Develop code in a non-wpcomvip repository

It is possible to develop application code in a custom repository other than an application’s default wpcomvip GitHub repository.

Code can be developed in a separate GitHub repository then pushed to a VIP application’s provided wpcomvip GitHub repository using services such as Bitbucket or Beanstalk. The code pushed to the wpcomvip GitHub repository will then be deployed by the Default Deployment method.

If an application’s code will be developed in a separate GitHub repository then pushed to a wpcomvip GitHub repository, there are a few factors to consider:

• The VIP team may occasionally need to push security or performance-related hotfixes to an application’s wpcomvip repository. This is usually done through pull requests for greater visibility. It is important to have a process that merges the changes back to the main development repository.
• It is recommended for a development repository to directly mirror the structure of an application’s wpcomvip GitHub repository to minimize complexities when pushing or pulling between them. For the same reason, it is recommended to sync all commits (instead of doing large batched ones).
• Before syncing pull requests, review the pull requests in GitHub for automated code scanning comments added by VIP’s automation to flag possible PHPCS issues.
• For external dependencies (e.g. plugins), subtrees are recommended. Private submodules are not supported, and third-party public submodules are discouraged.

Code can also be developed in a non-wpcomvip repository then deployed directly to an application’s environment with VIP-CLI with the Custom Deployment method.