Database Inspection

Some test scenarios require checking or editing database rows directly. If you need a browser-based database tool for a local WordPress development environment, you can add phpMyAdmin to your wordpress-develop Docker setup.

Using phpMyAdmin

Create or update docker-compose.override.yml in the root of your local WordPress Develop checkout. If you already use an override file for another local service, such as Mailpit, add phpmyadmin under the same services block.

services:
  phpmyadmin:
    image: phpmyadmin:latest
    restart: unless-stopped
    depends_on:
      - mysql
    ports:
      - '8080:80'
    environment:
      PMA_HOST: mysql
      PMA_USER: root
      PMA_PASSWORD: password
    networks:
      - wpdevnet

Start the service with:

docker compose up -d phpmyadmin

Then open http://localhost:8080 in your browser. This uses the default local database credentials from the WordPress development environment. The default database name is wordpress_develop.

When you are finished, stop the service with:

docker compose stop phpmyadmin

When to Use Database Inspection

Use database inspection when a test case asks you to confirm stored values, check records created by a feature, or make a targeted database change as part of a reproduction. For most testing tasks, the WordPress admin screens, WP-CLI, and automated tests should be enough.