Install and Prepare

The LocalWP Devkit expects you to bring a working Local site and the runtime plugins you own. It is not a Local site import, a Local Blueprint, or a bundle of premium plugin files.

Prerequisites

Install these on your machine before creating a project:

Requirement	Notes
LocalWP	Creates and runs the WordPress site.
Node.js 20 or newer	Required by the devkit package engine and related JavaScript tooling.
Bun	Runs devkit package scripts. Use the version declared by the devkit packageManager field when possible.
Composer	Used when a project needs PHP dependencies for checks such as PHPStan. If project:check reports missing dependencies, run the exact composer install --working-dir=... command it prints.
Git	Recommended for tracking the long-lived devkit workspace and each project under projects/<slug>.
The devkit ZIP	Download oh-my-idetch-localwp-devkit-<version>.zip from your OhMyEtch account.
User-owned runtime plugins	Etch, Etch Theme, OhMyEtch, AutomaticCSS, ACF Pro, WooCommerce, or other project dependencies as needed.

LocalWP provides the WordPress runtime, PHP, MySQL, WP-CLI Site Shell, SSL, Mailpit, and the bound local domain. The devkit does not replace those services; it runs checks and syncs project source into the Local site.

The devkit can continue without optional browser automation. When available, browser automation lets agents open the bound LocalWP domain, inspect pages, and capture screenshots after sync.

Extract the Devkit

Extract the ZIP into a durable working directory:

oh-my-idetch-localwp-devkit/

Then install dependencies:

bun install

Initialize your own Git history for the devkit workspace:

git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial LocalWP devkit"

The devkit ships with a .gitignore, but it does not ship with your repository history.

Prepare a Local Site

Create or reuse a LocalWP site. Install and activate the runtime dependencies this project needs in that Local site. At minimum, an Etch site normally needs Etch and Etch Theme. If the project uses OhMyEtch components, AutomaticCSS, ACF Pro, WooCommerce, or other plugins, install and license them in Local before expecting the devkit to use those capabilities.

You can save a private Local Blueprint after the site is configured:

1. Create a clean Local site.
2. Install and license your user-owned runtime plugins.
3. Confirm the site is ready with localwp:doctor after binding a project.
4. In Local, save the site as a Blueprint for your own future work.

That Blueprint remains private to you. It is not part of the Oh My IDEtch devkit.

Open the Right Folder

Open the devkit root in your agent:

oh-my-idetch-localwp-devkit/

Do not open the synced plugin directory inside the Local site as your working source:

~/Local Sites/<site>/app/public/wp-content/plugins/oh-my-idetch

That directory is output from localwp:sync. Your editable project source lives under projects/<slug>.