Quick start with WordPress & Docker by using wpdock

Managing a WordPress development environment can be challenging, especially when dealing with various configurations and dependencies. To streamline this process, I am excited to introduce wpdock, a new command-line tool designed to make your WordPress development with Docker effortless and efficient. Here’s how wpdock can benefit you and simplify your workflow.

What is wpdock?

wpdock is a CLI tool that automates the setup and management of WordPress environments using Docker. It encapsulates best practices and common tasks into simple commands, ensuring you can focus more on developing and less on configuring your environment.

Interested to see the README?
It’s on npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/wpdock

Key Benefits

1. Quick Setup: With wpdock, you can initialize a new WordPress project with a single command. This generates all necessary Docker configuration files and environment settings, getting you up and running in no time.
2. Effortless Management: Starting, stopping, and deleting your WordPress Docker containers is simplified to basic commands. Under the hood, docker-compose commands are used, but they eliminate parts where you must find the running containers, the container IDs, and more. This is replaced with simple intuitive commands: start, stop, delete.
3. Isolated Development Environment: By using Docker, wpdock creates a separate environment for your WordPress projects. This ensures that your local system remains clean and free of conflicts.
4. Automated Cron Jobs: The cron command in wpdock allows you to manage WordPress cron jobs efficiently. You can run cron jobs in the background, specify intervals, and more.
5. Interactive Shell Access: The wpdock bash command allows you to enter the Docker container and run WP-CLI commands directly. This provides an easy way to manage your WordPress installation and perform administrative tasks.

While is still young, in the early stage, I expect to extend its development in the future and implement other needed features and commands. One of them that I think at the moment would be the xdebug integration and loading from a docker container.

How to Get Started

Installation: First, install wpdock globally using npm:

npm install -g wpdock

Initializing a Project: Create a new directory for your WordPress site and initialize it with wpdock:

mkdir my-wordpress-site 
cd my-wordpress-site 
wpdock init

This command generates the Docker configuration files and necessary environment settings in the current directory.

Managing Docker Containers:

Start the Docker containers:

wpdock start

Stop the Docker containers:

wpdock stop

Delete all Docker containers and networks:

wpdock delete

Using Cron Jobs: The cron command allows you to manage WordPress cron jobs with ease:

Run cron jobs in the background every 10 seconds:

wpdock cron -i 10 -b

Kill all running cron processes:

wpdock cron -k

I still prefer running cron jobs and seeing progress in a separate terminal.

Installing WordPress: If WordPress is not installed, the install command will guide you through setting up your site:

wpdock install

You’ll be prompted to enter your site title, admin username, password, and email. The tool then installs WordPress with these settings.

Conclusion

wpdock is designed to make your WordPress development experience smoother by automating routine tasks and ensuring a consistent environment. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or just starting with Docker and WordPress, wpdock can save you time and reduce the complexity of managing your development setup.

For more detailed guides and tips on using Docker with WordPress, check out my other articles on ZeroWP. Happy coding!