Add passthrough arguments to PHP binary via `--` separator by Copilot · Pull Request #90 · wp-cli/server-command

Copilot · 2025-11-10T18:30:39Z

Enables passing arbitrary PHP flags when starting the development server. Addresses use cases like loading extensions or setting ini directives that vary across environments.

Changes

Command building: Positional arguments after -- are inserted before -S flag and properly escaped via Utils\esc_cmd()
Documentation: Added [<passthrough>...] parameter with Xdebug example
Tests: Added Behat scenario verifying passthrough with -dmemory_limit=256M

Usage

# Load extension
wp server -- -dzend_extension=xdebug.so

# Set ini directive
wp server -- -dmemory_limit=256M

# Multiple flags
wp server --docroot=public -- -dmemory_limit=256M -dzend_extension=xdebug.so

Final command structure: php [passthrough] -S host:port -t docroot -c config router.php

Fixes #89

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Original prompt

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Passthrough args via --?</issue_title>
<issue_description>## Feature Request

Yes, I reviewed the contribution guidelines.

Describe your use case and the problem you are facing

I want to load Xdebug module into the web server via php -S -dzend_extension=xdebug.so.

Describe the solution you'd like

wp server could pass through additional arguments to php after -- argument.

Example: wp server --docroot=public -- -dzend_extension=xdebug.so

Doing this via wp server --config argument is problematic, because I want to define universally usable commands centrally in composer.json scripts. Due to variety of INI configuration file locations on user's system, which we actually don't want to replace, this doesn't seem to be achievable with a single --config argument.</issue_description>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)
@schlessera Sounds like a reasonable use case.

Fixes Passthrough args via --? #59

✨ Let Copilot coding agent set things up for you — coding agent works faster and does higher quality work when set up for your repo.

Co-authored-by: swissspidy <841956+swissspidy@users.noreply.github.com>

codecov · 2025-11-10T20:54:42Z

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 0% with 15 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
src/Server_Command.php	0.00%	15 Missing ⚠️

📢 Thoughts on this report? Let us know!

gemini-code-assist

Code Review

This pull request introduces a useful feature for passing arguments directly to the PHP binary when using wp server. The implementation is straightforward and the documentation updates are clear. I have a few suggestions to improve the code's robustness and maintainability:

The new test scenario should be strengthened to verify that the passthrough argument has the intended effect.
The PHPDoc for the __invoke method should be updated to include its parameters.
The command-building logic contains some redundant code that can be removed and simplified.

gemini-code-assist · 2026-01-21T19:02:10Z

features/server.feature

+  Scenario: Passthrough arguments to PHP binary
+    Given a WP install
+    And I launch in the background `wp server --host=localhost --port=8182 -- -dmemory_limit=256M`
+
+    When I run `curl -sS localhost:8182/wp-admin/install.php`
+    Then the return code should be 0


This scenario correctly tests that the server can be started with passthrough arguments. However, it only verifies that the server starts and returns a successful HTTP status code, not that the argument (-dmemory_limit=256M) was actually applied.

To make this test more robust, you could create a small PHP file that outputs the value of memory_limit and then assert that the output is 256M.

Here's an example of how you could rewrite the scenario:

Scenario: Passthrough arguments to PHP binary Given a WP install And a file "mem.php" with: """ <?php echo ini_get('memory_limit'); ?> """ And I launch in the background `wp server --host=localhost --port=8182 -- -dmemory_limit=256M` When I run `curl -sS localhost:8182/mem.php` Then STDOUT should be "256M"

gemini-code-assist · 2026-01-21T19:02:10Z

src/Server_Command.php

 	 * @when before_wp_load
 	 */
-	public function __invoke( $_, $assoc_args ) {
+	public function __invoke( $args, $assoc_args ) {


The method signature for __invoke has been updated to accept $args, but the PHPDoc block is missing @param annotations for both $args and $assoc_args. Adding these will improve code clarity and help other developers understand the function's parameters.

* @when before_wp_load * * @param array $args Positional arguments passed through to the PHP binary. * @param array $assoc_args Associative arguments passed to the command. */ public function __invoke( $args, $assoc_args ) {

gemini-code-assist · 2026-01-21T19:02:10Z

src/Server_Command.php

+			foreach ( $args as $arg ) {
+				if ( '--' === $arg ) {
+					continue;
+				}
+				$cmd_format .= ' %s';
+				$cmd_args[]  = $arg;
+			}
+		}


The if ('--' === $arg) check inside the loop is redundant because the -- separator is handled by WP-CLI's argument parser and is not included in the $args array. This makes the conditional block dead code.

This entire block can be made more concise and efficient by using str_repeat and array_merge instead of a foreach loop.

if ( ! empty( $args ) ) { $cmd_format .= str_repeat( ' %s', count( $args ) ); $cmd_args = array_merge( $cmd_args, $args ); }

Copilot AI self-assigned this Nov 10, 2025

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Copilot AI assigned swissspidy Nov 10, 2025

Copilot started work on behalf of swissspidy November 10, 2025 18:31 View session

Add passthrough arguments support via -- separator

c5179eb

Co-authored-by: swissspidy <841956+swissspidy@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI changed the title ~~[WIP] Add support for passthrough args via '--' in wp server~~ Add passthrough arguments to PHP binary via -- separator Nov 10, 2025

Copilot AI requested a review from swissspidy November 10, 2025 18:46

Copilot finished work on behalf of swissspidy November 10, 2025 18:46

swissspidy added 2 commits November 10, 2025 20:45

Lint fix

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swissspidy requested a review from Copilot November 10, 2025 20:59

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swissspidy marked this pull request as ready for review November 10, 2025 21:04

swissspidy requested a review from a team as a code owner November 10, 2025 21:04

swissspidy added the command:server label Nov 10, 2025

swissspidy added 2 commits December 19, 2025 14:49

Merge branch 'main' into copilot/add-passthrough-args-support

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Merge branch 'main' into copilot/add-passthrough-args-support

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gemini-code-assist bot reviewed Jan 21, 2026

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Add passthrough arguments to PHP binary via `--` separator#90

Add passthrough arguments to PHP binary via `--` separator#90
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Copilot AI commented Nov 10, 2025 •

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Copilot AI commented Nov 10, 2025 •

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