Docker for Magento Development: Setup Guide
Why Docker?
Docker provides consistent development environments across teams. No more "works on my machine" issues. Every developer gets an identical environment with the exact same PHP version, MySQL version, and extensions.
Docker Compose Setup
We recommend a multi-container setup: nginx, php-fpm, MySQL 8.0, Redis, OpenSearch, and Mailhog. Each service runs in its own container with shared volumes for the Magento codebase.
Performance on macOS
Use mutagen or docker-sync for file synchronization. Native Docker volumes on macOS are notoriously slow for PHP applications. Mutagen provides near-native performance.
Warden vs Custom
Warden is the most popular Magento Docker environment. It handles SSL, DNS, multiple projects, and comes pre-configured for Magento. For custom needs, build your own compose stack.