wp-docker

A production-ready Docker template for WordPress using MariaDB.

Stack

• WordPress (latest)
• MariaDB (latest)

Getting Started

1. Copy the example env file and fill in your values:

   cp .env.example .env

2. Start the containers:

   docker compose up -d

3. Open http://localhost:8080 to complete the WordPress setup.

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD	MariaDB root password
MARIADB_DATABASE	Database name
MARIADB_USER	Database user
MARIADB_PASSWORD	Database password

Project Structure

├── docker-compose.yml
├── php.ini               # Custom PHP configuration
└── wp-content/
    ├── mu-plugins/
    ├── plugins/
    ├── themes/
    └── uploads/

phpMyAdmin

phpMyAdmin is included but gated behind the tools profile so it never starts automatically.

# Start phpMyAdmin alongside the normal stack
docker compose --profile tools up -d

# Or start it on its own (db must already be running)
docker compose --profile tools up -d phpmyadmin

# Stop everything including phpMyAdmin
docker compose --profile tools down

Once running, open http://localhost:8081 and log in with your MARIADB_USER / MARIADB_PASSWORD credentials (or root).

Never expose port 8081 publicly in production.

WP-CLI

The WordPress image ships with WP-CLI. Run commands via docker compose exec:

docker compose exec wordpress wp --info

Common examples

# Install and activate a plugin
docker compose exec wordpress wp plugin install woocommerce --activate

# Search-replace a URL (useful after cloning a DB)
docker compose exec wordpress wp search-replace 'https://old.example.com' 'https://new.example.com'

# Export the database
docker compose exec wordpress wp db export - > backup.sql

# Import a database dump
docker compose exec wordpress wp db import - < backup.sql

# Flush the cache
docker compose exec wordpress wp cache flush

# Create an admin user
docker compose exec wordpress wp user create admin admin@example.com --role=administrator --user_pass=secret

WP-CLI runs as www-data inside the container, so it has the same filesystem permissions as WordPress itself.

Usage

# Start
docker compose up -d

# Stop
docker compose down

# View logs
docker compose logs -f