wp config create

Overview

Generate a wp-config.php file from the command line with database credentials, table prefix, salts, and any extra constants you need — all without manually editing a PHP file. Essential for automated site provisioning, Docker containers, and CI/CD pipelines.

What It Does

wp config create reads the provided credentials and constants, fetches fresh security keys/salts from the wordpress.org secret-key API, and writes a properly formatted wp-config.php to the WordPress root.

Syntax

wp config create --dbname=<db> --dbuser=<user> --dbpass=<pass> [OPTIONS]

Required Options

Flag	Description
--dbname=NAME	MySQL database name
--dbuser=USER	MySQL username
--dbpass=PASS	MySQL password

Common Optional Flags

Flag	Default	Description
--dbhost=HOST	localhost	Database host
--dbprefix=PREFIX	wp_	Table prefix
--dbcharset=CHARSET	utf8mb4	Database character set
--dbcollate=COLLATE	``	Database collation
--locale=LOCALE	en_US	WordPress locale
--extra-php	—	Append extra PHP to the config (pipe via stdin)
--skip-salts	—	Skip fetching salts from wordpress.org
--skip-check	—	Skip DB connection check
--force	—	Overwrite an existing wp-config.php

Basic Usage

Minimal config creation

wp config create \
  --dbname=my_wp_db \
  --dbuser=wp_user \
  --dbpass='StrongPass!123'

Custom host and prefix

wp config create \
  --dbname=my_wp_db \
  --dbuser=wp_user \
  --dbpass='StrongPass!123' \
  --dbhost=db.internal.example.com \
  --dbprefix=blog_

Add extra PHP constants

wp config create \
  --dbname=my_wp_db \
  --dbuser=wp_user \
  --dbpass='StrongPass!123' \
  --extra-php <<PHP
define('WP_DEBUG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true);
define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');
PHP

Real-World Scenarios

Scenario 1: Full automated site provisioning

#!/bin/bash
# provision-wp.sh

DB_NAME="wordpress_prod"
DB_USER="wp_prod"
DB_PASS="$(openssl rand -base64 20)"
WP_DIR="/var/www/wordpress"

# Download WordPress
wp core download --path="$WP_DIR"

# Create config
wp config create \
  --path="$WP_DIR" \
  --dbname="$DB_NAME" \
  --dbuser="$DB_USER" \
  --dbpass="$DB_PASS" \
  --dbhost=localhost \
  --extra-php <<PHP
define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true);
define('WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE', 'minor');
define('FORCE_SSL_ADMIN', true);
PHP

# Install WordPress
wp core install \
  --path="$WP_DIR" \
  --url="https://example.com" \
  --title="My Site" \
  --admin_user="admin" \
  --admin_password="$(openssl rand -base64 16)" \
  --admin_email="admin@example.com"

echo "WordPress provisioned at: $WP_DIR"

Scenario 2: Docker container entrypoint

# Dockerfile entrypoint.sh
wp config create \
  --dbname="${WORDPRESS_DB_NAME}" \
  --dbuser="${WORDPRESS_DB_USER}" \
  --dbpass="${WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD}" \
  --dbhost="${WORDPRESS_DB_HOST}" \
  --allow-root \
  --force

Scenario 3: Staging clone with different credentials

wp config create \
  --dbname=wordpress_staging \
  --dbuser=wp_staging \
  --dbpass='StagingPass!456' \
  --dbhost=staging-db.internal \
  --force \
  --extra-php <<PHP
define('WP_DEBUG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
PHP

Best Practices

1. Never hardcode credentials in shell scripts — use environment variables or vault secrets.
2. Use --extra-php to set security constants (DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT, FORCE_SSL_ADMIN) during provisioning.
3. Use --force only in automation where overwriting an existing config is intentional.
4. Use --skip-check in Docker containers where the DB may not be ready at provisioning time.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Fix
Error: wp-config.php already exists	Config present	Add --force to overwrite
Error: Database connection failed	Wrong DB credentials or host	Test with mysql -u user -p -h host dbname
Salts not inserted	Can't reach wordpress.org API	Use --skip-salts and add salts manually

Quick Reference

wp config create --dbname=db --dbuser=user --dbpass='pass'
wp config create ... --dbhost=db.internal --dbprefix=mysite_
wp config create ... --force           # Overwrite existing
wp config create ... --skip-check      # Skip DB connection test
wp config get                          # Verify after creation

Next Steps

• wp config get — read and verify config values.
• wp config set — update values in an existing config.
• wp core install — run after config creation to install WordPress.