wp-data

wp-data — reading and writing WP with wp-cli

Inspect first, mutate deliberately, verify the write. Everything goes through cwp wp <args> (raw wp-cli) plus cwp meta-read / cwp meta-write for meta. See wp-connect for the connection.

Inspect

cwp wp post list --post_type=page  --fields=ID,post_title,post_status --format=csv
cwp wp post list --post_type=product --field=ID --format=ids
cwp wp post get 218 --fields=ID,post_title,post_status,post_type,post_name
cwp wp post meta list 218 --fields=meta_key --format=csv      # which meta exist
cwp wp option get siteurl

Create / update

# create a draft post/page/template, capture its ID with --porcelain
ID=$(cwp wp post create --post_type=page --post_status=draft --post_title='My Page' --porcelain)

# titles with spaces/parens break the gateway shell if unquoted — single-quote the value remotely:
cwp wp post update 218 --post_status=publish --post_title='Single Product'

# simple meta:
cwp wp post meta update 218 _wp_page_template default

Protected / large / serialized meta

For _* keys, big JSON blobs, or anything with quotes/backslashes, do not pass the value on the command line — use the streamed write so it is wp_slash()-ed correctly:

cwp meta-read  218 _elementor_data layout.json      # save
cwp meta-write 218 _elementor_data layout.json      # write back (protected-safe)

Why: _* keys are REST-hidden, and WP's update_metadata() unslashes — passing a raw blob mangles backslashes/quotes. cwp meta-write base64-streams over stdin and wp_slashes server-side. See the gotchas in wp-connect (@../wp-connect/references/hosting-gotchas.md).

Seed data (reviews, terms, etc.)

Write a PHP file, host it in the shared webroot, and eval-file it — robust across the gateway:

// /www/wp-content/uploads/seed.php  (cwp put it, then: cwp wp eval-file /www/wp-content/uploads/seed.php)
foreach ($reviews as $r) {
  $cid = wp_insert_comment(['comment_post_ID'=>223,'comment_author'=>$r[0],
    'comment_content'=>$r[2],'comment_approved'=>1,'comment_type'=>'review']);
  add_comment_meta($cid,'rating',$r[1]);
}
// then sync WooCommerce caches the UI reads:
update_post_meta(223,'_wc_average_rating',$avg);
update_post_meta(223,'_wc_review_count',$n);
update_post_meta(223,'_wc_rating_count',$counts);
WC_Comments::clear_transients(223);

Delete the helper php from the webroot afterward (executable php under uploads is a small risk): cwp wp eval 'unlink("/www/wp-content/uploads/seed.php");'.

Verify every write

Read it back. For meta, compare the parsed value, not bytes (pretty-printing changes whitespace). Cache-bust front-end checks (?v=…) — the CDN lags writes.