Custom Deployment
The Custom Deployment method enables application code to be developed in a version control system outside of an application’s wpcomvip GitHub repository. The developed code can then be deployed to a VIP Platform environment with VIP-CLI or a continuous deployment method.
Detailed Build, Prepare, and Deployment logs for code deployments made with the Custom Deployment method can be reviewed in the Deployments panel of the environment’s VIP Dashboard.
Limitations
- Custom Deployment can only be enabled for a WordPress application environment.
- The code for deployment must include a complete copy of an application’s plugin(s), theme(s), and custom code and be formatted according to the required structure of the VIP WordPress skeleton. Upon decompressing, the code must be located within a root folder.
- A directory that contains the code for deployment must be archived as either
.tar.gz,.tgz, or.ziptype. - The allowed characters for the name of the archived file are limited to letters (
A-Z,a-z), numbers (0-9), hyphens (-), underscores (_), and periods (.). - For security concerns, including symbolic links (symlinks) within the archived file is prohibited.
- The maximum size for the archived file is 4 GB.
Caution
Only application code in a wpcomvip GitHub repository is eligible to receive security or performance-related hotfixes that are occasionally made by the WPVIP team by pull request.
Code that is deployed directly to an environment with the Custom Deployment method:
- Will not be analyzed by the VIP Code Analysis Bot.
- Will be scanned by Codebase Manager. Notifications will appear in the Plugins panel in the VIP Dashboard for plugins that have available version updates and plugins that have a known security vulnerability. The option to initiate pull requests to update the version of a plugin from within the VIP Dashboard will be disabled.
The archived file for a Custom Deployment should not contain a node_modules directory. It is likely for a node_modules directory to contain platform-specific binary files that cannot be run. Deploying these files can cause performance issues for the application.
Access
Prerequisite
To access, enable, or disable Custom Deployment, a user must have at minimum an Org admin role or an App admin role for that application.
To access the Custom Deployments setting option:
- Navigate to the VIP Dashboard for an application.
- Select an environment from the dropdown located at the upper left of the dashboard.
- Select “Code” from the sidebar navigation at the left of the screen.
- Select “Repository Management” from the navigation submenu.
Enable Custom Deployment
Within the “Repository Management” panel of the VIP Dashboard:
- Select the radio button for the option labeled “Custom Deployment“.
- Select the button labeled “Save Changes“.
- Select the button labeled “Enable” in the confirmation modal.
Last updated: December 22, 2025