---
title: "How To Install & Activate WP Umbrella Using WP CLI"
description: "WP Umbrella is a monitoring, backup, and update management service for WordPress. While the plugin can be installed through the WordPress admin dashboard, using WP-CLI is significantly faster, especially when managing multiple sites. This guide walks through installing and activating WP Umbrella on a single site, then scales that approach to bulk installs across an entire cPanel server."
url: https://support.wp-umbrella.com/en/articles/89-how-to-install-and-activate-wp-umbrella-using-wp-cli
collection: "Getting Started"
updated: 2026-09-18
language: en
---

# How To Install & Activate WP Umbrella Using WP CLI

WP Umbrella is a monitoring, backup, and update management service for WordPress. While the plugin can be installed through the WordPress admin dashboard, using WP-CLI is significantly faster, especially when managing multiple sites. This guide walks through installing and activating WP Umbrella on a single site, then scales that approach to bulk installs across an entire cPanel server.

## Prerequisites

-   WP-CLI is installed on your server (verify with `wp --version`)
    
-   SSH access to your server
    
-   A WP Umbrella account & a workspace API key (find this in your WP Umbrella dashboard under **Workspaces > API Keys**)
    
-   WordPress is already installed at each target site
    

## Installing on a Single Site

SSH into your server, navigate to the WordPress directory for the site you want to attach, and run:

```javascript
wp plugin install wp-health --activate && wp wp-umbrella attach --api-key=YOUR_API_KEY_HERE
```

### What the command does

The command chains 2 operations together using `&&`:

1.  `wp plugin install wp-health --activate` downloads & activates the WP Umbrella plugin. Its [WordPress.org](https://WordPress.org) slug is `wp-health` for legacy reasons, even though the product is marketed as WP Umbrella.
    
2.  `wp wp-umbrella attach --api-key=...` connects the site to your WP Umbrella workspace.
    

### Expected output

A successful first-time install looks like this:

```javascript
Installing WP Umbrella: Update Backup Restore & Monitoring (2.24.2)
Downloading installation package from https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/wp-health.v2.24.2.zip...
Unpacking the package...
Installing the plugin...
Plugin installed successfully.
Activating 'wp-health'...
Success: Installed 1 of 1 plugins.
Using workspace "Your Workspace" (id=...).
Success: Site attached to project 123456.
```

If the plugin was already installed or the site was previously attached, you may see lines like:

```javascript
Warning: Plugin 'wp-health' is already active.
Success: Site re-attached to existing project 119289.
```

These are not errors. The script will complete normally.

## Installing on Multiple Sites (In Bulk)

### Step 1: Find all WordPress installations

cPanel stores user accounts under `/home/`, `/home2/`, `/home3/`, etc., depending on the disk layout. Each user account can host the main domain plus addon domains, each with its own WordPress install. To locate every WordPress directory on the server:

```javascript
find /home* -name "wp-config.php" -not -path "*/wp-content/*" 2>/dev/null
```

The `-not -path "*/wp-content/*"` filter excludes nested `wp-config.php` files left behind by backup plugins or staging copies.

### Step 2: Run the bulk installation script

Save the following as `wp-umbrella-bulk.sh` in your root home directory:

```javascript
#!/bin/bash

# WP Umbrella bulk installer for cPanel/WHM servers
# Run as root: sudo ./wp-umbrella-bulk.sh

API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"
LOG_FILE="/root/wp-umbrella-install-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S).log"

echo "Starting bulk install. Log: $LOG_FILE"

for wp_config in $(find /home* -name "wp-config.php" -not -path "*/wp-content/*" 2>/dev/null); do
    site_dir=$(dirname "$wp_config")
    site_owner=$(stat -c '%U' "$wp_config")

    echo "----------------------------------------" | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"
    echo "Site:  $site_dir" | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"
    echo "Owner: $site_owner" | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"
    echo "----------------------------------------" | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"

    sudo -u "$site_owner" -i -- wp plugin install wp-health --activate --path="$site_dir" 2>&1 | tee -a "$LOG_FILE" \
        && sudo -u "$site_owner" -i -- wp wp-umbrella attach --api-key="$API_KEY" --path="$site_dir" 2>&1 | tee -a "$LOG_FILE"
done

echo "Done. Review $LOG_FILE for results."
```

### Step 3: Make it executable & run

```javascript
chmod +x wp-umbrella-bulk.sh
sudo ./wp-umbrella-bulk.sh
```

### Step 4: Verify results

After the script finishes, check your WP Umbrella dashboard. All newly attached sites will appear under your workspace. You can also count successful attachments from the log:

```javascript
grep -c "Success: Site" /root/wp-umbrella-install-*.log
```

## Important Notes for cPanel Servers

**Always run as the site owner, not root.** WordPress files are owned by the cPanel user. Running WP-CLI as root will trigger permission warnings and may create files with the wrong ownership. The script handles this by using `sudo -u` to switch to each site's owner.

**The** `-i` **flag in sudo** loads the user's login shell environment. This matters on cPanel because PHP binaries and `wp` may be aliased per user, particularly with MultiPHP.

**Throttle for large servers**: On servers with 500+ sites, add an `sleep 1` inside the loop to avoid hammering the [WordPress.org](https://WordPress.org) download endpoint and your own database.

## Troubleshooting

1.  `wp: command not found` WP-CLI is not installed or not in the PATH. Install from [https://wp-cli.org](https://wp-cli.org) and ensure it lives at `/usr/local/bin/wp`.
    
2.  `Error establishing a database connection` The script is not in the WordPress directory. Make sure `--path=` points to the folder containing `wp-config.php`.
    
3.  `Plugin 'wp-health' is already active` Not an error. The `&&` chain continues to the attach step regardless.
    
4.  **Permission errors during install.** You are running as the wrong user. On cPanel, always switch to the site owner `sudo -u` before running WP-CLI.
    
5.  **API key invalid or workspace not found.** Double-check the key in your WP Umbrella dashboard. Keys are workspace-specific, so confirm you are using the key for the workspace you want sites attached to.