GitHub Action to deploy WordPress projects to WP Engine

Indigo Tree fork of the WP Engine deploy action. Deploy from a GitHub repo to a WP Engine environment via SSH Gateway and rsync.

One workflow step can run multiple rsync jobs over a single SSH connection by passing a DEPLOYS JSON array.

Pin uses: to a commit SHA or branch.

Setup Instructions

1. Workflow

• Add a deploy workflow under .github/workflows/ (see Example).
• Set DEPLOYS to a JSON array of jobs (see DEPLOYS schema).
• Configure branch and environment inputs (PRD_BRANCH, PRD_ENV, etc.).

2. SSH private key (GitHub)

• Generate an SSH key pair if needed.
• Paste the SSH private key (PEM) into your repository or organization secret WPE_SSHG_KEY_PRIVATE.

3. SSH public key (WP Engine)

• Add the public key to SSH Gateway. This action does not use GitPush keys.

4. Push to a configured branch. View logs under Actions.

Branch names must match the pushed ref exactly (refs/heads/<name>). Use on.push.branches to match PRD_BRANCH, STG_BRANCH, and DEV_BRANCH.

DEPLOYS schema

DEPLOYS is a JSON array inline in the workflow step (DEPLOYS: |).

Each object:

Field	Required	Description
src	Yes	Source path in the checkout (globs allowed, e.g. wp-content/plugins/foo-*)
flags	Yes	Rsync flags for this job (e.g. -azvr --inplace --exclude-from=.deployignore)
dest	No	Destination directory on the server (default "" = site root relative)
name	No	Label for logs only

Jobs run in array order on one SSH session.

Example platform deploy step

Replace multiple uses: deploy steps with one step like this (pin @<commit-sha> after merging this action):

      - name: Deploy to WP Engine
        uses: indigotree/github-action-deploy-to-wpe@<pin>
        with:
          WPE_SSHG_KEY_PRIVATE: ${{ secrets.WPE_SSHG_KEY_PRIVATE }}
          CACHE_CLEAR: FALSE
          PHP_LINT: FALSE
          DEV_BRANCH: ${{ env.DEV_BRANCH }}
          STG_BRANCH: ${{ env.STG_BRANCH }}
          PRD_BRANCH: ${{ env.PRD_BRANCH }}
          DEV_ENV: ${{ env.DEV_ENV }}
          STG_ENV: ${{ env.STG_ENV }}
          PRD_ENV: ${{ env.PRD_ENV }}
          DEPLOYS: |
            [
              {
                "name": "plugins-once",
                "src": "wp-content/plugins",
                "dest": "wp-content",
                "flags": "-azvr --inplace --ignore-existing --exclude-from=.deployignore"
              },
              {
                "name": "project-plugins",
                "src": "wp-content/plugins/indigotree-site-*",
                "dest": "wp-content/plugins",
                "flags": "-azvr --inplace --exclude-from=.deployignore"
              },
              {
                "name": "modules",
                "src": "wp-content/platform",
                "dest": "wp-content",
                "flags": "-azvr --inplace --delete --delete-delay --exclude-from=.deployignore"
              },
              {
                "name": "mu-plugins",
                "src": "wp-content/mu-plugins",
                "dest": "wp-content",
                "flags": "-azvr --inplace --exclude-from=.deployignore"
              },
              {
                "name": "theme-and-rest",
                "src": ".",
                "dest": "",
                "flags": "-azvr --inplace --exclude-from=.deployignore --exclude=/*.* --exclude=_wpeprivate/ --exclude=wp-admin/ --exclude=wp-includes/ --exclude=wp-content/plugins/ --exclude=wp-content/platform/ --exclude=wp-content/mu-plugins/ --exclude=wp-content/uploads/ --exclude=wp-content/upgrade*/ --exclude=wp-content/drop-ins/ --exclude=wp-content/languages/ --exclude=mysql.sql --include=/wp-content/themes/ --include=/wp-content/themes/indigotree-theme-2026/*** --exclude=/wp-content/themes/*"
              }
            ]

Minimal single-job example:

      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Deploy to WP Engine
        uses: indigotree/github-action-deploy-to-wpe@<pin>
        with:
          WPE_SSHG_KEY_PRIVATE: ${{ secrets.WPE_SSHG_KEY_PRIVATE }}
          PRD_BRANCH: main
          PRD_ENV: myinstall
          DEPLOYS: |
            [
              {
                "src": ".",
                "dest": "",
                "flags": "-azvr --inplace --exclude-from=.deployignore"
              }
            ]

Migration from older action inputs

If you previously used several deploy steps with TPO_SRC_PATH, TPO_PATH, and FLAGS:

Old input	DEPLOYS field
TPO_SRC_PATH	src
TPO_PATH	dest
FLAGS	flags

1. Merge each old step into one object in the DEPLOYS array (preserve order).
2. Use a single uses: step with DEPLOYS: |.
3. Set CACHE_CLEAR: FALSE unless you want a post-deploy flush (default is false).
4. Pin uses: to the commit SHA that includes DEPLOYS support.

WPE_SSHG_KEY_PRIVATE format is unchanged from v0.4.0 (raw PEM in GitHub Secrets).

Removed inputs: TPO_SRC_PATH, TPO_PATH, FLAGS, SCRIPT.

Inputs

Required

Name	Type	Usage
DEPLOYS	string	JSON array of deploy jobs (inline in workflow YAML).
PRD_BRANCH	string	Production branch name (exact match to refs/heads/<name>).
PRD_ENV	string	WP Engine production environment name.
WPE_SSHG_KEY_PRIVATE	secrets	Private SSH key (raw PEM).

Optional

Name	Type	Usage
STG_BRANCH	string	Staging branch (exact match). Leave placeholder if unused.
STG_ENV	string	WP Engine staging environment.
DEV_BRANCH	string	Development branch (exact match).
DEV_ENV	string	WP Engine development environment.
PHP_LINT	bool	TRUE to run php -l on each job src before deploy. Default false.
CACHE_CLEAR	bool	TRUE to flush page and CDN cache after all jobs. Default false.

Further reading

• GitHub Actions environment variables
• Encrypted secrets
• WP Engine .gitignore templates

Legal

See LICENSE.

Copyright (C) 2021-present, Indigo Tree Digital Ltd.

Based on prior work from https://github.com/wpengine/github-action-wpe-site-deploy
Copyright (c) 2021 WP Engine