Development Environment
Whoops error handling, no password logins, template hints, no indexing, flush rewrites, everything a developer needs for their local development environment.
Consider an alternative
Development Environment shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. Is rated 5/5 and was last updated 8 years ago, and scores 28/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (<10 active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- No update in 7 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 5.0 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Development Environment stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| dev | >100 |
| development | >100 |
| easy | >100 |
| env | >100 |
| environment | >100 |
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews
About Development Environment
From the official readme · v1.0.6Description
Whoops error handling, no password logins, template hints, no indexing, flush rewrites, everything a developer needs for their local development environment.
Components
- Disallow Indexing Turn off the public blog option. This will modify the robots.txt generation to block all search engines
- Flush Rewrites No more weird redirection problems when working on custom post types or taxonomies.
- No Password Logins Just stick the user in you want to login as, write anything in the password field, and it will login! Only works when connecting from local host
- Whoops Error Handling The error screen from laravel, now in your WordPress setup
- Template Hints See which templates are loading for the page you are on
The goal is to exchange security for ease of use, for that reason it’s important that you take the security measures needed
to ensure that someone can’t take advantage of the site with this plugin enabled.
If you’re running on a staging environment ensure you have setup a htpasswd
Filters
Set Environment
development-environment/is-development
Dynamically set how the plugin detects if the environment is development based on your own criteria.
Stop a component from loading
development-environment/require-component-$component
Disable require of a component if you don’t want to use it. Possible values are:
disallow-indexing, `flush-rewrites`, `no-password-logins`, `whoops-error-handling`
Installation
To use the plugin, it must be able to detect the environment is development or staging, this can be done via the following:
wp-config.php
Add define('WP_ENV', 'development')
vhost
Add SetEnv WP_ENV "development"
Or additionally via the available hooks.
Changelog
See changelog on (github)[https://github.com/loonpwn/wp-development-environment/releases]
For developers
Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.
Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.
Best Development Environment alternatives
All dev plugins →
FAQ
Development Environment: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 1, 2026
Is Development Environment free?
Yes. Development Environment is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Development Environment safe to use in 2026?
Development Environment shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. Is rated 5/5 and was last updated 8 years ago, and scores 28/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Development Environment?
Development Environment is active on <10 WordPress websites and has been downloaded 2,172 times since it launched in September 2017. It was downloaded 37 times in the last 30 days.
Does Development Environment work with WordPress 7.1?
Development Environment is officially tested up to WordPress 5.0.29, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
What PHP version does Development Environment need?
Development Environment requires PHP 7.0 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was Development Environment last updated?
The latest version, 1.0.6, was released on January 14, 2019 (8 years ago).
Who makes Development Environment?
Development Environment is developed and maintained by loonpwn.
What are the best alternatives to Development Environment?
The most popular alternatives to Development Environment are Taxonomy Thumbnail (3K+ installs), WP PHP Console (500+ installs) and Gravity Forms – Tab Index (100+ installs).
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