Written by Admin on 2025-05-06

How to Download WordPress CLI: A Step-by-Step Guide

WordPress Command Line Interface, or WP-CLI, is a powerful tool for managing WordPress websites from the command line. WP-CLI allows you to perform common tasks, such as updating plugins and themes, creating users, and managing databases, easily and efficiently. In this article, we will guide you through the process of downloading WP-CLI on your computer.

Step 1: Check Your System Requirements

Before downloading WP-CLI, you must ensure that your system meets the following requirements:

• Linux, Mac OS X, or Windows
• PHP version 5.4.0 or later
• WordPress 3.7 or later
• Command line access

To check your PHP version, open a terminal window and type the following command:

php -v

If your PHP version is older than 5.4.0, you will need to update it before installing WP-CLI.

Step 2: Download WP-CLI

To download WP-CLI, you can choose one of two methods:

Method 1: Use Composer

Composer is a package manager for PHP that allows you to install and update dependencies. To use Composer to install WP-CLI, follow these steps:

1. Install Composer by following the instructions on the official website.
2. Open a terminal window and navigate to your WordPress installation directory.
3. Type the following command to install WP-CLI:

composer require wp-cli/wp-cli

Composer will download and install WP-CLI and all its dependencies.

Method 2: Use the Phar Archive

The Phar archive is a PHP binary archive that contains all the necessary files for WP-CLI. To download WP-CLI using the Phar archive, follow these steps:

1. Open a terminal window and navigate to your WordPress installation directory.
2. Type the following command to download the latest version of WP-CLI:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wp-cli/builds/gh-pages/phar/wp-cli.phar

3. Make the WP-CLI file executable by typing the following command:

chmod +x wp-cli.phar

You can now run WP-CLI by typing ./wp-cli.phar in your terminal window.

Step 3: Test WP-CLI

To test that WP-CLI is installed correctly, open a terminal window, navigate to your WordPress installation directory, and type the following command:

wp --info

WP-CLI should display information about your WordPress installation, including the version number and the path to the WordPress files.

Conclusion

WP-CLI is an essential tool for managing WordPress websites from the command line. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can download and install WP-CLI on your computer and start using it to perform common WordPress tasks more efficiently.