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Devilbox

Connect to host OS

Connect to host OS

Use host.docker.internal when a Devilbox container must connect back to a service running on your host operating system.

Start with the host service

Make the host service listen on an address Docker can reach. For local development, bind it to all interfaces or to the Docker host gateway.

Examples:

0.0.0.0:3306
127.0.0.1:3000

macOS and Windows

Docker Desktop provides this hostname automatically:

host.docker.internal

Use it from inside PHP:

Terminal window
./dvl.sh shell
curl http://host.docker.internal:3000

Use it in application config:

API_BASE_URL=http://host.docker.internal:3000

For Xdebug 3, use the same host alias:

xdebug.client_host=host.docker.internal

Linux Docker Engine

Docker Engine 20.10+ supports the host gateway alias. Add it to a local override when your engine does not inject it already:

services:
  php:
    extra_hosts:
      - "host.docker.internal:host-gateway"

Then recreate PHP:

Terminal window
docker compose up -d --force-recreate php

Inside PHP, verify the route:

Terminal window
getent hosts host.docker.internal
curl http://host.docker.internal:3000

Devilbox bridge gateway

The Devilbox bridge network also has a gateway address. Check the active value from Docker:

Terminal window
docker network inspect devilbox_app_net \
  --format '{{ (index .IPAM.Config 0).Gateway }}'

Use the gateway only when host.docker.internal is unavailable or when you need to debug routing directly.

Common examples

Connect to a host Node service:

Terminal window
curl http://host.docker.internal:5173

Connect to a host MySQL service:

Terminal window
mysql -h host.docker.internal -P 3306 -u root -p

Connect from Magento config:

'host' => 'host.docker.internal',
'port' => '3306',

Firewall checks

If the hostname resolves but connections time out:

  1. Allow Docker Desktop or the Docker bridge through the host firewall.
  2. Confirm the service is listening on the expected port.
  3. Confirm no VPN is rewriting Docker routes.
Terminal window
lsof -nP -iTCP:3000 -sTCP:LISTEN