The first thing to remove from a working local config was the secrets

Situation

In a quickly assembled local stack, hard-coding passwords and keys into configuration is convenient because it works immediately. Once the repository is meant to run on multiple machines, however, that shortcut becomes security debt. WordPress in particular makes it easy for all environment-specific configuration to accumulate in one PHP file.

Approach

I removed concrete secrets from the repository and switched the configuration to values supplied through environment variables. A sample file documented the required variable names without containing real values. `.gitignore` rules and startup documentation were updated as well so the next developer would not recreate the same problem.

Outcome

The Docker environment remained quick to start while the repository stopped carrying local credentials. Its configuration model also moved closer to the later CI/CD pattern, where the execution environment supplies secrets and Git stores only the structure that consumes them.