Introduction

As part of my WordPress Technical Support Engineer Training, after completing the environment setup on Day 1, today’s focus was to install and configure a full-fledged Integrated Development Environment (IDE) using Visual Studio Code, set up Z Shell (Oh My Zsh) for a faster command-line workflow, and explore the basics of Git and SVN.

Tools Installed & Configured

  • Visual Studio Code
  • WordPress Playground Extension
  • Z Shell + Oh My Zsh
  • Git & SVN

1. Installing Visual Studio Code

1️⃣ Downloaded and installed VS Code from https://code.visualstudio.com.

2️⃣ Installed essential extensions for WordPress development: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=WordPressPlayground.wordpress-playground

  • WordPress Playground (launch WordPress instantly inside VS Code)

We can install the following extensions too if we need:

  • PHP Intelephense
  • Prettier – Code Formatter
  • GitLens – Git super-charged
  • ESLint
  • Markdown All in One
  • Live Server

3️⃣ Verified installation via terminal:

code --version

4️⃣ Opened the local project folder directly in VS Code:

code .

2. Using WordPress Playground Extension

The WordPress Playground extension lets you spin up a full WordPress site inside VS Code without installing PHP or MySQL.

Steps:

1️⃣ Open VS Code → Extensions → Search WordPress Playground → Install.
2️⃣ Click the WordPress icon in the Activity Bar.
3️⃣ Select Start WordPress Server.
4️⃣ It opens your project in a browser with a live WP environment. This is perfect for quick plugin or theme testing.

” If the extension doesn’t start on Windows, keep LocalWP as a fallback that we created in day 1.

3. Setting Up Z Shell (Zsh) and Oh My Zsh

To improve terminal speed and readability, I installed Zsh and configured Oh My Zsh for plugins and themes.

Installation commands:

sudo apt install zsh -y chsh -s $(which zsh)

Install Oh My Zsh:

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

For windows:

Zsh is does not natively support Windows. Instead, we can try Oh My Posh.

In short:

  • 🧩 Zsh & Oh My Zsh → Need Linux/macOS or WSL.
  • ⚙️ Oh My Posh → Windows-friendly equivalent with similar benefits.
winget install JanDeDobbeleer.OhMyPosh -s winget

Recommended plugins (I did not try these but good if you want to explore a bit):

  • git
  • z
  • autojump
  • zsh-autosuggestions
  • zsh-syntax-highlighting
Feature / AspectZsh (Z Shell)Oh My Zsh
TypeCommand-line shell (replacement for Bash)Framework / configuration manager for Zsh
PurposeProvides an enhanced shell environmentSimplifies managing Zsh configuration, themes, and plugins
InstallationInstalled as a standalone shell using package manager (sudo apt install zsh)Installed after Zsh via a curl or wget script
Default FeaturesBasic improvements over Bash: better tab completion, spelling correction, globbingShips with 100+ themes and 200+ plugins pre-configured
Configuration FileUses ~/.zshrc (manual editing needed)Also uses ~/.zshrc, but auto-populated with friendly defaults
CustomizationFully manual (you add aliases, prompt styles, functions yourself)Managed via simple edits — enable/disable plugins and themes easily
ThemesNone by default (plain prompt)Comes with many built-in themes like robbyrussell, agnoster, powerlevel10k
PluginsMust install and configure manuallyIncludes plugin system — just add names in plugins=(git z ...)
Ease of UseRequires manual setup and knowledge of config syntaxReady-to-use immediately after install; beginner-friendly
PerformanceSlightly faster since it loads fewer scriptsSlightly slower at startup because of extra plugins and themes
Best ForPower users who want full controlDevelopers who want a quick, beautiful, and feature-rich shell
Example Installationsudo apt install zshsh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"
Zsh vs Oh My Zsh

4. Introduction to Git and SVN

I explored how Git and SVN work, focusing on core commands.
I already covered Git and Git CLI installation yesterday here

Git basics:

git init

git clone <repo-url>

git add .

git commit -m "Initial commit"

git branch feature

git checkout feature

git merge feature

git push origin main

SVN overview: SVN is centralized version control, while Git is distributed.
Understanding this helps when working with older WordPress plugin repositories that still use SVN for releases.

🧭 Course Relevance Note

While exploring today’s and yesterday’s topics, I realized that some sections such as NVM, Composer, Zsh setup and the Git commands and Git quiz are more developer-oriented than necessary for a WordPress Technical Support Engineer.

These parts are useful for developers who:

  • Commit code regularly
  • Work inside CI/CD or staging environments
  • Handle pull requests or deployments

However, since a support engineer’s main focus is troubleshooting, debugging, and communication, (sometimes providing small qucik PHP snippets) these topics are not essential for daily work.
So, I decided to skip those for now and continue focusing on the areas that directly strengthen technical support skills.

📘 Additional Module

After wrapping up the main tasks of Day 2, I also completed the Web Basics module, which covered:

  • Domain Name System (DNS)
  • HTTP / HTTPS
  • How the Web Works
  • Browser and Rendering Engines
  • Web Servers
  • Emails

Since I already knew many of these from past experience, it served as a quick refresher and took about an hour.

For readers unfamiliar with these topics, you can simply google these topics.

📮 Note for WordPress devs and testers:
You can use MailPit locally to capture outgoing emails (contact form notifications, WP emails) without sending them externally. It’s a safe and practical tool for testing.

💡 What I Learned Today

  • A proper IDE setup makes daily WordPress work smoother and saves a lot of time.
  • WordPress Playground can instantly launch a test site inside VS Code without any server configuration. This is ideal for quick plugin or theme checks.
  • Zsh / Oh My Zsh are optional for support engineers; helpful for command-line comfort but not mandatory.
  • Git knowledge is useful but not essential for roles that don’t touch codebases or deployments.
  • The key takeaway is to focus learning on debugging, troubleshooting, and communication, rather than deep developer workflows.