as a 'previous-prod' snapshot for 14 days, restorable in one click if anything's wrong.
Don't use staging as a long-term clone; charges apply per active clone after 14 days. Treat it as a place to do work, not a permanent second environment.