# Quickly install WordPress in just three commands > Install a complete WordPress site with Docker in just three simple commands. Learn how to set up the network, database (MySQL/MariaDB), and WordPress container quickly and easily. ---  **TL;DR** This article spins up a full WordPress site using plain `docker run` commands instead of `compose.yaml`: create a shared network, start a MySQL/MariaDB container with the WordPress database and user pre-configured via environment variables, then start the WordPress container itself pointing at that database — three commands to a working site at `http://127.0.0.1:8080`, plus an optional phpMyAdmin container for database access. Do you think it's possible to run a new WordPress site in just three commands? Impossible, isn't it? Well, in fact, yes, it's possible. Let's take a look... ## Three commands, one WordPress site Here they are, in full: ```bash $ docker network create wordpress $ docker run -d --name db_wordpress --hostname db_wordpress --network wordpress -e MYSQL_RANDOM_ROOT_PASSWORD=1 -e MYSQL_DATABASE=wordpress -e MYSQL_USER=wpuser -e MYSQL_PASSWORD=example mysql:8.4 $ docker run -d --name app_wordpress --hostname app_wordpress --network wordpress -p 8080:80 -e WORDPRESS_DB_HOST=db_wordpress -e WORDPRESS_DB_NAME=wordpress -e WORDPRESS_DB_USER=wpuser -e WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD=example wordpress:php8.3-apache ``` Surf to `http://127.0.0.1:`8080 and WordPress greets you with its installation wizard: > Screenshot — http\://127.0.0.1:8080 > >  > Screenshot — http\://127.0.0.1:8080 > >  > **Error establishing a database connection:** > > If you get `Error establishing a database connection`, please wait a little before refreshing the web page. It means MySQL / Maria wasn't yet ready to handle the connection. No `compose.yaml`, no `wp-config.php` to edit: a shared network lets the two containers talk to each other, and every setting WordPress needs is passed as an environment variable on the command line. In the [Create your Joomla website using Docker](/blog/docker-joomla) article, we learned that as soon as we need more than one Docker service (php/apache as well as mysql), we need a `compose.yaml` file. It's true and it's the easiest way to manage the application in the long run — but for a throwaway site, running the containers by hand works just as well. Let's look at those three commands one by one. ## First step, we need a network Using a network will allow containers to communicate with each other (see [Using Docker network and the extra\_hosts property](/blog/docker-network-and-extra-hosts) for the details). > **You need a network, don't skip:** > > As soon as you've two or more containers, you need a network. We'll create our network. Please copy/paste the command below in a terminal (DOS or Linux) and run it. ```bash $ docker network create wordpress ``` ## Second step, we need a database container For this article, I propose to use MySQL 8.x or, if you prefer it, MariaDB 11.x. Select the one you prefer and execute the command in a terminal. For MySQL 8.x: ```bash $ docker run -d --name db_wordpress --hostname db_wordpress --network wordpress -e MYSQL_RANDOM_ROOT_PASSWORD=1 -e MYSQL_DATABASE=wordpress -e MYSQL_USER=wpuser -e MYSQL_PASSWORD=example mysql:8.4 ``` For MariaDB: ```bash $ docker run -d --name db_wordpress --hostname db_wordpress --network wordpress -e MYSQL_RANDOM_ROOT_PASSWORD=1 -e MYSQL_DATABASE=wordpress -e MYSQL_USER=wpuser -e MYSQL_PASSWORD=example mariadb:11.4 ``` Once started by Docker, the MySQL / MariaDB container will create an empty database called `wordpress`, a user called `wpuser` and his password will be `example` (as defined by our variables `MYSQL_DATABASE`, `MYSQL_USER` and `MYSQL_PASSWORD`). The container will be named db\_wordpress (as defined by `--hostname`). ## Third step, we need WordPress And now, we need a second container for WordPress itself. I propose to use the latest version available at that time: ```bash $ docker run -d --name app_wordpress --hostname app_wordpress --network wordpress -p 8080:80 -e WORDPRESS_DB_HOST=db_wordpress -e WORDPRESS_DB_NAME=wordpress -e WORDPRESS_DB_USER=wpuser -e WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD=example wordpress:php8.3-apache ``` That command runs WordPress in an Apache container and makes the site available at `http://127.0.0.1:`8080 — the screen shown at the beginning of this article. The `-p ` 8080`:80` flag is the only one about your host machine: change the port if it is already taken. All the others describe how WordPress reaches the database container, by its `--hostname`, over the `wordpress` network. ## Optional, start phpmyadmin As we've seen in the [Using Adminer, pgadmin or phpmyadmin to access your Docker database container](/blog/docker-adminer-pgadmin-phpmyadmin) article, we can access a database container using f.i. phpMyAdmin. To do this, just run the following command in a terminal: ```bash $ docker run -d --rm --network wordpress --name phpmyadmin -e PMA_HOST=db_wordpress -p 8089:80 phpmyadmin ``` By surfing to `http://127.0.0.1:8089`, you can connect to the database. Credentials to use for the connection are `wpuser` / `example`. > Screenshot — http\://127.0.0.1:8089 > >  ## Remove containers If you wish to stop and remove containers after usage, you can run the following bloc of instructions in a Linux terminal: ```bash $ docker rm $(docker stop $(docker ps -a -q --filter="name=app_wordpress")) $ docker rm $(docker stop $(docker ps -a -q --filter="name=db_wordpress")) $ docker network rm wordpress ``` Or, by hand, go to your `Docker Desktop` interface, click on the `containers` tab and remove the containers manually. ## Conclusion As introduced, we just need three commands to create, from scratch, a new WordPress site on our disk. This takes just seconds (depending on the speed of your computer). Easy, no? Keep in mind that everything here lives inside the containers: the day you run the removal commands above, the site is gone. If you want it to survive, the next thing to add is a [volume](/blog/docker-volume).