Sample configuration for developing WordPress using Docker Compose

Based on two blog posts (part 1, part 2) describing how to use Docker for WordPress plugin, theme and MultiSite development.

Instructions

Install Docker and Docker Compose, then:

git clone https://github.com/gravityrail/wordpress-docker-compose-example.git
cd wordpress-docker-compose-example
docker-compose up

You'll see a bunch of output from the running processes - nginx, php-fpm and mysql.

On OS X, open a new Terminal window and enter:

open "http://$(boot2docker ip):8080"

If everything worked correctly, you should see the installer for your WordPress web site!

You should also see a src directory within the git repo which contains the latest version of WordPress. You can edit this code, unzip plugins and themes and customize to your heart's content and all the changes will show up instantly when you reload the URL in your browser.

Scripting the container

As an added bonus, which container adds the wp command from the wp-cli project. This allows you to modify your WordPress site from the command line.

To run this from outside the container, you can use "docker-compose run" like this:

docker-compose run wordpress wp --allow-root plugin install hello-dolly

This is a bit verbose, so you may want to create this alias and save it in your ~/.profile

alias docker-wp='docker-compose run wordpress wp --allow-root'

Which turns the command above into:

docker-wp plugin install hello-dolly

Cool, right? Want to create a new plugin but tired of writing all that scaffolding? Now just run:

docker-wp scaffold plugin my_super_plugin --plugin_name="My Super Plugin"