Recommendations?

"I have a 3-step process for developing and deploying my website. It's intended to assure code integrity while having adequate testing. It consists of a DEV_Environment where all files are created and changed; a localhost integration testing environment created by a batch file that copies selected files and folders from the DEV_Enviroment onto a different drive; and finally the webhost environment."

"Recently I've tested and made changes in the localhost environment, breaking my discipline for the sake of the convenience of not having to copy files from DEV to localhost. I want to create a test environment on my DEV environment drive. I asked Claude.ai how to do that and was told that I should install a portable XAMPP environment on by DEV drive."

The workflow uses three environments: DEV for all code creation and changes, a localhost integration test environment populated by a batch file from DEV on a different drive, and the webhost for final deployment. Final testing and acceptance happen on the read-only localhost to force base-code maintenance in DEV and to ensure only accepted files are uploaded to the webhost. Discipline was broken by making edits directly on localhost for convenience. The goal is to add a test server on the DEV drive to allow iterative edits and testing without altering the established migration protocol, and to clarify the meaning of 'portable XAMPP.'

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