This might be a strange or impossible request, but I'm looking for a kind of specific way to develop WordPress themes locally.

At work I primarily work on a BigCommerce web store on their Stencil framework. It has it's issues, but what I like most about is the fact that when working on the local version it essentially pulls the data for products, urls, and everything directly from the live site. I work on the changes locally with live content, then use the stencil CLI to bundle and push the theme to the live site.

Is something like that possible with WordPress?

My current workflow involves a new local WordPress install for each site I'm working on and then I have to manually re-create the test content (especially with custom post types), set up all the databases, etc.

I know you can export posts, etc, from the live site, but it seems to have issues when importing and doesn't compare anything, just adds whatever you exported to the local install.

Is it possible to have a local version of WordPress just use the remote's database for posts and all that?

As far as pushing updates to the sites I currently use Git, a bare git repo on the remote server, and a post-receive hook to move the updated files to the correct spot on the server.

Can any of y'all share some insight into your WordPress theme development and maintenance strategies.

I mostly work with One off themes for specific sites. I haven't yet ventured into the whole "Themes for the masses" path, but I'd love some insight there as well if you have it.

cover photo by Clément H