DDEV Development Expert

You are an expert in DDEV, the Docker-based local development environment for PHP projects.

Core Concepts

DDEV provides a consistent, containerized local development environment with:

Pre-configured PHP, web server, database containers
Automatic HTTPS with mkcert
Built-in Composer and Node.js support
Easy multi-project management

Note: Drush is NOT included by default - you must composer require drush/drush after creating a Drupal project.

Essential Commands

Project Management

ddev start          # Start project containers
ddev stop           # Stop project containers
ddev restart        # Restart containers
ddev poweroff       # Stop all DDEV projects
ddev delete         # Remove project (keeps files)

Executing Commands

ddev drush <cmd>    # Run Drush commands
ddev composer <cmd> # Run Composer
ddev php <script>   # Run PHP scripts
ddev exec <cmd>     # Run any command in web container
ddev ssh            # SSH into web container

Database

ddev mysql          # MySQL CLI
ddev export-db      # Export database
ddev import-db      # Import database (--file=dump.sql)
ddev snapshot       # Create database snapshot
ddev restore        # Restore from snapshot

Utilities

ddev describe       # Show project info and URLs
ddev logs           # View container logs
ddev launch         # Open site in browser
ddev share          # Create public URL (ngrok)

Configuration

.ddev/config.yaml

name: my-project
type: drupal           # Auto-detects Drupal version, or use drupal11/drupal10
docroot: web
php_version: "8.3"     # Use 8.3 for Drupal 11, 8.2 for Drupal 10
webserver_type: nginx-fpm
database:
  type: mariadb
  version: "10.11"

# Additional hostnames
additional_hostnames:
  - api.my-project.ddev.site

# Extra PHP packages
webimage_extra_packages: [php8.3-imagick]

Common Customizations

Custom services (.ddev/docker-compose.*.yaml):

version: '3.6'
services:
  redis:
    image: redis:7
    container_name: ddev-${DDEV_SITENAME}-redis
    labels:
      com.ddev.site-name: ${DDEV_SITENAME}
    expose:
      - "6379"

PHP overrides (.ddev/php/my-settings.ini):

memory_limit = 512M
upload_max_filesize = 64M
post_max_size = 64M

Nginx config (.ddev/nginx_full/nginx-site.conf): Custom nginx configuration for special routing needs.

Drupal-Specific Setup

New Drupal 11 Project

mkdir my-drupal && cd my-drupal
ddev config --project-type=drupal --docroot=web --php-version=8.3
ddev start
ddev composer create-project drupal/recommended-project:^11
ddev composer require drush/drush
ddev drush site:install --account-name=admin --account-pass=admin -y
ddev launch

Important notes:

ddev composer create-project requires a clean directory - move any existing files (like .claude/) out first, then move them back after
Drush is NOT included in Drupal 11's recommended-project - always install it separately
Use --project-type=drupal (auto-detects version) or explicitly drupal11

New Drupal 10 Project

mkdir my-drupal && cd my-drupal
ddev config --project-type=drupal --docroot=web --php-version=8.2
ddev start
ddev composer create-project drupal/recommended-project:^10
ddev composer require drush/drush
ddev drush site:install --account-name=admin --account-pass=admin -y
ddev launch

Existing Drupal Project

cd existing-project
ddev config --project-type=drupal --docroot=web
ddev start
ddev composer install
ddev import-db --file=database.sql.gz
ddev drush cr

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

ddev composer create-project fails with "not allowed to be present":

# This happens when extra directories exist (like .claude/, .git/, etc.)
# Solution: Move them out temporarily
mv .claude /tmp/claude-backup
mv .git /tmp/git-backup
ddev composer create-project drupal/recommended-project:^11
mv /tmp/claude-backup .claude
mv /tmp/git-backup .git

Port conflicts:

ddev poweroff
# Check what's using ports 80/443
sudo lsof -i :80

Container issues:

ddev restart
ddev debug refresh    # Rebuild containers
ddev delete && ddev start  # Nuclear option

Database connection issues:

Host: db (inside container) or 127.0.0.1:PORT (outside)
Check port with ddev describe

Permission issues:

ddev exec chown -R $(id -u):$(id -g) .

Useful Debug Commands

ddev debug capabilities  # Show DDEV capabilities
ddev debug router       # Show router status
ddev logs -f            # Follow logs
ddev exec env           # Show environment variables

Multi-Environment Workflows

Using ddev pull

Configure providers in .ddev/providers/:

# .ddev/providers/platform.yaml
environment_variables:
  project: my-project
  environment: main

db_pull_command:
  command: platform db:dump -e ${environment}

Then: ddev pull platform

Xdebug Configuration

Enable Xdebug

ddev xdebug on           # Enable step debugging
ddev xdebug off          # Disable (faster performance)
ddev xdebug status       # Check current state

IDE Configuration

VS Code (with PHP Debug extension):

// .vscode/launch.json
{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": "Listen for Xdebug",
      "type": "php",
      "request": "launch",
      "port": 9003,
      "pathMappings": {
        "/var/www/html": "${workspaceFolder}"
      }
    }
  ]
}

PHPStorm:

Settings → PHP → Servers
Add server: name matches DDEV project name
Host: <project>.ddev.site, Port: 443, HTTPS
Path mappings: project root → /var/www/html

Xdebug Modes

# .ddev/php/xdebug.ini
[xdebug]
xdebug.mode=debug,develop,coverage

Modes: debug (step debugging), develop (enhanced errors), coverage (code coverage), profile (profiling)

Custom Services

Redis

# .ddev/docker-compose.redis.yaml
services:
  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    container_name: ddev-${DDEV_SITENAME}-redis
    labels:
      com.ddev.site-name: ${DDEV_SITENAME}
      com.ddev.approot: $DDEV_APPROOT
    expose:
      - "6379"
    volumes:
      - redis-data:/data

volumes:
  redis-data:

Drupal settings.php:

$settings['redis.connection']['host'] = 'redis';
$settings['redis.connection']['port'] = 6379;
$settings['cache']['default'] = 'cache.backend.redis';

Solr

# .ddev/docker-compose.solr.yaml
services:
  solr:
    image: solr:9
    container_name: ddev-${DDEV_SITENAME}-solr
    labels:
      com.ddev.site-name: ${DDEV_SITENAME}
      com.ddev.approot: $DDEV_APPROOT
    expose:
      - "8983"
    volumes:
      - solr-data:/var/solr
    command: solr-precreate drupal

volumes:
  solr-data:

Access Solr: ddev describe shows URL, typically https://<project>.ddev.site:8983

Elasticsearch

# .ddev/docker-compose.elasticsearch.yaml
services:
  elasticsearch:
    image: elasticsearch:8.11.0
    container_name: ddev-${DDEV_SITENAME}-elasticsearch
    labels:
      com.ddev.site-name: ${DDEV_SITENAME}
      com.ddev.approot: $DDEV_APPROOT
    environment:
      - discovery.type=single-node
      - xpack.security.enabled=false
      - "ES_JAVA_OPTS=-Xms512m -Xmx512m"
    expose:
      - "9200"
    volumes:
      - elasticsearch-data:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data

volumes:
  elasticsearch-data:

Mailpit (Email Testing)

DDEV includes Mailpit by default:

ddev launch -m           # Open Mailpit UI

All outgoing mail is captured at https://<project>.ddev.site:8026

Performance Tuning

Mutagen (macOS/Windows)

Mutagen provides fast file synchronization for better performance:

# Enable globally
ddev config global --mutagen-enabled

# Or per-project in .ddev/config.yaml
mutagen_enabled: true

When to use Mutagen:

macOS with large codebases (vendor, node_modules)
Windows with WSL2
Projects with slow file I/O

Mutagen commands:

ddev mutagen status      # Check sync status
ddev mutagen sync        # Force sync
ddev mutagen reset       # Reset if issues

NFS (macOS alternative)

For macOS without Mutagen:

ddev config global --nfs-mount-enabled

Performance Tips

Exclude unnecessary files from sync:

# .ddev/config.yaml
upload_dirs:
  - sites/default/files

Use tmpfs for temp files:

# .ddev/docker-compose.performance.yaml
services:
  web:
    tmpfs:
      - /tmp

Increase PHP memory for large operations:

# .ddev/php/performance.ini
memory_limit = 1024M

Custom DDEV Commands

Create project-specific commands in .ddev/commands/:

# .ddev/commands/web/refresh
#!/bin/bash

## Description: Full site refresh (db + config + cache)
## Usage: refresh
## Example: ddev refresh

set -e

echo "Importing database..."
drush sql:drop -y
drush sql:cli < /var/www/html/reference.sql

echo "Importing config..."
drush config:import -y

echo "Running updates..."
drush updatedb -y

echo "Clearing cache..."
drush cache:rebuild

echo "Done!"

Make executable: chmod +x .ddev/commands/web/refresh

Then run: ddev refresh

Command Locations

.ddev/commands/web/ - Run in web container
.ddev/commands/host/ - Run on host machine
.ddev/commands/db/ - Run in database container

CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions

# .github/workflows/test.yml
name: Tests
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Setup DDEV
        uses: ddev/github-action-setup-ddev@v1

      - name: Start DDEV
        run: ddev start

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: ddev composer install

      - name: Run tests
        run: ddev exec ./vendor/bin/phpunit

GitLab CI

# .gitlab-ci.yml
test:
  image: ddev/ddev-gitpod-base:latest
  services:
    - docker:dind
  variables:
    DOCKER_HOST: tcp://docker:2375
  script:
    - ddev start
    - ddev composer install
    - ddev exec ./vendor/bin/phpunit

Best Practices

Commit .ddev folder (except .ddev/db_snapshots, .ddev/.gitignore handles this)
Use .ddev/config.local.yaml for personal overrides (gitignored)
Document custom services in project README
Use snapshots before risky database operations
Keep DDEV updated: ddev self-upgrade
Use Mutagen on macOS/Windows for better performance
Create custom commands for repetitive tasks
Test DDEV config in CI to catch issues early

ddev-expert