wordpress using nginx php mysql on macos

 

🧰 Prerequisites (via Homebrew)

Open Terminal and install the essentials:

bash
brew install nginx mysql php unzip

Start services:

bash
brew services start nginx
brew services start mysql
brew services start php

Optional: You can check versions with nginx -v, mysql --version, php -v.

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🗃️ Create a MySQL Database for WordPress

bash
mysql -u root

Then inside MySQL shell:

sql
CREATE DATABASE wordpress DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER 'wpuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'wppassword';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpress.* TO 'wpuser'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

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📥 Download and Place WordPress

bash
cd /usr/local/var/www
curl -O https://wordpress.org/latest.zip
unzip latest.zip
mv wordpress wordpress.local
rm latest.zip

You now have the site files in:
/usr/local/var/www/wordpress.local

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🔧 Configure Nginx

Nginx config lives at:

swift
/opt/homebrew/etc/nginx/nginx.conf

To avoid cluttering the main file, add a new server config in:

swift
/opt/homebrew/etc/nginx/servers/wordpress.local.conf

If servers directory doesn't exist yet:

bash
mkdir -p /opt/homebrew/etc/nginx/servers

Then create the config file:

bash
nano /opt/homebrew/etc/nginx/servers/wordpress.local.conf

Paste this:

nginx
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name wordpress.local;
    root /usr/local/var/www/wordpress.local;
    index index.php index.html;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;  # default for php-fpm
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    }

    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }
}

Then include this directory in your nginx.conf:

Edit /opt/homebrew/etc/nginx/nginx.conf, and inside the http {} block, make sure this is there:

nginx
include servers/*;

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🧠 Map Domain to Localhost

Edit /etc/hosts:

bash
sudo nano /etc/hosts

Add:

lua
127.0.0.1 wordpress.local

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🔁 Restart Nginx

bash
brew services restart nginx

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🚀 Final Step: Visit in Browser

Go to:
http://wordpress.local

You’ll see the WordPress installation screen. Use:

• DB Name: wordpress

• Username: wpuser

• Password: wppassword

• DB Host: localhost

And that’s it! WordPress will finish installing and you’ll be ready to develop locally.