DDEV Advanced Commands and Troubleshooting

So, you’ve installed DDEV and your first site is up. Congratulations! But as every developer knows, the real journey begins when things get complex. Whether you’re dealing with port conflicts or looking to squeeze every drop of performance out of WSL2, this guide is your operational manual.

1. Troubleshooting: When DDEV Won’t Cooperate

Even the best tools hit a snag. Here is how to handle the most common “DDEV headaches” on Windows.

The Dreaded “Port 80/443” Conflict

The Symptom: You run ddev start and get an error saying: “webizer: Fail to start: port 80 is already in use”. The Cause: Windows loves to give port 80 to other services (like IIS, Skype, or Razer Synapse). The Fix:

Run ddev poweroff to ensure no other DDEV projects are ghosting in the background.
If it persists, identify the culprit in PowerShell (Admin): netstat -ano | findstr :80
Pro Tip: If you can’t stop the conflicting service, you can change DDEV’s global ports by editing (anchor to nano editing)~/.ddev/global_config.yaml and setting router_http_port: 8080.

WSL2 Disk Space Exhaustion

The Symptom: Errors about “No space left on device” even though your C: drive is half empty. The Cause: WSL2 uses a virtual disk (ext4.vhdx) that doesn’t always shrink back when you delete files.

The Fix: Clean up Docker’s “hidden” waste: docker system prune -a --volumes Warning: This will remove all unused containers and images. It’s like a deep spring cleaning.

2. The Power User’s Toolkit: Essential Commands

Beyond start and stop, these commands will save you hours of work.

Command	Real-World Use Case
`ddev describe`	“I forgot my DB password!” – Shows all URLs, ports, and credentials.
`ddev ssh`	“I need to run a Composer update.” – Drops you inside the container.
`ddev logs -f`	“Why is my plugin showing a white screen?” – Streams PHP/Webserver errors live.
`ddev snapshot`	“I’m about to do a risky DB migration.” – Creates a quick SQL backup.
`ddev export-db`	“I need to share the database with a colleague.” – Exports a gzipped SQL file.
`d``dev share`	“I want to show the client the site on my local machine.” – Generates a public Ngrok tunnel.
`ddev launch`	Open the home page: check if the website is online.
`ddev launch -m`	The Mailpit dashboard: check outgoing emails.
`ddev launch -p`	phpMyAdmin: manage your database
`ddev launch /wp-admin`	Open WordPress Admin dashboard*
`ddev poweroff`	“Something’s off, it’s crawling.” – Shutdown everything in ddev, completely resetting the ddev stack.

*you can launch any page you want. Are you working on a landing page? Just use ddev launch /landing-page-test to navigate directly to it

A note about ngrok if you already have Ngrok installed in Windows, well, taht0s doesn’t matter. Linux knows nothing about. So you have to install Ngrok within Linux. WSL probably will suggest you to use snap but the best way is to use apt. In Ubuntu type these commands:

Add official GPG key: curl -s <https://ngrok-agent.s3.amazonaws.com/ngrok.asc> | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/ngrok.asc >/dev/null
Add the repository: echo "deb [<https://ngrok-agent.s3.amazonaws.com>](<https://ngrok-agent.s3.amazonaws.com/>) buster main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ngrok.list
Update and install: sudo apt update && sudo apt install ngrok
Add your token: sudo apt update && sudo apt install ngrok

To get a Ngrok token, create a free account at https://dashboard.ngrok.com/get-started/setup/windows

🚀 The Speed Hack: Mutagen

If your project feels sluggish (especially with many small files), DDEV has a secret weapon: Mutagen. It changes the way files are synced between Windows and Linux to be nearly instantaneous.

Enable it: ddev config --performance-mode=mutagen
Apply it: ddev restart
Note: It uses a bit more CPU, but the speed increase in the WordPress admin dashboard is massive.

3. Databases and Built-in Tools

DDEV comes pre-packaged with tools that you’d normally have to install manually.

Accessing the Database (Your Way)

You don’t need to guess how to connect.

ddev phpmyadmin: Installs and launches the classic web interface.
ddev sequelace / ddev tableplus: If you have these apps on Windows, DDEV “bridges” the connection. Just type the command and your desktop app opens the DDEV database automatically.

Mailpit: The Developer’s Safety Net

Ever accidentally sent a “Test” email to 5,000 real customers from your local machine? Mailpit prevents this disaster.

DDEV routes all outgoing PHP mail to a local “trap.”
Run ddev launch -m to open the Mailpit UI.
You can inspect headers, check HTML rendering, and see attachments—all without a single email ever leaving your computer.

Xdebug: The Ultimate Debugger

Stop using var_dump() like a caveman. DDEV has Xdebug ready to go.

Toggle it on: ddev xdebug on
Toggle it off: ddev xdebug off (Keep it off when not debugging to maintain high performance).

This article is the second chapter of the series DDEV for Dummies. You can read the other chapters here:
1. DDEV for Dummies: How to Use DDEV on Windows and Live Happily Ever After
2. DDEV for Dummies 3: VS Code Integration, Troubleshooting, and Disk Cleanup