Send it a week early
The owner gathers card details and logins ahead of time, so the call is not spent waiting on a password reset.
Free checklist
The WordPress Handoff Checklist
A WordPress handoff checklist for the day a site changes hands: logins, hosting, backups, the update routine, and who to call. Twenty-four items in five groups. It is the list I close every project with, and you can read all of it here.
Why it exists
Why a WordPress handoff checklist matters
Most handoff problems are not code. They are a login nobody wrote down, a domain renewing on a card that expired, or a form that stopped sending in March and nobody noticed until June. None of that shows up in a demo. All of it shows up six months later, usually at the worst time.
I run through this WordPress handoff checklist with the client on the last call of a project. We open the accounts together, change a password together, and write the answers into one document the owner keeps. It takes an hour. It saves a week.
It works just as well when you are taking over a site someone else built. Use it as the questions to ask before you say yes.
| What goes wrong | Usually because | Checklist group |
|---|---|---|
| Site goes dark on a renewal date | Domain or hosting billed to the developer’s card | 1 · Access |
| A plugin update breaks checkout | No staging site and no tested backup | 2 · Hosting |
| Contact form sends nowhere | SMTP account in someone else’s name | 3 · The site |
| New hire cannot edit a page | No written guide, no editor role | 4 · People |
| Nobody updated anything for a year | No routine and no name on it | 5 · After handoff |
1 · Access
Logins and ownership
The owner should be able to lock everyone else out, including me. If that is not true, the site is not theirs yet. Start here.
- A WordPress administrator account in the owner’s name, with a strong password and two-factor sign-in turned on.
- The hosting account in the owner’s name, with billing on the owner’s card.
- The domain registrar login, auto-renew on, and the owner listed as the registrant contact.
- Where DNS lives and what each record points at, in one short table.
- The email sending account (SMTP or a transactional service) and the From address it uses.
- Every third-party account the site depends on, with the owner as the account holder: payments, forms, analytics, fonts, maps, email marketing.
Quick test: log out, log in as the owner, and change the owner’s password. If that needs a developer, the handoff is not done.
2 · Hosting
Hosting, domain, and backups
A backup nobody has restored is a guess. A PHP version nobody is watching is a countdown. This group is about the ground the site stands on.
- The PHP version the site runs on, and when the host will retire it. The PHP supported versions page has the dates.
- An SSL certificate that renews on its own.
- Backups: where they go, how often, how far back they reach, and one restore that was actually tested.
- A staging site, or a written way to make one.
- How to clear the server cache and the page cache, in two sentences.
Quick test: restore last night’s backup to staging and open the home page. If nobody knows how, that is the first thing to learn.
3 · The site
Theme, plugins, and forms
The owner does not need to read the code. They need to know where it is, what each moving part does, and which parts cost money every year.
- The theme name and version, and where its code lives: a repository, not a zip on a laptop.
- Any child theme or custom plugin, with one line on what each does.
- The plugin list with a one-line reason for each, and which ones are paid, with renewal dates.
- Which forms send where, and a test submission that actually landed.
- Which copy lives in the block editor and which lives in a settings screen, so nobody hunts for a sentence.
Quick test: submit the contact form from a phone and wait for the email. Then find the sentence in the footer and change one word.
4 · People
Content and the people who edit it
Sites die when the one person who knew how to edit them leaves. This group makes sure the knowledge is written down, not remembered.
- Who can publish, who can edit, and how a new editor is added.
- How to add a post, a page, a product, or a team member: a short written guide or a five-minute screen recording.
- Image habits that keep pages fast and accessible: size before upload, and alt text that says what the picture is for.
- The privacy policy, terms, and cookie notice checked against the owner’s real details and the services the site actually uses.
Quick test: ask the newest person on the team to publish a draft post. Time it. Anything over ten minutes means the guide is missing a step.
5 · After handoff
What happens next month
Handoff day is not the end. The site needs updates, a watcher, and a clear line about what support covers. Write those down before the goodbye call ends.
- The update routine: who updates WordPress, the theme, and the plugins, and how often. The release tracker shows what is coming.
- Uptime monitoring, or at least a monthly manual look at the home page, the contact form, and the checkout if there is one.
- Where to report a bug, and what a reasonable reply time is.
- A written line between support and a new project, so nobody is surprised by an invoice.
How to run it
How to run the checklist
Walk it together
Share a screen and tick each item live. Change at least one password while you are both watching.
Write it in one place
One document the owner keeps, with a date on it. Not a chat thread, not an email the developer sent once.
Revisit it yearly
Renewals move, people leave, plugins get replaced. A yearly pass through the same list catches it.
Get the checklist
Keep a copy of the WordPress handoff checklist in your inbox
Sign up and I will send this checklist to your inbox, so it is there on handoff day. You will also get occasional notes on WordPress work: new posts, release notes, and the other lists I use. First name is optional.
Your address goes to Hostinger Reach, the service that sends these notes, and nowhere else. Details are in the privacy policy.
Questions
Questions about the checklist
Is this only for sites you built?
No. It is the same list whoever built the site. If an agency or a freelancer is handing a site to you, send them the link and ask them to go through it with you.
Do I need the email version?
No. The whole WordPress handoff checklist is on this page. The email version is for people who want it in their inbox on handoff day, and it comes with the occasional notes.
How long does a handoff take?
About an hour on a call when the owner has gathered logins ahead of time. Longer when accounts have to be moved into the owner’s name first, which is common.
What if the previous developer is gone?
Start with group one. Hosting support can usually move an account to the domain owner with proof of ownership. Everything else follows from having that login.
Can you run the handoff for me?
Yes. I take over WordPress sites and finish handoffs that stalled. Start with the project brief or say hello and tell me where it stands.
Available now
Need a hand with a handoff?
I take over WordPress sites and finish handoffs that stalled. Tell me where it stands, or start with the project brief and I will reply with a written scope.
Remote anywhere, Eastern Time.