Change WordPress Theme Using WP-CLI

WP-CLI is a powerful command line utility for WordPress, which is included by default with your hosting plan or server. It can be used to perform many of the actions you would normally complete in the WordPress dashboard, such as installing or updating plugins and themes, managing users, making changes to the site configuration, and much more.
Here we cover the steps to change your site's theme using WP-CLI. This can be used to activate a new theme after installation or to restore functionality to your site after a theme update has caused it to stop working.

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Change Theme

1. Access the server via SSH or using the Terminal in cPanel
2. Navigate to the site's document root using the cd command

   cd public_html

   REPLACE: public_html with your domain's document root if different. See the guide on finding the document root of a domain for guidance.
3. Run the following command to display the currently installed themes

   wp theme list

   
4. Locate the theme you wish to activate and copy the slug from the name column
5. Run the following command, replacing "slug" with the slug obtained in the previous step

   wp theme activate slug

   CAUTION: It is recommended that you create a backup of your database prior to making changes. This can be done using the following command

   wp db export