development.md

Development Tools

The starter keeps the main workflow console-based so projects do not need make. When make is available, the Makefile is a convenience wrapper around the same commands.

Starter-specific DX commands live in bin/console so the project has one clear command surface. These bootstrap commands work before vendor/autoload.php exists. Extract them into a reusable SymPress package only when multiple starters or real projects need the same commands.

Setup

bin/console setup my-project

This creates .env, configures DDEV with the ddev.site project TLD, starts DDEV, and runs ddev composer install.

DDEV's ddev.site wildcard DNS is the default so setup should not need administrative permission for host-file changes.

Composer install and update intentionally run WPStarter through the Composer plugin. WPStarter installs, syncs, and regenerates the WordPress project files and plugin/theme layout.

Show the available starter commands:

bin/console starter:help

Health Checks

Run the full local check:

bin/console check

This runs Composer validation, Composer audit, the project QA command, WordPress CLI checks, database checks, and an HTTP smoke request when .env exists.

Run environment diagnostics:

bin/console doctor

Use this when a new project does not start as expected or when a template change might have affected DDEV, .env, or WPStarter wiring.

Login Diagnostic

bin/console diagnose-login

The diagnostic prints the expected WP_HOME and WP_SITEURL, shows relevant config hints, and gives WP-CLI commands to repair mismatched database URLs.

Reset Local Generated Files

bin/console reset --yes my-project

This removes generated local files such as public/, vendor/, var/, .env.cached.php, wp-cli.yml, and .phpunit.cache, then runs setup again.

Performance Smoke

bin/console perf

This performs two frontend requests against WP_HOME and prints timing plus common cache-related response headers. It is a quick local sanity check, not a replacement for load testing.

Optional Make Targets

make setup PROJECT=my-project
make check
make doctor
make perf
make qa
make test
make audit
make reset PROJECT=my-project

The Makefile is optional DX sugar. The canonical commands are bin/console ... and ddev composer ....