Most sandboxes need only the defaults. The create form exposes the rest when you need a specific stack, region, lifespan, or starting point.
Open New sandbox from the dashboard. You can also create a free guest sandbox from the SandyWP homepage.
Provisioning progress stays visible until the sandbox reaches ready. At that point, open the public site or use Auto Login to enter wp-admin.
Basic options
Advanced settings
Open Advanced settings for lifetime and debugging choices.
Site lifespan
Account-owned sandboxes can be set to one hour, one day, one week, two weeks, one month, or permanent. Permanent sandboxes require a paid plan.
Guest sandboxes always expire after seven hours, regardless of the selected value. See Lifespan and permanence for expiry and retention details.
Standard or debugging setup
Standard creates a clean production-style WordPress installation. Debugging can enable WordPress debug mode, Query Monitor, a wp-content/debug.log, visible debug output, and unminified core assets.
Visible debug output can expose errors to visitors. Use it only on a disposable sandbox intended for debugging.
After creation
Use the sandbox dashboard to open wp-admin, change PHP settings, connect a Git repository, browse files, or open the database. Save a configured sandbox as a Template when you expect to reuse it.