A site that works perfectly on your local development environment but breaks when deployed to the live server almost always comes down to an environment difference — a hardcoded local URL, a PHP version mismatch, a file or database that didn’t fully transfer — rather than anything actually wrong with the site’s own code.
Compare the specific error against what worked locally
Note exactly what’s broken on live (a blank page, a specific error message, a missing feature) and confirm it worked correctly in your local environment before deployment. That comparison, plus the exact error text if one shows, is far more useful for diagnosis than a general “it doesn’t work” description.
Local to live deployment repair
Worked locally, broke on live — usually an environment mismatch, found and fixed.
- Full backup taken before we start
- If we can’t fix it, you get your money back
- We never ask for your own password
This or something else?
| Your site worked locally but is broken after deploying to the live server | This fix covers it |
| You haven’t deployed yet and want a smoother process set up for the future | Version control (Git) deployment setup, a more proactive approach |
| The site works on live but staging is out of sync, not a fresh deployment issue | Staging-to-live push with conflict resolution |
| You’re migrating between hosts entirely, not deploying a local build | Host-to-host migration – single site |
What you are seeing
- A blank page, error message, or broken functionality only on the live site
- Features or content that displayed correctly locally, missing or broken after deployment
- Database connection errors, if the database wasn’t correctly migrated alongside files
- Hardcoded local URLs appearing in links or resources on the live site
Common causes
- Hardcoded local development URLs left in the database or code, not resolving on the live domain
- A PHP or MySQL version mismatch between the local environment and live server
- An incomplete file or database transfer during deployment
- File permissions on the live server differing from what the code expects
- A plugin or dependency present locally but not installed on the live server
What we do
- Compare the local and live environments to identify the specific mismatch
- Correct hardcoded URLs or paths that don’t resolve correctly on live
- Resolve any version mismatch between local and live PHP or MySQL
- Complete any missing file or database transfer
- Correct file permissions where they differ from what’s needed
- Verify the live site now matches expected local behaviour fully
What is included
- The specific deployment-related cause identified and corrected
- A fully functioning live site matching expected local behaviour
- A check for related environment mismatches beyond the immediate symptom
- The pre-fix backup, kept for 30 days
Not included
- Setting up a proper version-controlled deployment process going forward, a separate, related fix
- Fixing an issue that also existed locally, unrelated to the deployment itself
- Ongoing deployment support beyond this specific repair
- Migrating to a different host entirely, a separate, larger task
Questions about this fix
Why would something work locally but not on the live server at all?
Local development environments often differ from live servers in subtle ways — PHP version, available extensions, file paths, URL structure — and any of those differences can surface only once the site actually reaches the live environment.
Is this something that will keep happening with every future deployment?
It can, if the underlying process for deploying (rather than the specific error this time) isn't changed — worth considering a more structured deployment approach if this has happened more than once.
Could this have caused any data loss?
Generally no, if the issue is environment configuration rather than data transfer itself — but we do check specifically that all data transferred completely and correctly as part of diagnosing this.
How do I avoid this happening again next time I deploy?
A version-controlled deployment process (like Git-based deployment) significantly reduces this kind of environment mismatch by making the deployment process consistent and repeatable rather than manual each time.
Will you need access to both my local environment and the live server?
Ideally yes, or at least clear information about both, since comparing the two directly is usually the fastest way to pinpoint exactly where the mismatch is.
Related fixes
If this is the second time this year
A bad update breaking the site is a symptom of updates not being tested first. Care plans run every update on a staging clone before it reaches your live site, which is the actual fix for this happening again.
Your access, your rules
Create a separate admin account for us and delete it when we are done. For anything else, we get in touch and agree a method — never a form field on this site, never by reply to an email.
We back up first, always
Before anything is touched we take a full backup and keep it for 30 days. If a fix goes wrong, we put the site back exactly as it was.
If it is not what you bought
If the problem turns out smaller than what you ordered, we refund the difference. If it is bigger, we stop and send a quote before doing any extra work.
If we cannot fix it
You get back what we received. Diagnosis is on us — you only pay when the problem is actually solved. The payment processor takes its fee before the money reaches us, so we never hold it and it is not ours to return. That is true here as everywhere else.
If it comes back
Reply within seven days of delivery and we put it back on the bench at no cost. The fix is not finished until it holds.
What we are responsible for
If something goes wrong with a fix, our responsibility is limited to what you paid for it. We take a full backup first so mistakes can be undone, and we tell you before doing anything outside what you bought.