Enter the PHP container

Enter the PHP container

One of Devilbox’s core ideas is that your host does not need local PHP tooling. Composer, PHP extensions, framework CLIs, database clients, and many developer utilities live inside the PHP containers. Use dvl shell for an interactive shell and dvl exec for one-off commands.

Note

The PHP container must be running before you can enter it. Start Devilbox with dvl up first.

Default interactive shell

Open a shell in the default PHP service:

dvl shell

The CLI enters the container as the devilbox user and starts a login shell. Your normal project workspace is mounted under:

/shared/httpd

The default service is php, which maps to the PHP_SERVER value in .env.

Choose a specific PHP service

The current default installation can include versioned PHP service names:

Service	Intended runtime
php	Default PHP selected by PHP_SERVER in .env.
php74	PHP 7.4 service.
php81	PHP 8.1 service.
php82	PHP 8.2 service.
php83	PHP 8.3 service.
php84	PHP 8.4 service.

Enter a specific service with:

dvl shell php82

If the CLI detects a .devilbox.yaml for the current project, it can ask whether to use the detected PHP service instead of the default one.

Tip

Use project-level .devilbox.yaml files when different projects need different PHP runtimes. The dvl CLI searches the current directory, parent directories, and common document-root locations.

Run a one-off command

Use dvl exec when you do not need an interactive shell:

dvl exec "php -v"
dvl exec "composer install"
dvl exec "ls -la"

dvl exec maps the current host working directory to the corresponding container path when you are inside the data/www tree. That lets commands run from the same project directory you are using on the host.

Common PHP workflows

Composer:

dvl composer install
dvl composer require monolog/monolog

Magento:

dvl magento setup:upgrade
dvl magento cache:flush
dvl magerun cache:status

Generic PHP:

dvl exec "php -m"
dvl exec "php vendor/bin/phpunit"

The dedicated dvl composer, dvl magento, and dvl magerun commands add project detection and PHP image flavor checks on top of raw command execution.

Become root inside the container

The normal container user is devilbox, mapped to your host UID/GID through NEW_UID and NEW_GID. If you need root for debugging, use passwordless sudo inside the container:

dvl shell
sudo su -

Caution

Changes made as root inside a running container are usually temporary. For repeatable customizations, prefer .env, cfg/, autostart/, or a custom Docker image override.

Tools inside PHP containers

The work flavor PHP images include development tools commonly needed by PHP projects, including Composer and framework CLIs. The exact tool set depends on the image build and PHP version.

Useful checks:

dvl exec "php -v"
dvl exec "composer --version"
dvl exec "git --version"

If a command is missing, first check whether the PHP service is using a work image flavor. Some dvl commands can offer to switch a service from slim to work when required.

Legacy script compatibility

Older Devilbox documentation used ./shell.sh to enter PHP. That script is still kept for backward compatibility, but new workflows should use:

dvl shell
dvl exec "php -v"

The modern CLI centralizes project detection, working-directory mapping, and service selection, which makes it safer than calling legacy scripts directly.

Host versus container paths

Host path	Container path	Purpose
data/www	/shared/httpd	Web projects.
backups	/shared/backups	Database dumps and restore files.
~/.ssh	/home/devilbox/.ssh	Read-only SSH keys for Git operations.
cfg/php-ini-<version>	/etc/php-custom.d	Custom PHP ini files.
cfg/php-fpm-<version>	/etc/php-fpm-custom.d	Custom PHP-FPM configuration.

Knowing these paths helps when copying commands from host instructions into a container shell.

Checklist

• Devilbox is running with dvl up.
• dvl shell enters the default PHP service.
• dvl shell php82 or another service name enters a specific PHP runtime.
• dvl exec "php -v" runs a one-off command successfully.
• You know that /shared/httpd is the project workspace inside the container.
• You know to use sudo only for temporary root debugging.
• You know ./shell.sh remains compatible but is no longer the recommended entry point.

Next step

Use the PHP shell to install project dependencies, run framework CLIs, or continue with container version changes in Change container versions.