This is a simple little wordpress developer environment which provides source files to modify then compile, build, and deploy to a local wordpress installation running in a docker container.
As a quikstart, I've included the understrap child theme (https://understrap.com/). The compilation task runs the necessary tasks to update the understrap child theme. To use a different theme package, delete the files in the src/theme folder and update the compilation tasks as needed.
Run npm install to install the required node packages.
npm run start - creates the docker environment, if it does not exist, and runs wordpress at http://localhost:4000. Run npm run deploy to copy all of the plugin and theme files to the wordpress installation. The theme and plugin will need to be activated from the wordpress admin after the first deploy. After making changes to the source files, run npm run redeploy to have wordpress reflect those changes.
When first creating the docker environment you will need to wait at least 30 seconds before the wp core install command finishes. If you try to request localhost before this process has finished you may see the wordpress install screen. Once the install is finished you will see that the file ./wp/wp-config.php exists and that localhost is ready for requests.
An admin user will be created by the wp core install processs. The credentials for this account are
user: admin
pass: admin
After making changes to the theme or plugin source files, some items may need compiled. Compilation occurs within the source folder, and will change the source files, not the files running in wordpress. Compilation come before building, where those source files are copied to the dist folder. The compilation task runs a gulpfile found in the src/theme and src/plugin folders which are expected to output into relative dist folders.
The build process copies the source files into the dist folder where they will fall into the wordpress wp-content folder structure and be named according to the configuration found in the package.json. The build files should be only what needs to go to wordpress, and nothing more. By default, the build process looks for the folders src/theme/dist and src/plugin/dist before copying the entire contents of these source folders. Files from the source folder can be excluded by using the configuration found in the package.json.
The deploy process copies the contents of the root dist folder into wordpress. After deploying, you will see your changes reflected in the dist folder and on the local wordpress site. Be careful making any modifications in the dist or wp-content folders, as these changes will not make it into the source of the project.
To run wordpress on your local machine, run npm run start to bring the docker container up. Soon, http://localhost:4000, will be available. If this is the first time you've run wordpress, you'll need to set up the wordpress site and create the first user credentials.
On a fresh version of wordpress, you'll need to enable the theme and plugin in the wordpress admin. When using the child theme for understrap, you'll find that there's an error where the parent theme is missing from wordpress. You can click to install it from the theme settings menu in the wordpress admin.
To stop the docker environment, run npm run stop. This does not destory the wordpress installation.
To stop the docker environment and completely delete it, as well as the dist folder, run npm run teardown. Doing so will erase all of the changes made to this local wordpress.
If you've made changes to the source files, you can run npm run redeploy and every process to push the changes to wordpress will run.
This is a testbed or development environment intended to run a theme or plugin in complete isolation on a vanilla wordpress install. You'll notice that the source folder contains 'theme' not theme(s) as well as 'plugin' not plugin(s), this is to enforce the isolation of this environment down to singlular concerns. Any external dependencies needed can still be installed to wordpress as needed, but changes may be lost if the docker environment is deleted (teardown).