diff --git a/tools/local-env/scripts/install.js b/tools/local-env/scripts/install.js
index 038ecc3a67d5e..898002e435732 100644
--- a/tools/local-env/scripts/install.js
+++ b/tools/local-env/scripts/install.js
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ const local_env_utils = require( './utils' );
 
 dotenvExpand.expand( dotenv.config() );
 
-// Create wp-config.php.
-wp_cli( `config create --dbname=wordpress_develop --dbuser=root --dbpass=password --dbhost=mysql --force --config-file="wp-config.php"` );
+// Create wp-config.php. Use retry logic to handle database startup race conditions.
+wp_cli_with_retry( `config create --dbname=wordpress_develop --dbuser=root --dbpass=password --dbhost=mysql --force --config-file="wp-config.php"` );
 
 // Add the debug settings to wp-config.php.
 // Windows requires this to be done as an additional step, rather than using the --extra-php option in the previous step.
@@ -61,3 +61,54 @@ wait_on( {
 function wp_cli( cmd ) {
 	execSync( `npm --silent run env:cli -- ${cmd} --path=/var/www/${process.env.LOCAL_DIR}`, { stdio: 'inherit' } );
 }
+
+/**
+ * Synchronously pauses execution for the given number of milliseconds.
+ *
+ * Uses `Atomics.wait` so the pause works on every platform. Shelling out to a
+ * `sleep` command would fail on Windows, where `sleep` is not a `cmd.exe` builtin.
+ *
+ * @param {number} ms Milliseconds to wait.
+ */
+function sleep_sync( ms ) {
+	Atomics.wait( new Int32Array( new SharedArrayBuffer( 4 ) ), 0, 0, ms );
+}
+
+/**
+ * Runs WP-CLI commands with retry-on-failure to ride out database startup races.
+ *
+ * The Docker `mysqladmin ping` healthcheck can report MariaDB ready before the
+ * server accepts authenticated connections, causing `wp config create` to fail
+ * intermittently with "Database connection error (2002) Connection refused".
+ *
+ * Because `wp_cli` invokes `execSync` with `stdio: 'inherit'`, the caught error
+ * does not carry the underlying stderr that would let us classify the failure.
+ * Every failure is therefore treated as potentially transient and retried; the
+ * underlying wp-cli error is still streamed live to the user on each attempt,
+ * and a persistent failure surfaces the same error after the retry envelope
+ * is exhausted.
+ *
+ * Backoff schedule with the defaults: 1s, 2s, 4s, 8s, 16s (~31s total) before
+ * the final attempt.
+ *
+ * @param {string} cmd        The WP-CLI command to run.
+ * @param {number} maxRetries Maximum number of attempts. Default 6.
+ * @param {number} delay      Initial backoff delay in milliseconds. Default 1000.
+ */
+function wp_cli_with_retry( cmd, maxRetries = 6, delay = 1000 ) {
+	for ( let i = 0; i < maxRetries; i++ ) {
+		try {
+			wp_cli( cmd );
+			return;
+		} catch ( err ) {
+			if ( i === maxRetries - 1 ) {
+				const total_wait_seconds = ( delay * ( Math.pow( 2, maxRetries - 1 ) - 1 ) ) / 1000;
+				console.error( `Command failed after ${ maxRetries } attempts (~${ total_wait_seconds }s of retries). Likely a persistent database or configuration issue.` );
+				throw err;
+			}
+			const waitTime = delay * Math.pow( 2, i );
+			console.log( `Command failed (likely transient database startup race). Retrying in ${ waitTime }ms... (attempt ${ i + 1 }/${ maxRetries })` );
+			sleep_sync( waitTime );
+		}
+	}
+}