diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index 6500e7ccbf8af..a393da6b71bde 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@
 		"php": ">=7.4"
 	},
 	"suggest": {
-		"ext-dom": "*",
+		"ext-curl": "*",
+		"ext-dom": "*"
 		"ext-mysqli": "*"
 	},
 	"require-dev": {
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index cc2ed8d94975e..1082bd1bf3553 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -51,8 +51,17 @@ services:
       - ./tools/local-env/php-config.ini:/usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/php-config.ini
       - ./:/var/www
 
-    # Copy or delete the Memcached dropin plugin file as appropriate.
-    command: /bin/sh -c "if [ $LOCAL_PHP_MEMCACHED = true ]; then cp -n /var/www/tests/phpunit/includes/object-cache.php /var/www/src/wp-content/object-cache.php; else rm -f /var/www/src/wp-content/object-cache.php; fi && exec php-fpm"
+    # Install the loopback-request shim (see tools/local-env/mu-plugins/fix-docker-loopback.php), then
+    # copy or delete the Memcached dropin plugin file as appropriate.
+    command: >-
+      /bin/sh -c "
+        mkdir -p /var/www/${LOCAL_DIR-src}/wp-content/mu-plugins && cp -f /var/www/tools/local-env/mu-plugins/fix-docker-loopback.php /var/www/${LOCAL_DIR-src}/wp-content/mu-plugins/fix-docker-loopback.php;
+        if [ $LOCAL_PHP_MEMCACHED = true ]; then
+          cp -n /var/www/tests/phpunit/includes/object-cache.php /var/www/src/wp-content/object-cache.php;
+        else
+          rm -f /var/www/src/wp-content/object-cache.php;
+        fi && exec php-fpm
+      "
 
     # The init directive ensures the command runs with a PID > 1, so Ctrl+C works correctly.
     init: true
diff --git a/tools/local-env/mu-plugins/fix-docker-loopback.php b/tools/local-env/mu-plugins/fix-docker-loopback.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..6c8dbaac03707
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/local-env/mu-plugins/fix-docker-loopback.php
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * Plugin Name: Fix Docker Loopback Requests
+ * Description: Routes WordPress loopback HTTP requests (Site Health, wp_remote_get(home_url()), cron, etc.) to the Docker host gateway. Inside the php/cli containers "localhost" is the container's own loopback where nothing listens on the published port, so requests to home_url() fail with "cURL error 7: Could not connect to server". The docker-compose `extra_hosts: localhost:host-gateway` mapping is meant to address this, but it has no effect when cURL resolves "localhost" via glibc's getaddrinfo(), which special-cases that name to loopback and never sees the /etc/hosts gateway entry. This shim is therefore not always necessary -- on resolvers that do honor the mapping (e.g. a c-ares-based libcurl) loopback already works -- but it forces the gateway resolution at the cURL layer for the environments where it does not.
+ *
+ * This is a development-environment-only shim and should never ship to production.
+ *
+ * This file is copied from tools/local-env/mu-plugins/fix-docker-loopback.php, so ensure any changes are made there.
+ * Restart the environment to apply the changes, as that file will be re-copied when the container starts.
+ *
+ * @package WordPress\Develop
+ */
+
+namespace WordPress\Develop;
+
+// Only run in the local Docker dev environment.
+if ( ! function_exists( 'wp_get_environment_type' ) || 'local' !== wp_get_environment_type() ) {
+	return;
+}
+
+add_action( 'http_api_curl', __NAMESPACE__ . '\\resolve_loopback_to_host_gateway', 10, 3 );
+
+/**
+ * Pins loopback requests to the Docker host gateway via CURLOPT_RESOLVE.
+ *
+ * @param resource             $handle The cURL handle. A CurlHandle instance as of PHP 8.0.
+ * @param array<string, mixed> $args   The HTTP request arguments.
+ * @param string               $url    The request URL.
+ */
+function resolve_loopback_to_host_gateway( $handle, array $args, string $url ): void {
+	$host = wp_parse_url( $url, PHP_URL_HOST );
+	if ( ! is_string( $host ) ) {
+		return;
+	}
+
+	// Only rewrite requests aimed at this site (loopback), not arbitrary outbound requests.
+	$home_host = wp_parse_url( home_url(), PHP_URL_HOST );
+	if ( $host !== $home_host ) {
+		return;
+	}
+
+	// host.docker.internal resolves to the host gateway, which reaches the published web-server port.
+	$gateway = gethostbyname( 'host.docker.internal' );
+	if ( 'host.docker.internal' === $gateway ) {
+		return; // Not running under Docker Desktop / gateway unavailable.
+	}
+
+	$port = wp_parse_url( $url, PHP_URL_PORT );
+	if ( ! $port ) {
+		$port = ( 'https' === wp_parse_url( $url, PHP_URL_SCHEME ) ) ? 443 : 80;
+	}
+
+	curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_RESOLVE, array( "{$host}:{$port}:{$gateway}" ) );
+}