Title: Add media to a VIP Local Development Environment Author: WordPress VIP Documentation Published: September 26, 2022 Last modified: December 31, 2025 --- 1. [VIP Local Development Environment](https://docs.wpvip.com/vip-local-development-environment/) 2. Add media to a VIP Local Development Environment # Add media to a VIP Local Development Environment Media files can be uploaded, imported, or proxied to a running [VIP Local Development Environment](https://docs.wpvip.com/vip-local-development-environment/). It is recommended to import media files _after_ a VIP Local Development Environment is confirmed to be up and running and has been configured to [run with locally cloned application code](https://docs.wpvip.com/update-a-local-environment-to-load-application-code/). **Prerequisite** On the user’s local machine a VIP Local Development Environment has been [successfully created](https://docs.wpvip.com/local-development/use-the-vip-local-development-environment/) and is in a running state. ## Limitations * The VIP Local Development Environment does not include a replica of the [VIP File System](https://docs.wpvip.com/vip-file-system/). When developing features for an application that rely on the VIP File System service, it is strongly recommended to stage changes and perform tests on a [non-production VIP Platform environment](https://docs.wpvip.com/vip-platform/environments/#h-recommended-use-of-environments) instead of the VIP Local Development Environment. * A VIP Local Development Environment will be unable to proxy media files (the `-- media-redirect-domain` option) from a WordPress multisite environment that has the [Access-Controlled Files feature](https://docs.wpvip.com/access-and-routing/access-controlled-files/) activated. ## Location of the uploads directory Media files that are imported—or uploaded with the [WordPress media uploader](https://wordpress.org/support/article/using-images/)— to the local environment are stored in a local `uploads/` directory that is mapped to a local environment’s `LOCATION` URL. To locate a local environment’s `uploads/` directory, retrieve the `LOCATION` URL of the local environment with `vip dev-env info`. For example: ```wp-block-preformatted $ vip dev-env info --slug=example-site SLUG example-site LOCATION /Users/example-user/.local/share/vip/dev-environment/example-site SERVICES devtools, nginx, php, database, memcached, wordpress, vip-mu-plugins, demo-app-code NGINX URLS http://example-site.vipdev.lndo.site/ https://example-site.vipdev.lndo.site/ STATUS UP ``` Based on the output of the above command example, the `uploads/` directory can be found at: `/home/example-user/.local/share/vip/dev-environment/example-site/uploads/` ## Proxy media files After importing a VIP Platform environment’s SQL database to the local environment, media file requests can be proxied to the VIP Platform environment where the database originated. This eliminates the need to download and import media files to a local machine. To enable media URLs in the local database to proxy to the VIP Platform environment, set the `--media-redirect-domain` option to the VIP Platform environment’s [primary domain](https://docs.wpvip.com/domains/primary-domain/). The `--media-redirect-domain` option can be set when [creating a VIP Local Development Environment](https://docs.wpvip.com/vip-local-development-environment/create/), or with [the `update` subcommand](https://docs.wpvip.com/vip-cli/commands/dev-env/update/) for an existing local environment. In this command example, a local environment is created with the assigned `--slug` value `example-site`, and `--media-redirect-domain` is configured to proxy media requests to the VIP Platform production site with the primary domain `www.example. com`: ```wp-block-preformatted vip dev-env create --slug=example-site --media-redirect-domain=www.example.com ``` Requests for a media file will first refer to the local `uploads/` directory that is mapped to a local environment’s `LOCATION` URL. If the requested media file is not found there, a `404` is returned. The request is then redirected to the `uploads/` directory of the domain that was assigned to the `--media-redirect-domain` option. To work as expected: * A `search-replace` operation must have been completed on the database to replace VIP Platform environment domain values (e.g. `example-site.com`) with local domain values (e.g. `example-site.vipdev.lndo.site`). * Local domain values must have a subdomain structure (e.g. `sub.example-site.vipdev. lndo.site`) and not a subdirectory structure (e.g. `example-site.vipdev.lndo. site/sub`). ## Import media files with VIP-CLI After [importing a VIP Platform environment’s database to the local environment](https://docs.wpvip.com/vip-local-development-environment/add-database-content/), media files may not appear as expected on the front end of the local site or in the WordPress Media Library. To remedy this, media files must be imported to the local site’s `uploads/` directory and media file URLs in the database must map correctly to that local directory. 1. Download a [Media Backup](https://docs.wpvip.com/media-backups/) for a VIP Platform environment from the VIP Dashboard. 2. Decompress the downloaded  `*.zip` file. 3. Import the `/uploads/` directory, located in the decompressed file structure: `/ wp-content/uploads/` using the VIP-CLI command `vip dev-env import media `. In this command example, the contents of `/Users/example-user/Desktop/wp-content/ uploads` will be imported to the `uploads/` directory that is mapped to the `LOCATION` URL of a local environment with an assigned `--slug` value `example-site`: ```wp-block-preformatted vip dev-env import media --slug=example-site /Users/example-user/Desktop/wp-content/uploads ``` If the media files do not load on the local site as expected after completing the above steps, a [search and replace](https://docs.wpvip.com/search-replace/) operation may need to be performed on the database. Use `exec` to [execute WP-CLI commands](https://docs.wpvip.com/vip-local-development-environment/tips/#h-executing-cli-commands) such as `search-replace` against the local environment’s database. The `search-replace` operations should update media file URLs in the database to point to the location of the imported media files in the local `uploads/` directory. For example, if a user imported a database backup and a media backup of their production site `example-site.com` into their VIP Local Development Environment, the media file URLs in the local environment’s database should be updated by searching for the string `example-site.com/wp-content/uploads` and replacing it with `example- site.vipdev.lndo.site/wp-content/uploads`: ```wp-block-preformatted vip dev-env exec --slug=example-site -- wp search-replace example-site.com/wp-content/uploads example-site.vipdev.lndo.site/wp-content/uploads --all-tables --dry-run ``` Last updated: December 31, 2025