WordPress Development

A WordPress development environment, using docker (via docker-compose), complete with WordPress, PHP FPM, MariaDB, Nginx, composer, WP-CLI, npm and git services.

Installation

Create a new directory for your project: mkdir my-wordpress-project
Change into this directory: cd my-wordpress-project
Clone this repository: git clone https://github.com/GrottoPress/wordpress-dev.git ../wp-dev
Copy src/ files into your new project’s directory: cp -rf ../wp-dev/src/. .
Copy the sample.env file to .env: cp sample.env .env
Set permissions for the .env file: chmod 0600 .env
Edit the variables in your new .env file to taste
Run docker-compose up -d to start the services
Visit http://<NGX_HOST>:<NGX_PORT> (use the host and port you set in .env) in your browser to complete WordPress’ installation

Environment Variables

The following variables are available for use in your .env file:

Variable	Description
`DB_ROOT_PASS`	Database root user password
`DB_NAME`	Database name
`DB_USER`	Database user
`DB_PASS`	Database user password
`NGX_HOST`	Hostname of virtual host
`NGX_PORT`	The port on the host machine to bind the nginx container’s port to. Determines the port to access the WordPress installation on the host machine
`PHP_VERSION`	Format: `<major>.<minor>`.
`WP_VERSION`	Format: `<major>.<minor>`.
`WP_DEBUG`
`WP_TABLE_PREFIX`
`WP_AUTH_KEY`
`WP_LOGGED_IN_KEY`
`WP_AUTH_SALT`
`WP_LOGGED_IN_SALT`
`WORK_DIR`	Directory of the particular plugin or theme you are working on. Sets the context for composer, npm and git commands. Eg: `wp-content/plugins/my-plugin`

Get to Work

The wp-content directory of the WordPress installation corresponds to the the app/ directory of your project.

Therefore, if developing a theme, it goes into the app/themes/ directory. Plugins go into the app/plugins/ directory.

You should have set the WORK_DIR environment variable to the directory of the theme or plugin you are working on.

This way, you do not need to cd into that directory to issue git, npm or composer commands.

Using Commands

Copy and paste the following into your ~/.bashrc file.

# BEGIN: Docker/compose
#
docker_compose_git()
{
    if [ -f "${PWD}/docker-compose.yml" ]; then
        docker-compose run --rm git "$@"
    else
        $(which git) "$@"
    fi
}
docker_compose_composer()
{
    if [ -f "${PWD}/docker-compose.yml" ]; then
        docker-compose run --rm composer "$@"
    else
        $(which composer) "$@"
    fi
}
docker_compose_wp()
{
    if [ -f "${PWD}/docker-compose.yml" ]; then
        docker-compose run --rm wp-cli wp "$@"
    else
        $(which wp) "$@"
    fi
}
docker_compose_npm()
{
    if [ -f "${PWD}/docker-compose.yml" ]; then
        docker-compose run --rm node npm "$@"
    else
        $(which npm) "$@"
    fi
}
alias wp="docker_compose_wp"
alias composer="docker_compose_composer"
alias npm="docker_compose_npm"
alias git="docker_compose_git"
#
# END: Docker/Compose

Run source ~/.bashrc or restart terminal, to load the new configuration.

You may then use wp, composer, npm and git commands as you would normally.

Useful commands

Start containers: docker-compose up -d
Stop containers: docker-compose down
Check container logs: docker-compose logs <service>. Eg: docker-compose logs nginx
Access container shell prompt: docker-compose exec <service> /bin/sh. Eg: docker-compose exec nginx /bin/sh

Notes on Changing WordPress version

Currently, the entire WordPress installation is persisted in a named volume (app), to ensure the other services (eg: nginx) have access to them. (This is not ideal; any ideas are welcome.)

Therefore, if you change the WordPress version, you need to remove the corresponding volume (wordpress_app) with the command docker volume rm wordpress_app, before running docker-compose up -d again.

Remember to stop containers, with docker-compose down, before removing volume.