PressHost 🚀

Docker image for WordPress and ClassicPress hosting with NGINX and PHP 8.4.

Features

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• ⚡ Based on Debian + NGINX 1.26 + PHP 8.4 + s6-overlay v3
• 🔐 Rootless by default
• 🌱 Everything is done via environment variables; PHP configurations, NGINX, and even WordPress constants are handled by environment variables. No need to edit wp-config.php.
• 🧠 Real caching support, works well with WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, WP Fastest Cache, and also with NGINX FastCGI Cache (via NGINX Helper).
• 📦 Separate code, uploads, cache, and logs — facilitates backup, restore, and migration.
• 🔧 Interactive installer, start the container, run docker exec -it presshost ./presshost and perform the guided installation.

Quick Start

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/butialabs/presshost/main/compose.yml
nano compose.yml
docker compose up -d

Required variables

Variable	Description	Example
DB_NAME	Database name	presshost
DB_USER	Database user	presshost
DB_PASSWORD	Database password	p@ssw0rd
DB_HOST	Database host	db
WP_SITEURL	Site URL	https://your-domain.xyz
WP_HOME	Home URL	https://your-domain.xyz

Volumes

Path	Description
/site/press	Press files
/site/uploads	Media files (wp-content/uploads)
/site/cache	Cache files (wp-content/cache) and NGINX
/site/logs	Log files

Installation

If it's a migration, you can skip the installation and just copy the files to the correct volumes.

Upon startup, an index.php file would be displayed automatically if none already exists.

After starting your container, run the interactive installer:

docker exec -it presshost ./presshost

The installer will guide you through WordPress or ClassicPress installation.

All Environments

Database

Variable	Default	Description
DB_CHARSET	utf8mb4	Database character set
DB_COLLATE	utf8mb4_unicode_ci	Database collation

Press

Variable	Default	Description
WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE	production	Environment type (production, staging, development)
WP_DEBUG	false	Enable debug mode
WP_DEBUG_LOG	false	Enable debug logging
WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY	false	Display debug messages
SAVEQUERIES	false	Save database queries for debugging
AUTOMATIC_UPDATER_DISABLED	false	Disable automatic updates
DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT	false	Disable file editing in admin
DISALLOW_FILE_MODS	false	Disable file modifications in admin
WPLANG	en_US	Language setting
FS_METHOD	direct	Filesystem method
FORCE_SSL_ADMIN	true	Force SSL for admin
FORCE_SSL_LOGIN	true	Force SSL for login
AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL	120	Autosave interval (seconds)
WP_POST_REVISIONS	30	Post revisions limit (-1 for unlimited)
WP_MEMORY_LIMIT	256M	Memory limit
WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT	512M	Maximum memory limit on Admin
WP_CACHE	false	Enable caching
WP_CACHE_KEY_SALT	``	Cache key salt
MEDIA_TRASH	true	Enable media trash functionality
DISABLE_NAG_NOTICES	true	Disable admin nag notices

Salts

Salts are generated automatically at startup if they are not defined.

Variable	Default	Description
AUTH_KEY	``	Authentication key
SECURE_AUTH_KEY	``	Secure authentication key
LOGGED_IN_KEY	``	Logged-in key
NONCE_KEY	``	Nonce key
AUTH_SALT	``	Authentication salt
SECURE_AUTH_SALT	``	Secure authentication salt
LOGGED_IN_SALT	``	Logged-in salt
NONCE_SALT	``	Nonce salt

SMTP

Variable	Default	Description
SMTP_USER	``	SMTP username
SMTP_PASS	``	SMTP password
SMTP_HOST	``	SMTP host
SMTP_FROM	``	SMTP from email
SMTP_NAME	``	SMTP from name
SMTP_PORT	``	SMTP port
SMTP_SECURE	``	SMTP security type (ssl/tls)
SMTP_AUTH	true	Enable SMTP authentication
SMTP_DEBUG	false	Enable SMTP debugging

Others

Variable	Default	Description
APP_PATH	/site/press	Application path
UPLOADS_PATH	/site/uploads	Uploads directory path
CACHE_PATH	/site/cache	Cache directory path
LOGS_PATH	/site/logs	Logs directory path
APP_USER	www-data	Application user
APP_GROUP	www-data	Application group
TZ	UTC	Timezone

PHP

Variable	Default	Description
PHP_MEMORY_LIMIT	512M	Memory limit
PHP_MAX_EXECUTION_TIME	120	Max execution time (seconds)
PHP_MAX_INPUT_TIME	120	Max input time (seconds)
PHP_MAX_INPUT_VARS	3000	Max input variables
PHP_POST_MAX_SIZE	64M	Max POST size
PHP_UPLOAD_MAX_FILESIZE	64M	Max upload size
PHP_DEFAULT_SOCKET_TIMEOUT	60	Default socket timeout (seconds)
PHP_OUTPUT_BUFFERING	4096	Output buffering size
PHP_PM	dynamic	Process manager type (static, dynamic, ondemand)
PHP_PM_MAX_CHILDREN	50	Max children processes
PHP_PM_START_SERVERS	10	Start servers (preforked workers)
PHP_PM_MIN_SPARE_SERVERS	10	Min spare servers
PHP_PM_MAX_SPARE_SERVERS	35	Max spare servers
PHP_PM_MAX_REQUESTS	1000	Max requests per child (prevents memory leaks)
PHP_PM_PROCESS_IDLE_TIMEOUT	10s	Idle timeout for ondemand PM
PHP_FPM_REQUEST_TERMINATE_TIMEOUT	300	Request terminate timeout (seconds)
PHP_FPM_LISTEN_BACKLOG	65535	Listen queue backlog size
PHP_FPM_RLIMIT_FILES	65535	Max open files limit
PHP_OPCACHE_ENABLE	1	Enable OPcache
PHP_OPCACHE_MEMORY	256	OPcache memory (MB)
PHP_OPCACHE_INTERNED_STRINGS	16	Interned strings buffer (MB)
PHP_OPCACHE_MAX_FILES	20000	Max cached files
PHP_OPCACHE_REVALIDATE_FREQ	2	Revalidate frequency (seconds)
PHP_OPCACHE_VALIDATE_TIMESTAMPS	1	Validate timestamps (0 for production)
PHP_OPCACHE_JIT	tracing	JIT mode (tracing, function, off)
PHP_OPCACHE_JIT_BUFFER_SIZE	128M	JIT buffer size
PHP_SESSION_COOKIE_HTTPONLY	1	Session cookie httponly
PHP_SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE	1	Session cookie secure
PHP_SESSION_USE_STRICT_MODE	1	Session use strict mode
PHP_APC_ENABLED	1	Enable APCu
PHP_APC_SHM_SIZE	64M	APCu shared memory size
PHP_APC_TTL	7200	APCu TTL (seconds)
PHP_APC_ENABLE_CLI	0	Enable APCu for CLI
PHP_REALPATH_CACHE_SIZE	4096K	Realpath cache size
PHP_REALPATH_CACHE_TTL	600	Realpath cache TTL (seconds)

NGINX

Variable	Default	Description
NGINX_CLIENT_MAX_BODY_SIZE	64m	Client max body size
NGINX_CLIENT_BODY_BUFFER_SIZE	128k	Client body buffer size
NGINX_CLIENT_HEADER_BUFFER_SIZE	1k	Client header buffer size
NGINX_LARGE_CLIENT_HEADER_BUFFERS	4 16k	Large client header buffers
NGINX_OUTPUT_BUFFERS	1 32k	Output buffers
NGINX_FASTCGI_BUFFER_SIZE	32k	FastCGI buffer size
NGINX_FASTCGI_BUFFERS	16 16k	FastCGI buffers
NGINX_FASTCGI_BUSY_BUFFERS_SIZE	64k	FastCGI busy buffers size
NGINX_FASTCGI_CONNECT_TIMEOUT	300s	FastCGI connect timeout (must be >= PHP timeouts)
NGINX_FASTCGI_SEND_TIMEOUT	300s	FastCGI send timeout (must be >= PHP timeouts)
NGINX_FASTCGI_READ_TIMEOUT	300s	FastCGI read timeout (must be >= PHP timeouts)
NGINX_KEEPALIVE_TIMEOUT	65s	Keepalive timeout
NGINX_KEEPALIVE_REQUESTS	1000	Requests per keepalive
NGINX_CLIENT_BODY_TIMEOUT	60s	Client body timeout
NGINX_CLIENT_HEADER_TIMEOUT	120s	Client header timeout
NGINX_SEND_TIMEOUT	60s	Send timeout
NGINX_CACHE	false	Enable NGINX FastCGI cache
NGINX_CACHE_MAX_SIZE	512m	Cache max size
NGINX_CACHE_INACTIVE	60m	Cache inactive time

SSL

Variable	Default	Description
SSL_CERT_PATH	/etc/nginx/server.crt	SSL certificate path
SSL_PRIVATE_PATH	/etc/nginx/server.key	SSL private key path
SSL_TRUSTED_CERT_PATH	/etc/nginx/server.crt	Trusted CA certificate for OCSP stapling
NGINX_SSL_STAPLING	off	Enable OCSP stapling
NGINX_SSL_STAPLING_VERIFY	off	Verify OCSP responses

Logging

Variable	Default	Description
VERBOSE	false	Enable verbose logging
DEBUG	false	Enable debug logging
LOG_MAX_SIZE	10M	Log max size for rotation
LOG_MAX_AGE	30	Log max age for rotation

Installation

These variables are used during the interactive installation process via presshost command:

Variable	Default	Description
INSTALL_WORDPRESS_VERSION	latest	Specific WordPress version to install
INSTALL_CLASSICPRESS_VERSION	latest	Specific ClassicPress version to install

Custom Constants

Any environment variable starting with PRESS_ is automatically converted to a Press constant. The PRESS_ prefix is removed and the value is passed to wp-config.php.

Examples:

Environment Variable	Constant	Type
PRESS_GOOGLE_KEY=abc123	define('GOOGLE_KEY', 'abc123')	string
PRESS_ENABLE_FEATURE=true	define('ENABLE_FEATURE', true)	boolean
PRESS_MAX_ITEMS=50	define('MAX_ITEMS', 50)	integer

Using signed SSL

Via Certbot / Let's Encrypt

services:
  presshost:
    image: ghcr.io/butialabs/presshost:latest
    environment:
      # ...
      SSL_CERT_PATH: /site/ssl/live/your-domain.com/fullchain.pem
      SSL_PRIVATE_PATH: /site/ssl/live/your-domain.com/privkey.pem
      SSL_TRUSTED_CERT_PATH: /site/ssl/live/your-domain.com/chain.pem
      NGINX_SSL_STAPLING: "on"
      NGINX_SSL_STAPLING_VERIFY: "on"
    volumes:
      # ...
      - /etc/letsencrypt:/site/ssl:ro

Note: The SSL_TRUSTED_CERT_PATH variable should point to the intermediate certificate chain (chain.pem) for OCSP stapling to work correctly. Without this, you may see warnings like "ssl_stapling ignored, no OCSP responder URL in the certificate".

Note: Nginx automatically reloads daily at 00:00 (container timezone) to pick up renewed certificates. This ensures seamless certificate rotation without manual intervention.

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Made with ❤️ by Butiá Labs