What if your entire WordPress and Laravel stack could start in seconds and behave identically on every machine in your team? That promise is no longer aspirational. It is what containerized local development delivers daily.
Developers lose hours to mismatched PHP versions, missing extensions, and fragile system packages. Containers eliminate that drift with isolated, reproducible environments. The result is fewer surprises, faster onboarding, and reliable collaboration.
With a carefully designed approach, you can standardize how projects are run, tested, and debugged. This article lays out a practical workflow, from architecture to troubleshooting, to help you move confidently to a modern, productive Docker-based setup.
Why Docker for PHP Apps: WordPress and Laravel
Docker packages applications with their dependencies, ensuring consistent runtime behavior. For PHP ecosystems, that consistency spans PHP versions, extensions, web servers, databases, and background workers. It removes undocumented “works on my machine” differences.
WordPress and Laravel benefit from strong isolation. Each project defines its own PHP image, libraries, and tools without polluting the host. Teams gain predictable repeatability: a new laptop can reproduce production-like services with one command.
Containers also improve parity with staging and CI. The same images that run locally can run in automated tests and, with appropriate hardening, in production. That smooths handoffs, reduces configuration drift, and accelerates feedback cycles.
A Standard Local Architecture
Standardization begins with a clear service layout. Separate concerns into containers: one for PHP-FPM, another for Nginx or Apache, one for the database, one for caching, and optional workers for queues and scheduled tasks. Keep services lean and focused.
For WordPress, route requests through Nginx to PHP-FPM, and mount a volume for wp-content. For Laravel, do the same for the application code, queues, and storage directories. This symmetry enables shared tooling across both stacks.
Use stable, tagged base images for predictable upgrades. Specify PHP versions and required extensions. Codify OS-level packages within Dockerfiles to avoid subtle differences. Document every decision so the setup is self-explanatory for newcomers.
Services Overview
Define a common baseline for both frameworks. This helps teams understand any project quickly, with minimal cognitive overhead. Name services consistently and map well-known ports to avoid conflicts among multiple projects.
Keep optional services behind profiles so they do not start unless needed. For example, launch MailHog only when testing notifications or start Elasticsearch only for specific search features. This keeps your laptop fast and quiet.
Typical services include:
- nginx: reverse proxy and static asset delivery
- php-fpm: PHP runtime with required extensions
- mysql or postgres: application database
- redis: cache and queue backend
- mailhog: email testing sink
- queue worker: Laravel horizon or supervisor
- cli: composer, artisan, wp-cli tasks
Volumes and Persistence
Map source code into containers using bind mounts for rapid iteration. Keep vendor or node_modules either inside images for isolation or as separate volumes to speed up installs. Decide deliberately and document trade-offs.
Database persistence should live in a named volume to survive container restarts. This makes local testing stable while allowing easy resets. For reproducible demos, provide seed scripts to rebuild with known data.
For WordPress media, mount only the wp-content uploads directory. For Laravel, mount storage/app and logs as needed. Restrict write access where possible to avoid permission drift and protect integrity.
Compose Files, Environments, and Secrets
Use docker-compose as the orchestration backbone. Place a canonical compose file in each repository so all projects share a familiar structure. Keep service names and health checks consistent across repos.
Centralize environment configuration in a .env file, but never hard-code secrets into images. Provide safe defaults for local development and ensure environment variables are explicit, discoverable, and documented in README.
Automate repetitive tasks with a dedicated CLI container. Run Composer, Artisan, and WP-CLI within containers for consistent behavior. This makes scripts portable and avoids dependency sprawl on developer machines.
Profiles and Overrides
Use compose profiles to toggle optional dependencies. A minimal profile can start only PHP, Nginx, and the database. A “full” profile can add Redis, queues, and mail testing. Keep profiles small, purposeful, and named clearly.
Create a docker-compose.override file for local-only customizations. Developers can tweak ports or bind mounts without impacting the team baseline. Check in an example override to guide safe, repeatable customizations.
Split concerns across files: base, dev, and test. This enables you to run integration tests against ephemeral databases and caches using the same definitions. The payoff is consistent, automated pipelines with zero guesswork.
Database, Caching, and Mail in Containers
Choose a database image that matches production and pin versions. Configure character sets, collations, and time zones explicitly. Provide a bootstrap script to create users and schemas, ensuring one-step project setup.
Adopt Redis for application cache and queues across WordPress object caching and Laravel jobs. Standardize connection names, retry strategies, and resource limits. Monitor memory usage to avoid unexpected eviction behavior.
Route emails to a testing sink like MailHog in development. Developers can inspect HTML, headers, and attachments without spamming real inboxes. This enables confident iterations on transactional templates and compliance-sensitive content.
Team Onboarding, CI Parity, and Troubleshooting
New hires should be productive within an hour. Provide a single make or shell entry point that boots the stack, seeds data, and runs smoke tests. Include a concise checklist that verifies ports, health checks, and expected URLs.
Mirror CI with the same images and compose files. Run test suites, linters, and build steps inside containers to guarantee parity. Cache dependencies in volumes or layers to keep pipelines fast and predictable.
When issues arise, rely on container logs, health checks, and minimal shell access. Prefer recreating containers over manual tinkering to maintain repeatability. Capture recurring fixes in documentation and versioned configuration so the whole team benefits.
