When Shifter starts your WordPress site you may notice that some of the URLs in your site have changed. For example; if you migrated your site from example.com the new URL will appear as abc-123-foo.app.getshifter.io.

This is also visible in your theme if you display URLs in areas such as email addresses with the same domain.

The reason for this URL change is that Shifter searches and replaces site URLs during the boot-up process. When Shifter starts the old URL is replaced with the current container URL. This process allows site links to remain active even when Shifter changes the URL of your site.

When generating the static version of your site Shifter will search and replace the container URLs to match your static site web address. If you already set up a custom domain with your site that web address will the one used. If you have not set up a custom domain the temporary Shifter URL will be used.