Safety Model

SEO operations can affect traffic, indexing, and revenue. wp-seo-ops is designed to make risky operations reviewable before they are applied.

Risk Categories

Operation Type	Examples	Risk
Read-only	meta get, meta list, audit full, redirect list	Low
Write	meta set, meta import, meta bulk, redirect add, redirect import	Medium
Delete	meta delete, redirect delete	High
External submit	instant-indexing submit	Medium

Dry Run First

Use --dry-run before applying write-heavy changes:

seo-ops meta set 123 title "New title" --path=/var/www/html --dry-run
seo-ops meta import metadata.csv --path=/var/www/html --dry-run
seo-ops meta bulk updates.csv --path=/var/www/html --dry-run
seo-ops redirect import redirects.csv --path=/var/www/html --dry-run

Dry-run output should be reviewed like a deployment plan.

Confirm Deletes

Delete commands require explicit confirmation unless --yes is passed.

Interactive confirmation:

seo-ops redirect delete /old-page --path=/var/www/html

Non-interactive automation:

seo-ops redirect delete /old-page --path=/var/www/html --yes

danger

Only use --yes in scripts when the input has already been validated. Prefer --dry-run in the same pipeline before applying changes.

Backup Before Batch Changes

Before imports, bulk updates, or redirect migrations, export the current state:

seo-ops meta export --path=/var/www/html --output=meta-backup.csv
seo-ops redirect export --path=/var/www/html --output=redirects-backup.csv

These files give you a rollback reference even if rollback is performed manually.

Prefer Small Batches

For large sites, split changes into small CSV batches:

batch-001.csv
batch-002.csv
batch-003.csv

Apply and validate one batch at a time:

seo-ops meta bulk batch-001.csv --path=/var/www/html --dry-run
seo-ops meta bulk batch-001.csv --path=/var/www/html
seo-ops audit meta-check --path=/var/www/html --format=table

Recommended Change Process

1. Export current metadata or redirects.
2. Run the planned command with --dry-run.
3. Review output manually or in CI.
4. Apply the command without --dry-run.
5. Run a validation command.
6. Save the audit or CSV output with your deployment notes.

Production Checklist

Before running production writes:

• Confirm --path points to the intended WordPress installation.
• Confirm the detected SEO plugin matches expectation.
• Export existing metadata or redirects.
• Run --dry-run.
• Use small CSV batches for large updates.
• Validate with audit meta-check, redirect list, or direct meta get calls.