phpMyAdmin

What is phpMyAdmin?

phpMyAdmin is a web-based admin GUI for MySQL and MariaDB, browse tables, run queries, manage users, and import/export data without touching a command line. There's nothing to "install", Laradock builds it as its own container from the official phpmyadmin image and points it at whichever database container you're already running.

Start phpMyAdmin

phpMyAdmin is useless on its own, it needs a database to point at. Start it alongside the engine set in PMA_DB_ENGINE (mysql by default):

Laradock CLI

./laradock start mysql phpmyadmin

Docker Compose

docker compose up -d mysql phpmyadmin

With MariaDB instead:

Laradock CLI

./laradock start mariadb phpmyadmin

Docker Compose

docker compose up -d mariadb phpmyadmin

Stop phpMyAdmin

Laradock CLI

./laradock stop phpmyadmin

Docker Compose

docker compose stop phpmyadmin

phpMyAdmin itself keeps no data of its own (your actual data lives in the database container it manages), so there's nothing to back up here. To delete the container entirely:

Laradock CLI

./laradock remove phpmyadmin

Docker Compose

docker compose rm -sf phpmyadmin

Configuration

All settings live in phpmyadmin/defaults.env and can be overridden by adding the same line to your own .env:

Variable	Default	What it does
PMA_DB_ENGINE	mysql	Which service phpMyAdmin depends_on and connects to by default: mysql or mariadb.
PMA_USER	default	Username phpMyAdmin logs in with.
PMA_PASSWORD	secret	Password for PMA_USER.
PMA_ROOT_PASSWORD	secret	Root password passed through to the container.
PMA_PORT	8081	Host-side port for the web UI (container port 80).
PMA_MAX_EXECUTION_TIME	600	PHP max_execution_time, in seconds, for long-running queries/imports.
PMA_MEMORY_LIMIT	256M	PHP memory_limit for the container.
PMA_UPLOAD_LIMIT	2G	Max upload size, for importing large SQL/CSV files.

Log in

Open http://localhost:8081 (or your own PMA_PORT). For the default MySQL setup, use server mysql, user default, password secret (or your own PMA_USER/PMA_PASSWORD).

Connect to any server, not just the default one

Laradock builds phpMyAdmin with PMA_ARBITRARY=1, which unlocks the "Server" field on the login screen instead of locking you to PMA_DB_ENGINE. Type in any hostname reachable from the container and log in with that server's own credentials, useful for:

• Switching between mysql and mariadb without changing .env, as long as both containers are running.
• Pointing at a database in a different Laradock project on the same machine, for example host.docker.internal with that project's MYSQL_PORT.
• Pointing at any external MySQL/MariaDB server your Laradock host can reach.

Switch to MariaDB by default

1. In .env, set PMA_DB_ENGINE=mariadb.
2. Start mariadb instead of mysql, see Start phpMyAdmin above.
3. Log in with server mariadb.

Update to the latest phpMyAdmin version

The image is built fresh from the official phpmyadmin image with no version pin, so Laradock always uses whatever tag Docker last pulled locally. To force a newer image and rebuild:

Laradock CLI

./laradock rebuild phpmyadmin --pull

Docker Compose

docker compose build --pull phpmyadmin

Then restart it: ./laradock restart phpmyadmin.

Common issues

• "mysqli::real_connect(): (HY000/2002)" or similar connection error. phpMyAdmin depends_on: ${PMA_DB_ENGINE}, meaning it starts alongside whichever engine PMA_DB_ENGINE names, but if that container isn't actually up (or you changed PMA_DB_ENGINE without restarting), the login form has nothing to connect to. Confirm the matching database container is running: ./laradock info.
• Login rejected. Double-check PMA_USER/PMA_PASSWORD match the actual credentials on the target database (MYSQL_USER/MYSQL_PASSWORD or MARIADB_USER/MARIADB_PASSWORD), they're independent variables and can drift out of sync if you change one without the other.
• Large import fails partway through. Raise PMA_UPLOAD_LIMIT and PMA_MAX_EXECUTION_TIME in .env, then restart: ./laradock restart phpmyadmin.
• Port already in use on your host. Change PMA_PORT in .env and restart: ./laradock restart phpmyadmin.
• Need to log into a server other than the default one. See Connect to any server, not just the default one above, PMA_ARBITRARY=1 is already on.

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Prefer a lighter GUI, or need Postgres/SQLite too? See Adminer. Back to the Getting Started guide.