Creating a Staging Site on JCP

Want to test changes before they go live? A staging site lets you clone your live website and test everything in a safe sandbox. Here’s how to set one up.

Step 1: Create a New Site

Log into www.jolt.co.uk/kb and open your Jolt Control Panel.

Click “Add a site” in the top right corner.

Step 2: Choose Your Staging Domain

The New Site wizard will appear. For the URL, select “Temporary domain” – JCP sets you up with a real subdomain and working DNS instantly. This becomes your staging area.

Step 3: Set Up the Site

Next, JCP asks what platform you’re using. Select WordPress (or whatever matches your live site), then leave the installation option as “No thanks” – you’ll clone your live site in a moment, so no need to install fresh.

Choose the server you want the staging site on, give it a nickname (like busystaging), then click “Create site”.

JCP will show you login credentials and important details. Click “Got it, let’s go” to proceed.

You now have an empty staging site. Next, let’s clone your live website to it.

Step 4: Clone Your Live Site

Go to Sites on the left menu and click the Settings icon on the live site you want to clone.

From the overview page, click “Tools” in the top right corner. Select “Clone site”.

Step 5: Select Your Destination

A dialog will appear asking where to clone to. From the dropdown, select your newly created staging site.

Important: This will overwrite whatever’s on the destination site, so choose carefully.

Leave the URL replacement toggle on – this is crucial. JCP will search your entire database and replace all instances of your old domain with the new staging domain. Without this, your links and settings would still point to the live site.

Click “Clone”.

Wait for the Clone to Complete

Scout runs the clone in the background. You’re free to use the Scout control panel while it works. Once it’s done, you’ll see a confirmation notification in the lower right corner.

You’re Done!

You now have two independent copies of the same website—one live, one staging. Test your changes, debug issues, and deploy with confidence. When you’re happy with the changes, you can clone back to your live site or manually update it.

Staging sites are your safety net. Test bold changes, experiment freely, and keep your live site bulletproof.