Instance Details

Open instance details by clicking the instance name in list view or Manage Site in tile view.

The details page combines technical status, daily actions, and advanced management tools in one place. If an instance is still provisioning, some widgets can temporarily show limited data.

Live/Staging Instances

At the top left of the page, you can switch between Live and Staging environments. If staging does not exist yet, a "+" button is displayed. After staging is created, it is shown as a dedicated Staging tab/button.

PanelAlpha supports one staging instance per live instance.

Create staging

To create staging, click the "+" (or the staging action in the top action menu).

The modal includes the Domain field. Its behavior depends on the plan configuration for staging domains:

• Site Domain Subdomain: PanelAlpha prepares the staging domain as a subdomain of the live site domain (for example staging.example.com).
• Fixed Subdomain: PanelAlpha prepares staging under an admin-defined fixed domain.
• Any domain allowed: the domain can be entered manually.

In setups where staging is created on the same hosting account, PanelAlpha performs a pre-check and displays:

• WordPress disk usage
• wp-content/uploads usage
• Available disk space

In the same modal, you can use Skip uploads directory to speed up cloning and reduce disk usage. If available disk space is too low, this option is enforced automatically.

If your hosting/server setup marks staging as billable, the modal shows an additional warning about extra charges.

After confirmation, staging is created asynchronously and appears in the staging tab once finished.

Retry or cancel failed staging

If staging creation fails, you can:

• Try: rerun staging creation for that failed staging entry.
• Cancel: remove the failed staging entry (including files/database cleanup request).

Push to live

When you are on a staging instance, you can use Push to Live.

Before showing the final form, PanelAlpha compares database changes between staging and live. The push modal allows you to choose:

• Overwrite files
• Push full database
• Push structure changes in tables
• Push tables with changed data

The push runs as an async operation, and status is tracked for both environments.

Push to staging

When you are on a live instance with an active staging environment, you can use Push to Staging.

This action is useful when quick changes were made directly on live and you want to sync them back to staging.

The same push scope options are available:

• Overwrite files
• Push full database
• Push structure changes in tables
• Push single tables with changed data

Domain

Directly below the Live/Staging buttons, you will find the instance name. Use the Edit button next to it to rename the instance. Use the downward arrow by the name to switch directly to another instance without returning to the main list.

Below the name, you can see the full site domain. Click it to open the website in a new tab.

On the right, you can use Change Domain and manage assigned tags. Use Add More to attach additional tags.

Actions

The same actions that can be performed directly from the list of instances are all placed in the top right corner. These include:

• Share Instance
• WP Admin (SSO)
• Preview
• Staging - opens staging actions (Create Staging, Push to Live, Push to Staging depending on current environment)
• Copy
• Update
• Cache
• Delete Instance

Some actions (for example Update) can be temporarily disabled while installation is still in progress.

WP Admin (SSO)

Click the WP Admin button to log in to the WordPress admin panel using Single Sign-On (SSO). This feature allows you to access the WordPress dashboard directly, without entering WordPress credentials.

SSO is powered by the Control Panel Connection must-use plugin, which is automatically installed on every instance managed by PanelAlpha.

If DNS propagation is still in progress, PanelAlpha will display a warning and offer two options:

• Log in with Temporary URL – uses a preview URL that bypasses DNS; recommended when the domain is not yet pointing to the server.
• Log in directly – opens the WordPress admin using the instance primary domain.

When DNS is correctly configured, clicking WP Admin will log you in directly without showing the modal.

Menu

Instance details are grouped into sections that you can open using the menu buttons:

• Site Details
• Monitoring
• Backups
• Plugins
• Advanced

On the far right, use the button to open the related hosting area.

Site Details

The default section is Site Details. Here you can:

• View the site preview thumbnail. On hover, you can:
  • Use the "Visit Website" button.
  • Manually "Refresh Thumbnail".
• Use Preview Site (temporary URL) when DNS propagation is still in progress:
  • The Preview Site button is visible when Preview Site integration is enabled and propagation is not finished.
  • Click Get Temporary URL to generate a temporary address.
  • You can copy the temporary URL or open it directly in a new tab.
• Check installation details:
  • WordPress version.
  • WooCommerce version.
    Both values are checked automatically, so you can immediately see whether updates are available and apply them with one click.
• See Security details:
  • Check the backup schedule, and create backups if needed.
  • Set the SSL Certificate for your domain.
• Loading Speed - See how fast your website loads on desktop and mobile platforms.

Instance analytics

At the bottom of the page, you will find graphs that provide detailed insights into your website's performance. The analytics include:

• Traffic data: Visualizes the number of visits to your website over time
• Unique Visitors: Shows the count of individual users who have accessed your site, filtering out repeated visits from the same user
• Average Session Time: Displays how long visitors typically spend on your website, helping you understand user engagement levels
• Bandwidth usage: Monitors how much data is being transferred to and from your website, which is crucial for resource planning

These metrics are presented as interactive graphs that allow you to identify trends and patterns in user behavior. You can easily adjust the time frame of the data by selecting from three scope options: "Last Week," "Last Month," and "Last Year."