How Can I Take a Local Copy of My WordPress Site via SSH Without Including Uploads and Cache Files?

In this article, you’ll learn how to take a clean local copy of your WordPress site for development or testing. You’ll create a lightweight backup of your site via SSH that excludes large and unnecessary files such as media uploads, cache folders, and backup archives. This approach helps you quickly set up a local development environment without transferring gigabytes of extra data.

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have the following:

• A WordPress website already installed and running on your Ecenica hosting account
• An Ecenica hosting plan with SSH access enabled; (check your plan details to confirm SSH availability)
• Basic familiarity with SSH and command-line usage
• Access to cPanel or equivalent hosting control panel.
• Sufficient free disk space in your hosting account to store the backup files. As a guide, you should have at least the same amount of free space as the size of your WordPress website and database combined.

Step 1: Connect to Your Account via SSH

Connect to your Ecenica hosting account using your SSH credentials. You can find these under SSH Access in your cPanel.

Example command:

ssh user@hostname -p 2244 -i SSH-KEY

Step 2: Navigate to Your Website Directory

Once logged in, move to the directory that contains your WordPress site (usually public_html):

cd ~

Step 3: Create a Zip Backup Excluding Large or Unnecessary Files

Run the following command to create a zip archive of your WordPress site, while excluding files and folders that aren’t needed for local work:

zip -rq public_html_backup.zip public_html \
-x "public_html/wp-content/uploads/*" \
-x "public_html/wp-content/cache/*" \
-x "public_html/wp-content/w3tc-cache/*" \
-x "public_html/wp-content/litespeed/*" \
-x "public_html/wp-content/wp-rocket-config/*" \
-x "public_html/wp-content/backup*/*" \
-x "public_html/*.zip" \
-x "public_html/*.tar.gz" \
-x "public_html/error_log" \
-x "public_html/wp-content/*.log" \
-x "public_html/vendor/*" \
-x "public_html/node_modules/*" \
-x "public_html/wp-content/aiosrs-backups/*" \
-x "public_html/wp-content/updraft/*" \
-x "public_html/wp-content/et-cache/*"

This will create a file called public_html_backup.zip in your home directory, ready for download via File Manager or SFTP.

To create a copy of a staging site or addon domain

zip -rq staging.example.com_backup.zip staging.example.com \
-x "staging.example.com/wp-content/uploads/*" \
-x "staging.example.com/wp-content/cache/*" \
-x "staging.example.com/wp-content/w3tc-cache/*" \
-x "staging.example.com/wp-content/litespeed/*" \
-x "staging.example.com/wp-content/wp-rocket-config/*" \
-x "staging.example.com/wp-content/backup*/*" \
-x "staging.example.com/*.zip" \
-x "staging.example.com/*.tar.gz" \
-x "staging.example.com/error_log" \
-x "staging.example.com/wp-content/*.log" \
-x "staging.example.com/vendor/*" \
-x "staging.example.com/node_modules/*" \
-x "staging.example.com/wp-content/aiosrs-backups/*" \
-x "staging.example.com/wp-content/updraft/*" \
-x "staging.example.com/wp-content/et-cache/*"

This will create a file called staging.example.com_backup.zip in your home directory.

Recommended Exclusions Explained

Why Exclude These Files

• Speeds up the download and extraction process
• Keeps your local environment focused on code and configuration
• Prevents transferring gigabytes of unnecessary data
• Reduces potential file permission or timeout issues during transfer

Step 4: Import Your Site Locally

Once you’ve downloaded the zip file and your database:

1. Extract the zip into your local web server’s folder (for example, htdocs for XAMPP or www for LocalWP).
2. Export MySQL Database via phpMyAdmin or export your MySQL database via SSH
3. Import your database using Sequel Ace, local phpMyAdmin or WP-CLI.
4. Update your site URLs using WP-CLI:

   wp search-replace 'https://yourdomain.com' 'http://localhost'
   

5. If needed, upload the wp-content/uploads/ folder separately for your media.