Apps

Apps are permanent, production-grade environments that serve traffic on their own domains. Unlike sandboxes, which are temporary and accessed via path prefixes, apps own their domain and run as fully independent WordPress sites.

Creating an app

wp rudel app create --domain=client-a.com

This creates an isolated environment, maps the domain to it, and sets up the database tables and wp-content directory. The name is derived from the domain automatically, or you can specify one:

wp rudel app create --domain=client-a.com --name="Client A Website"

To start with a copy of the host site's data:

wp rudel app create --domain=client-a.com --clone-all

Domain management

Each app has at least one domain. You can add more:

wp rudel app domain-add client-a-com-a1b2 --domain=www.client-a.com

And remove them:

wp rudel app domain-remove client-a-com-a1b2 --domain=www.client-a.com

An app must always have at least one domain. Domains are stored in the app's .rudel.json metadata and compiled into a domains.json lookup file that the bootstrap reads on every request.

How routing works

When a request comes in, the bootstrap checks the HTTP_HOST header against the domain map before any sandbox detection runs. If the host matches an app's domain, the environment is activated and WordPress boots in that app's context. The app's WP_SITEURL and WP_HOME are set to the domain itself, not a path prefix.

This means apps work exactly like standalone WordPress sites from the browser's perspective. No path prefix in URLs, no special cookies. Just a normal domain pointing to a fully isolated WordPress environment.

Managing apps

List all apps:

wp rudel app list

View details:

wp rudel app info client-a-com-a1b2

Destroy an app (removes database tables, wp-content, and domain mappings):

wp rudel app destroy client-a-com-a1b2 --force

Admin bar

When you're logged into an app's wp-admin, a blue indicator with the app ID appears in the admin bar. Unlike sandboxes, there's no exit link since apps are permanent and don't have a "host" to return to.

Differences from sandboxes

Apps and sandboxes share the same isolation layer but differ in intent:

Both use the same rudel_ table prefix safety guard, the same wp-content isolation, and the same authentication salt isolation.