SandyWP Cloner

Changelog

4.8.1

• The clone screen now notes that the database and files/media sizes are measured before compression, so the actual upload is usually smaller than the figures shown.
• Fixed: during the restore phase, the completed Upload step showed the live restore message (for example “Importing your database”) instead of a static caption. It now reads “Upload complete”, and the live restore step appears only under the Restore step.

4.8.0

• The Restore step now shows live progress. Large sites can spend minutes being restored on SandyWP, where the screen previously showed only a static “Restoring” label; it now displays the actual step in progress for example “Importing your database”, “Restoring files (part 4 of 12)”, “Starting WordPress container” with a real progress bar when SandyWP reports numbered steps (and an animated bar otherwise), plus a “last update Xs ago” readout so you can always tell a running restore from a stuck one. Works with older SandyWP servers too, falling back to the previous behavior.

4.7.0

• One-click Connect to SandyWP: link this site to your account without copying an API token, using a secure OAuth authorization-code + PKCE flow. SandyWP returns a connection key scoped to cloning only. Pasting a token still works as a fallback, now with instant validation as you type.
• Redesigned admin screen. Before you clone, a pre-flight manifest shows your database size, files/media size, and a rough time estimate; a “Trim the clone” panel shows the live MB saving for each thing you skip and updates the clone button (e.g. “Clone to SandyWP 53 MB, ~1 min”). While cloning, a staged Package → Upload → Restore checklist replaces the single bar, with real transfer speed and time-left during upload. Success shows a copyable sandbox URL and a one-click logged-in link; failures now map to plain-English guidance (including a “Retry without media” button when you hit a storage limit). Recent clones are listed so their URLs aren’t lost.
• Added a SANDYWP_CLONER_BASE_URL constant to override the API base URL (for development/staging) from wp-config.php.

4.6.1

• Backup-plugin working folders and page/object caches that live directly under wp-content for example UpdraftPlus’s wp-content/updraft, plus wp-content/cache and wp-content/upgrade are now excluded from the clone, matching how the same folders were already skipped under uploads. This leaves out disposable, often multi-gigabyte scratch a sandbox never needs, and avoids errors when a backup plugin deletes its own log files midway through the export.

4.6.0

• Added support for cloning WordPress multisite networks. Subdirectory networks (subsites at /path) are exported in full the network tables plus every subsite and restored into a SandyWP sandbox as a working multisite. Subdomain networks remain unsupported (they need wildcard DNS and per-subsite TLS, which the single-host sandbox model can’t provide) and are reported clearly instead of producing a broken clone.

4.5.2

• Fixed an “Import failed” error that could stop a clone during the database step on sites carrying older or loosely-typed data (for example some jReviews / Joomla-heritage tables). The exported database now reloads under a permissive SQL mode, the same way mysqldump does, so values the sandbox’s stricter database would otherwise reject empty values in number columns, out-of-range integers, zero dates no longer abort the import.

4.5.1

• The progress screen now follows the restore to completion. Large sites can take longer to restore than the background poller runs, which previously left the bar stuck on “Uploaded still restoring” even after the sandbox was live; the status now updates straight from SandyWP, so it reaches “ready” (or “failed”) on its own.

4.5.0

• Much faster database export on large sites: each table is now paged by its primary key instead of OFFSET. On tables with hundreds of thousands of rows (postmeta, usermeta, WooCommerce, etc.) this cuts the database step from many minutes to seconds.
• Skip more plugin audit/activity/log tables (schema kept, history dropped) so heavy logging plugins don’t bloat the clone.

4.3.2

• Redesigned the finished and failed states: the progress bar is replaced by a success (or error) badge on a tinted card, and the sandbox link plus its actions (Open, Visit, Dismiss) now sit on a horizontal row instead of a tall left-aligned stack.

4.3.0

• The SandyWP URL field is gone it defaults to https://app.sandywp.com, so you only paste your API token.
• Added a Save API token button so you can store your token without starting a clone.
• The clone no longer takes over the screen. After you click clone, it appears as a row in a new Your import section below the form, with a live progress bar, while the form stays available.
• Clearer reminder that you can close the tab the import keeps running in the background and the progress reappears when you return.

4.2.4

• Fixed: after a clone finished or failed, clicking “Clone again” then refreshing the page replayed the old result screen instead of returning to the form. “Clone again” now clears the stored status so a refresh starts fresh.

4.2.3

• Fixed: values containing “%” (e.g. URL-encoded links in some SEO plugin tables) were exported with WordPress placeholder tokens instead of “%”, causing corruption and “Data too long” errors on restore.

4.2.2

• Fixed: the status screen could show both “Cancel clone” and “Clone again” at once. Now only Cancel shows while a clone runs, and Clone again only after it finishes or fails.

4.2.1

• Fixed: binary and BLOB database values (e.g. some import/SEO plugin tables) are now exported as hex literals, preventing “Data too long” / corruption errors during restore.

4.2.0

• Added a Cancel button to stop a clone in progress; it aborts cleanly even mid-packaging and frees any in-flight upload.

4.1.0

• Faster packaging: already-compressed media (images, video, audio, PDFs, fonts) is stored instead of re-compressed.
• Always skips junk that never belongs in a sandbox backup-plugin folders, caches, logs, version-control and dependency directories, and database transients.
• New Advanced options: optionally exclude the media library, post revisions, spam/trashed comments, and inactive themes and plugins.

4.0.0

• Rearchitected into a namespaced, object-oriented plugin (autoloader, single-responsibility classes).
• Background clone now runs on WP-Cron instead of a custom endpoint.
• Assets enqueued instead of inlined; full internationalization; security and escaping hardening.
• Added uninstall cleanup.

3.2.0

• Direct-to-object-storage resumable multipart uploads for large sites.

3.0.0

• Asynchronous background clone with a live, branded status screen.