MediaWiki Tips and Tricks

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How to Set Up MediaWiki with Docker Compose for Local Development

How to Set Up MediaWiki with Docker Compose for Local Development MediaWiki powers Wikipedia and thousands of wikis worldwide. For developers, contributors, or anyone who wants a sandbox to experiment with extensions, the official MediaWiki‑Docker development environment provides a ready‑made Docker stack. This guide walks you through the

Customizing MediaWiki Appearance with CSS and Templates

Why “skin‑deep” isn’t enough When you first hop onto a fresh MediaWiki install, the default look feels… well, kind of bland. The familiar blue‑green header, the default logo, that plain gray sidebar—nothing screams “my wiki”. Most admins stumble on the fact that the look of a

Enhancing MediaWiki with MathJax for Mathematical Content

Why bother with MathJax on a MediaWiki? Ever opened a scientific wiki and found the equations looking like a jumble of back‑slashes and curly braces? It happens more often than you’d think. Readers stumble over raw LaTeX, editors scratch their heads, and the whole page feels half‑finished.

Automating MediaWiki Deployments with Docker Compose and GitHub Actions

Why automate MediaWiki deployments? MediaWiki powers Wikipedia and thousands of other knowledge bases. When you run it in production you usually need a database, a web server, optional extensions and a repeatable way to bring the whole stack up on a new host. Docker Compose gives you a portable, declarative

Understanding MediaWiki's Revision History and Diff Features

What the revision history really is Ever clicked that tiny “history” link on a wiki page and felt like you were opening a time‑machine? That’s the revision history – a chronological ledger of every edit, from the first shy line of text to the frantic last‑minute fix before

Harnessing Lua Scripting in MediaWiki with the Scribunto Extension

Why Lua feels like a secret weapon for wikis Ever stared at a wikitext page and thought, “there’s gotta be a smarter way”? You’re not alone. In the wild world of MediaWiki, the Scribunto extension quietly hands you a scripting toolbox that looks suspiciously like a Swiss army

Building Custom Skins for MediaWiki: A Developer Guide

Why bother with a custom skin? When you first log into a MediaWiki site the interface looks like the familiar Vector theme. That’s fine for most readers, but developers often want a look that matches a brand, a conference, or just the itch to experiment with HTML/CSS. A

How to Set Up a Backup and Restore Strategy for MediaWiki Sites

Why a Backup Strategy Matters MediaWiki stores its critical data in two places: the relational database (pages, revisions, users, logs, etc.) and the file system (configuration, extensions, skins, uploaded images). A single‑point failure – a corrupted database, a lost LocalSettings.php, or a missing images/ directory – can render a wiki

Enhancing Search in MediaWiki Using the CirrusSearch Extension

Why CirrusSearch matters for a MediaWiki site If you’ve ever typed a phrase into Special:Search and gotten a wall of unrelated hits, you know the frustration. The classic MediaWiki search is fast enough for a handful of pages, but it falls flat once your wiki grows beyond a

Top 10 MUST HAVE MediaWiki Extensions for Every MediaWiki

A curated list of ten extensions I believe are indispensable. I explain what problem each solves, when to use it, and any trade-offs to watch out for