Mix the batter · Building sites

Working with sites

Everything on a site card: opening and editing, PHP versions and caches, save points, Git, PHP settings, Xdebug, staging copies, Blueprints and more.

4.1The site card

Each site in the Sites pane is a card. The light at the top left is green while the servers are running; next to the name is the kind of site (PHP, Static, or Python with its framework) and below it the site's address.

Open: Opens the site in your browser. It's greyed out while the servers are stopped: click Start All first. Once local HTTPS is on, a lock button opens the https:// address.
Show Folder: Opens the site's folder in the Finder.
Edit: Opens the site's folder in your editor or site-design app (see Edit in your own app).
Files: Opens the built-in file browser, editor and live preview. See Files, the editor and design.
QR code: Shows a code to open the site on a phone or tablet: its test link or domain when it's online, or its network name when On my network is on.
Save points (the clock): Named copies of the site you can go back to. See Save points.

When the card is narrow, the buttons shrink to icons; hold the pointer over one to see its name.

4.2PHP version and cache

PHP sites have two menus under the buttons.

PHP version. Every plan runs the newest PHP (8.5). On FullStack, each site can pick an older version: 8.4, 8.3, 8.2 or 7.1 for old code. Pancake takes a save point named "Before PHP 8.4 (was 8.5)" before switching, so you can go back in one click.
Cache. No cache, OPcache (compiled PHP is kept in memory: faster, and what hosts use), or OPcache + APCu (adds a memory cache that WordPress and other apps can use for data).

Note

If a site was set to an older PHP on FullStack and your plan changes, it runs on the newest PHP and keeps its choice for later. The card says so, with a button to switch it to the newest version for good.

4.3AutoIndex

AutoIndex (list folders without an index page) shows a list of files when someone opens a folder that has no index.html or index.php. It's handy for a folder of downloads or documents. Hidden and sensitive files (such as .env, .sql dumps, keys and .htpasswd) are never listed or served, with AutoIndex on or off.

4.4Save points

A save point is a copy of a site's files and database that you can go back to in one click, such as "Before WordPress update".

Click the clock button on the site's card and choose Save a Save Point….
Give it a name and click Save.
To go back, open the same menu, choose the save point and then Restore.

Pancake also takes save points by itself before changes that are hard to undo: switching PHP version, restoring a backup, using a new design, optimizing images, letting the Assistant change a file, downloading a live site again, and loading a site from Pancake Cloud. Each site keeps its newest 20 save points, apart from its regular backups (see Backups and save points).

4.5Edit in your own app

The Edit button opens the site's folder in the app chosen in Settings ▸ Editors ▸ Edit sites with: a code editor such as BBEdit, VS Code, Nova, Cursor or Zed, or a site-design app such as RapidWeaver, Blocs or Hype. The app macOS uses for each file opens files in their default apps.

A site can choose its own app: turn on Advanced and use Edit this site with on its card.

4.6Python sites

Python cards have their own buttons instead of the PHP menus.

Set Up creates the site's Python environment and installs the framework (shown until it has been done once).
Install Requirements installs the packages in the site's requirements.txt.
Django sites add Migrate, Collect Static and Superuser….

With Advanced on: Python version (3.12, 3.13 or 3.14; changing it rebuilds the environment), App entry, Reload when the code changes, the number of Workers (1 to 8), the App Log and Setup Log, Rebuild Environment… and, for Django, Run Check.

4.7Advanced settings on a card

Turn on Advanced in the Sites pane header to see more on every card.

Git: See Git below.
Aliases: More names for the same site, separated by commas, such as www.shop.localhost. Aliases must end in .localhost.
PHP Settings…: See PHP settings.
Apache Directives…: Lines added inside this site's Apache <VirtualHost>, for rewrite rules or headers your host would let you set. Pancake checks them with Apache first; if they don't load, they're skipped and the error is shown, so a typo can't stop your other sites.
Logs: Opens the Logs window at this site's PHP errors.
Xdebug: Off, When triggered (by a browser extension or XDEBUG_TRIGGER) or Every request. Your editor (VS Code, PhpStorm, Nova) listens on port 9003. The site runs in its own debugging PHP process, so other sites stay fast.
Database: Pancake's own database, or one of your outside databases. Either way the site gets DB_HOST, DB_PORT, DB_NAME, DB_USER and DB_PASSWORD for it.
Web server: Apache, or Nginx FullStack: try_files routing and no .htaccess, as on an Nginx host. Apache still answers first (for HTTPS, tunnels and local-only rules) and hands the site's requests to Nginx.
Single-page app: Static sites only: any address that isn't a file opens index.html, so routes such as /about in Vite, Lovable and React apps work when opened directly or reloaded.
Send real mail: TallStack Sends this site's mail through your SMTP relay as well as capturing it. See Mail relay.
Environment…: TallStack Your own environment variables. See Environment variables.
Optimize Images…: See Optimize images.
Save as Blueprint…: See Blueprints.
Make a Staging Copy…: TallStack See Staging copies.
Remove Site…: See Removing a site.

4.8PHP settings

PHP Settings… changes PHP for one site only.

Memory per request, Largest upload and Time limit per request.
Report: Everything (development), Everything except deprecations, Errors and warnings or Errors only (production).
Show errors in the page (and Format shown errors as HTML), Write errors to this site's PHP log and Skip an error repeated on the same line.
More php.ini settings: any other setting as a name and value.

Defaults puts everything back. To change PHP for every site, edit the php.ini template (see Templates).

Logs that grow past the limit in Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Keep each log under (10, 50 or 200 MB) are cut to their newest half.

4.9Environment variables

TallStack Environment… holds a site's own settings and secrets, such as an API key or APP_ENV=local.

Click Add and type a name and value, or Paste from .env… to bring in a whole .env file at once.
Click Save. Pancake restarts the servers so PHP and Python pick the values up.

The values are kept in your Keychain, never in the site's folder, and they also reach the site's scheduled tasks and workers. Names Pancake sets itself (DB_…, PANCAKE_…, DATABASE_URL, PATH, HOME and similar) are reserved; Pancake's own values win.

4.10Git

Pancake has Git built in, so you don't need Xcode's command-line tools.

A site that isn't a repository shows Start Git.
A repository shows its branch, how many files changed, and how far it is ahead or behind, with Commit…, Pull and Push (or Connect… to add a remote).
With Advanced on: the remote's address, Change Remote…, a Branch menu, a field to create a branch, and the last eight commits.

Pancake's .gitignore keeps .env files, SQL dumps, dependency folders and caches out of commits. Set your name and email for commits, and a personal access token or Pancake's SSH key for your Git host, in Settings ▸ Git (Advanced).

4.11Optimize images

Optimize Images… makes a site's JPEG and PNG files smaller.

Lossless; same pixels, smaller files, or Smaller; high-quality JPEG (quality 82).
Remove location and camera details strips GPS and camera data from photos.
Largest size scales big images down (to 3840, 2560, 1920 or 1280 pixels), or keeps their size.
Take a save point first is on by default.

A file is replaced only when the result is smaller. Dependency folders (vendor, node_modules) and WordPress's own files are left alone. The defaults come from Settings ▸ Images.

4.12Blueprints

A Blueprint is a site saved as a template: its files, database and settings. Use one to start every client site from the same theme and plugins.

On the site's card (Advanced), choose Save as Blueprint…, name it and click Save. With the servers stopped, only the files are saved.
To use it, choose New Site ▸ From a Blueprint, pick it, type a new name and click Create.

4.13Staging copies

TallStack Make a Staging Copy… creates a separate site, named <site>-staging unless you choose otherwise, with its own folder and database. Its addresses are changed to the copy's own .localhost name, so the original isn't affected. Try a risky update on the copy first.

4.14Removing a site

Remove Site… (Advanced) removes the site from Pancake and moves its folder to the Trash, so you can still get the files back. A Python site's environment is deleted. The database stays in the Databases pane: export or delete it there.