WORDPRESS_CONFIG_EXTRA does not define WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE

[rucomcode]

Description:
When trying to set the WordPress environment type via the WORDPRESS_CONFIG_EXTRA environment variable in docker-compose.yml, the constant WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE is not defined at runtime if a volume with a local ./wpdata directory is used. Checking via a PHP file shows that the constant is not set.
I am unable to create Application Passwords for local development. The WordPress admin interface does not allow generating Application Passwords when running in this environment, which makes it difficult to test integrations and API access locally.

---

Minimal docker-compose.yml (sanitized):

services:
  db:
    image: mariadb:latest
    environment:
      MARIADB_DATABASE: wordpress
      MARIADB_USER: wordpress
      MARIADB_PASSWORD: example_password
      MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD: example_root_password
    volumes:
      - db_data:/var/lib/mysql
    networks:
      - wordpress_net

  wordpress:
    image: wordpress:latest
    depends_on:
      - db
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    environment:
      WORDPRESS_DB_HOST: db:3306
      WORDPRESS_DB_USER: wordpress
      WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD: example_password
      WORDPRESS_DB_NAME: wordpress
      WORDPRESS_CONFIG_EXTRA: |
        define( 'WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE', 'development' );
    volumes:
      - ./wpdata:/var/www/html
    networks:
      - wordpress_net

volumes:
  db_data:

networks:
  wordpress_net:
    driver: bridge

---

Steps to reproduce:

1. Create a ./wpdata directory (can be empty or contain WordPress files).
2. Start the containers:

   docker-compose up -d --build --force-recreate

3. Create a file env-check.php in ./wpdata with the following content:

   <?php
   echo 'WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE: ' . (defined('WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE') ? WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE : 'not defined');

4. Open http://localhost:8080/env-check.php — the result is: WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE: not defined.
5. Try to create an Application Password in the WordPress admin interface — the option is unavailable for local development.

---

Expected behavior:
When setting the WORDPRESS_CONFIG_EXTRA environment variable with a define, the constant should be defined at runtime, even if a local volume is mounted.

---

Versions:

• WordPress image: wordpress:latest
• OS: Linux (Manjaro, kernel 6.12.34-1)
• Browser: any

---

Additional information:

• Verified that the environment variable is present inside the container (docker exec wordpress_app printenv WORDPRESS_CONFIG_EXTRA).

 docker exec wordpress_app env
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
HOSTNAME=a802996e310e
WORDPRESS_DB_HOST=db:3306
WORDPRESS_DB_USER=wordpress
WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD=your_mariadb_password
WORDPRESS_DB_NAME=wordpress
WORDPRESS_CONFIG_EXTRA=define('WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE','development');

[rucomcode]

Just tested it with the FPM container as well — the behavior is the same.

docker compose exec wordpress env | sort
WARN[0000] /home/roman/develop/new-docker/new-docker/docker-compose.yml: the attribute `version` is obsolete, it will be ignored, please remove it to avoid potential confusion 
GPG_KEYS=39B641343D8C104B2B146DC3F9C39DC0B9698544 E60913E4DF209907D8E30D96659A97C9CF2A795A 1198C0117593497A5EC5C199286AF1F9897469DC
HOME=/root
HOSTNAME=f03e434c5306
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
PHP_ASC_URL=https://www.php.net/distributions/php-8.2.21.tar.xz.asc
PHP_CFLAGS=-fstack-protector-strong -fpic -fpie -O2 -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64
PHP_CPPFLAGS=-fstack-protector-strong -fpic -fpie -O2 -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64
PHP_INI_DIR=/usr/local/etc/php
PHPIZE_DEPS=autoconf            dpkg-dev                file            g++         gcc              libc-dev                make            pkg-config              re2c
PHP_LDFLAGS=-Wl,-O1 -pie
PHP_SHA256=8cc44d51bb2506399ec176f70fe110f0c9e1f7d852a5303a2cd1403402199707
PHP_URL=https://www.php.net/distributions/php-8.2.21.tar.xz
PHP_VERSION=8.2.21
WORDPRESS_CONFIG_EXTRA=define('WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE', 'development');
WORDPRESS_DB_HOST=db:3306
WORDPRESS_DB_NAME=wp_db_8f7g6h
WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD=WpP@ss_9d8f7g
WORDPRESS_DB_USER=wp_user_3k2j1h

version: '3.8'

services:
  db:
    image: mariadb:11.3
    container_name: mariadb
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: RooT_2k3j4n8v7s
      MYSQL_DATABASE: wp_db_8f7g6h
      MYSQL_USER: wp_user_3k2j1h
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: WpP@ss_9d8f7g
    volumes:
      - db_data:/var/lib/mysql
    networks:
      - wpnet

  wordpress:
    image: wordpress:6.5-fpm
    container_name: wordpress
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      WORDPRESS_DB_HOST: db:3306
      WORDPRESS_DB_NAME: wp_db_8f7g6h
      WORDPRESS_DB_USER: wp_user_3k2j1h
      WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD: WpP@ss_9d8f7g
      WORDPRESS_CONFIG_EXTRA: "define('WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE', 'development');"
    volumes:
      - wp_data:/var/www/html
    depends_on:
      - db
    networks:
      - wpnet

  nginx:
    image: nginx:1.25-alpine
    container_name: nginx
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "80:80"
    volumes:
      - ./nginx/conf.d:/etc/nginx/conf.d:ro
      - wp_data:/var/www/html:ro
    depends_on:
      - wordpress
    networks:
      - wpnet

volumes:
  db_data:
  wp_data:

networks:
  wpnet:
    driver: bridge 

[tianon]

There's a few things here:

1. I'm not sure what WP_ENVIRONMENT_TYPE has to do with Application Passwords - can you elaborate?

2. I've got an instance of this image running in "production" mode, and I do get the "Application Passwords" section in my user edit screen - how are you looking for/testing that?

3. Your env-check.php file likely doesn't work because it's just a normal PHP file and being invoked by PHP without any of the WordPress apparatus, so it's not even including/invoking the wp-config file to get the WordPress configuration / global defines. To test in that way, you'd probably be better off making a plugin or something (IIRC, manually including the WordPress headers/files in a raw PHP file like that is complicated).