Configuration

Environment Variables

WP Launcher is configured via a .env file in the project root. The installer generates this automatically, but you can customize it.

Variable	Description	Default
`BASE_DOMAIN`	Base domain for site subdomains	`localhost`
`NODE_ENV`	Environment mode	`development`
`API_KEY`	API key for machine-to-machine auth	Auto-generated
`ADMIN_EMAIL`	First admin account email	—
`JWT_SECRET`	Secret for JWT token signing	Auto-generated
`PUBLIC_URL`	Public URL of the dashboard	`http://localhost`
`SMTP_HOST`	SMTP server hostname	—
`SMTP_PORT`	SMTP server port	`587`
`SMTP_USER`	SMTP username	—
`SMTP_PASS`	SMTP password	—
`SMTP_SECURE`	Use implicit TLS (port 465 = true, port 587 = false)	`false`
`SMTP_FROM`	From address for system emails	—
`WP_IMAGE`	Base WordPress Docker image tag	`wp-launcher-wp`
`MAX_SITES_PER_USER`	Maximum active sites per user	`3`
`MAX_TOTAL_SITES`	Maximum total active sites	`50`
`CONTAINER_MEMORY`	Memory limit per WordPress container	`256m`
`CONTAINER_CPU`	CPU limit per WordPress container	`0.5`
`ENABLE_TLS`	Enable HTTPS via Traefik	`false`
`CERT_RESOLVER`	Traefik certificate resolver name	`letsencrypt`
`DEFAULT_PHP`	Default PHP version for new sites	`8.3`
`DEFAULT_DB`	Default database engine for new sites	`sqlite`
`SHARED_DB_ROOT_PASSWORD`	Root password for the shared MySQL/MariaDB servers. Required since v2.5.0 — Compose refuses to start without it	Auto-generated
`SITE_EXPIRY_HOURS`	Auto-expiry duration for demo sites	`72`
`API_PORT`	Host port for the API service	`3000`

Admin Authentication

WP Launcher uses role-based authentication. There are three ways to create the first admin:

Installer: The VPS installer prompts for admin email and password during setup
ADMIN_EMAIL: Set ADMIN_EMAIL in .env — the first user to register with that email is auto-promoted to admin
CLI: Use wpl admin:promote [email protected] to promote any existing user

The API_KEY in .env is for machine-to-machine authentication (e.g., CI/CD pipelines). It provides admin-level access to all API endpoints.

Product Config Reference

Product templates are JSON files in the products/ directory. Here's the full schema:

{
  "id": "my-product",
  "name": "My Product Demo",
  "database": "sqlite",
  "plugins": {
    "preinstall": [
      "woocommerce",
      { "source": "url", "url": "https://example.com/plugin.zip" },
      { "source": "local", "path": "my-plugin.zip" }
    ],
    "remove": ["hello", "akismet"]
  },
  "themes": {
    "install": ["flavor"],
    "active": "flavor",
    "remove": ["twentytwentyfour", "twentytwentythree"]
  },
  "demo": {
    "expiration": 72,
    "maxConcurrentPerUser": 3,
    "adminUser": { "username": "demo", "password": "demo123" },
    "landingPage": "/shop/"
  },
  "restrictions": {
    "disableFileModifications": true,
    "hiddenMenus": ["tools.php", "options-general.php"],
    "blockedCapabilities": ["install_plugins", "edit_themes"]
  },
  "branding": {
    "bannerText": "Try My Product",
    "description": "A demo of My Product plugin",
    "image": "https://example.com/banner.png"
  },
  "docker": {
    "image": "wp-launcher-wp-my-product"
  }
}

Plugin Sources

Three methods for including plugins in product templates:

Source	Syntax	Description
WordPress.org	`"woocommerce"`	Free/public plugins by slug — downloaded during image build
URL	`{"source": "url", "url": "..."}`	Premium plugins via direct ZIP download URL
Local	`{"source": "local", "path": "file.zip"}`	Private/custom plugins from `product-assets/<product-id>/`

WordPress.org Plugin Icons

To display plugin icons in the dashboard, use this URL pattern:

https://ps.w.org/PLUGIN-SLUG/assets/icon-256x256.png

Replace PLUGIN-SLUG with the plugin's WordPress.org slug (e.g., woocommerce, contact-form-7).