Change the HTTP port

PORT controls Traefik’s published host port and the HTTP listener inside its container. It defaults to 8080, or another free port chosen during setup. Apache and other services keep their own internal ports.

Find the saved port

Each development context stores PORT in its own .env file. Show the saved value and the location of that file with:

mw dev env get PORT
mw dev env where

Destroying containers preserves this file. Recreating them reuses the saved port, so the initial port prompt does not appear again.

Set and apply a port

For an existing environment, choose an unused port and inspect the configuration:

mw dev env set PORT 8088
mw dev compose config

Recreate Traefik and the dashboard to apply their new port settings:

mw dev compose up -- -d --force-recreate traefik dashboard
mw dev traefik credentials

Open the new login link or http://default.mediawiki.local.wmftest.net:8088/wiki/Main_Page. The gateway dashboard is at http://localhost:8088/proxy/dashboard/. Changing .env alone does not change a running container’s port bindings.

Use the same --context NAME for each command when targeting another context. To choose a port before initial setup, set it before mw dev mediawiki create.

Update tunnels and custom URLs

Restart any running tunnel so it targets the new gateway port:

mw dev tunnel stop
mw dev tunnel start

A temporary public tunnel can receive a different URL after restarting. Update manually configured URLs or application settings that contain the previous port. Fresh browser tests use the internal MediaWiki service address and do not need a new MW_SERVER merely because the host port changed.

MYSQL_PORT_3306 exposes the database separately; it is not the HTTP port. MW_DOCKER_PORT is not a setting used by this CLI.

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Read this guide offline with mw help guides dev ports.