4. Hosting and Docker

For complete control and perfect performance, WordPress is deployed via Docker Compose on loca.zone.

🐳 Optimal Stack Configuration

An ideal docker-compose.yml for WordPress includes:

1. Nginx (Web Server): Handles TLS termination, static asset delivery, rate limiting, and FastCGI caching.
2. PHP-FPM (Application): Isolated execution environment for WordPress. Tuned with dynamic process management and OPcache enabled.
3. MariaDB (Database): Optimized for high-read workloads, leveraging InnoDB buffer pool adjustments.
4. Valkey (Object Cache): Memory store for cached database queries.

PHP-FPM OPcache Tuning

Critical environment variables for php.ini:

opcache.enable=1
opcache.memory_consumption=256
opcache.interned_strings_buffer=16
opcache.max_accelerated_files=10000
opcache.revalidate_freq=60
opcache.fast_shutdown=1

Docker Compose Best Practices

• Network Isolation: Put the database and Valkey on an internal Docker network, completely inaccessible from the outside world.
• Volume Management: Mount /var/www/html/wp-content as a named volume, but treat WordPress core files as ephemeral or build them directly into a custom Docker image.
• Resource Limits: Explicitly define CPU and memory limits (deploy.resources) for each container to prevent runaway PHP processes from crashing the host node.