We review and clean up your wp-config.php file — removing unused or leftover configuration from past migrations or development, correcting security-relevant settings, and ensuring the file reflects your site’s actual, current needs rather than a mix of settings accumulated over its history.
wp-config.php hardening & cleanup
wp-config.php cleaned of leftover migration and development cruft, hardened to current practice.
- Full backup taken before we start
- If we can’t fix it, you get your money back
- We never ask for your own password
What we need from you
- FTP or file access to review and edit wp-config.php
- Confirmation of your current hosting environment, since some settings are host-specific
- A recent backup, or agreement to take one before proceeding
This or something else?
| You want wp-config.php reviewed, cleaned up, and hardened | This fix covers it |
| You specifically want debug mode disabled, a narrower, more specific concern | Debug mode disable & error log cleanup |
| You want broader dashboard settings corrected, not the config file itself | Permalink, timezone & core settings correction |
| Your site is broken and you suspect a wp-config.php error is the cause | Worth describing the specific symptom directly — likely a diagnostic fix rather than a general cleanup |
What we do
- Review the current wp-config.php file thoroughly
- Identify unused, leftover, or conflicting configuration from past migrations or development
- Correct security-relevant settings to current best practice
- Remove genuinely unnecessary configuration while preserving anything actually in use
- Test the site thoroughly after any change
- Document the corrected file’s configuration for future reference
What is included
- wp-config.php reviewed and cleaned up
- Security-relevant settings corrected to current best practice
- Unused or conflicting configuration removed
- The pre-fix backup, kept for 30 days
Not included
- Broader dashboard settings correction, a separate, related fix
- Fixing an active, specific error unrelated to general configuration cleanup
- Hosting-level configuration changes beyond what wp-config.php itself controls
- Ongoing maintenance as new configuration needs arise
Questions about this fix
Is this risky to do on a live site?
We take a backup immediately before any change specifically as a safeguard, and test thoroughly afterward, since wp-config.php is a sensitive file where an error can affect the whole site — care here is genuinely warranted, not excessive.
What kind of leftover configuration typically accumulates in this file?
Database credentials from a previous migration, debug settings left from past troubleshooting, or security keys and salts that were never properly rotated are common examples of things that pile up over a site's history.
Will this fix any specific errors I'm currently experiencing?
If an active error is caused by something in wp-config.php, this review would likely catch it, though if you have a specific, known symptom, describing it directly helps us confirm whether this general cleanup is the right approach or something more targeted is needed.
Does this include rotating security keys and salts?
Yes, checking and refreshing these where appropriate is a reasonable part of hardening this file, since they play a role in session and cookie security.
Is there a natural trigger point for redoing this, rather than a fixed schedule?
A significant migration, a hosting change, or the end of an active development period are the moments worth checking this file again, rather than treating it as something needing attention on a fixed calendar.
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.