diff --git a/__tests__/devenv-e2e/001-create.spec.js b/__tests__/devenv-e2e/001-create.spec.js
index 90f4ba2c9..6530ccafb 100644
--- a/__tests__/devenv-e2e/001-create.spec.js
+++ b/__tests__/devenv-e2e/001-create.spec.js
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ describe( 'vip dev-env create', () => {
 	it( 'should use sane defaults', async () => {
 		const slug = getProjectSlug();
 		const expectedMultisite = false;
-		const expectedPhpVersion = '8.2';
+		const expectedPhpVersion = '8.4';
 		const expectedElasticsearch = false;
 		const expectedPhpMyAdmin = false;
 		const expectedXDebug = false;
diff --git a/__tests__/lib/dev-environment/dev-environment-cli.js b/__tests__/lib/dev-environment/dev-environment-cli.js
index 0e28e12af..d91867225 100644
--- a/__tests__/lib/dev-environment/dev-environment-cli.js
+++ b/__tests__/lib/dev-environment/dev-environment-cli.js
@@ -594,13 +594,14 @@ describe( 'lib/dev-environment/dev-environment-cli', () => {
 			expect( actual ).toStrictEqual( expected );
 		} );
 
-		it.each( [ [ '7.4' ], [ 'ghcr.io/automattic/vip-container-images/php-fpm-ubuntu:7.3' ] ] )(
-			'should throw an error for invalid version',
-			async version => {
-				expect( () => resolvePhpVersion( version ) ).toThrow(
-					`Unknown or unsupported PHP version: ${ version }`
-				);
-			}
-		);
+		it.each( [
+			[ '7.4' ],
+			[ 'ghcr.io/automattic/vip-container-images/php-fpm-ubuntu:7.3' ],
+			[ 'toString' ],
+		] )( 'should throw an error for invalid version', async version => {
+			expect( () => resolvePhpVersion( version ) ).toThrow(
+				`Unknown or unsupported PHP version: ${ version }`
+			);
+		} );
 	} );
 } );
diff --git a/src/bin/vip-dev-env-update.js b/src/bin/vip-dev-env-update.js
index 2c6085f83..9080cb134 100755
--- a/src/bin/vip-dev-env-update.js
+++ b/src/bin/vip-dev-env-update.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import debugLib from 'debug';
 import command from '../lib/cli/command';
 import {
 	DEV_ENVIRONMENT_NOT_FOUND,
+	DEV_ENVIRONMENT_DEFAULT_PHP_VERSION,
 	DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS,
 } from '../lib/constants/dev-environment';
 import {
@@ -109,7 +110,7 @@ cmd.argv( process.argv, async ( arg, opt ) => {
 			elasticsearch: currentInstanceData.elasticsearch,
 			php:
 				currentInstanceData.php ||
-				DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS[ Object.keys( DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS )[ 0 ] ].image,
+				DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS[ DEV_ENVIRONMENT_DEFAULT_PHP_VERSION ].image,
 			mariadb: currentInstanceData.mariadb,
 			phpmyadmin: currentInstanceData.phpmyadmin,
 			xdebug: currentInstanceData.xdebug,
diff --git a/src/lib/constants/dev-environment.ts b/src/lib/constants/dev-environment.ts
index f99c18b0c..ce9721dea 100644
--- a/src/lib/constants/dev-environment.ts
+++ b/src/lib/constants/dev-environment.ts
@@ -27,29 +27,31 @@ interface PhpImage {
 	label: string;
 }
 
-export const DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS: Record< string, PhpImage > = {
-	8.2: {
+export const DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS = {
+	'8.2': {
 		image: 'ghcr.io/automattic/vip-container-images/php-fpm:8.2',
-		label: '8.2 (recommended)',
+		label: '8.2',
 	},
-	8.3: {
+	'8.3': {
 		image: 'ghcr.io/automattic/vip-container-images/php-fpm:8.3',
 		label: '8.3',
 	},
-	8.4: {
+	'8.4': {
 		image: 'ghcr.io/automattic/vip-container-images/php-fpm:8.4',
 		label: '8.4',
 	},
-	8.5: {
+	'8.5': {
 		image: 'ghcr.io/automattic/vip-container-images/php-fpm:8.5',
 		label: '8.5 (experimental)',
 	},
-} as const;
+} as const satisfies Record< string, PhpImage >;
+
+export const DEV_ENVIRONMENT_DEFAULT_PHP_VERSION: keyof typeof DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS = '8.4';
 
 export const DEV_ENVIRONMENT_DEFAULTS = {
 	title: 'VIP Dev',
 	multisite: false,
-	phpVersion: Object.keys( DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS )[ 0 ],
+	phpVersion: DEV_ENVIRONMENT_DEFAULT_PHP_VERSION,
 } as const;
 
 export const DEV_ENVIRONMENT_VERSION = '2.3.3';
diff --git a/src/lib/dev-environment/dev-environment-cli.ts b/src/lib/dev-environment/dev-environment-cli.ts
index af46f1287..bfe136b6e 100644
--- a/src/lib/dev-environment/dev-environment-cli.ts
+++ b/src/lib/dev-environment/dev-environment-cli.ts
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import { Args } from '../cli/command';
 import {
 	DEV_ENVIRONMENT_FULL_COMMAND,
 	DEV_ENVIRONMENT_DEFAULTS,
+	DEV_ENVIRONMENT_DEFAULT_PHP_VERSION,
 	DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PROMPT_INTRO,
 	DEV_ENVIRONMENT_COMPONENTS,
 	DEV_ENVIRONMENT_NOT_FOUND,
@@ -775,7 +776,7 @@ export function resolvePhpVersion( version: string ): string {
 	debug( `Resolving PHP version %j`, version );
 
 	let result: string;
-	if ( ! ( version in DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS ) ) {
+	if ( ! Object.hasOwn( DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS, version ) ) {
 		const images = Object.values( DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS );
 		const image = images.find( value => value.image === version );
 		if ( image ) {
@@ -784,7 +785,8 @@ export function resolvePhpVersion( version: string ): string {
 			throw new UserError( `Unknown or unsupported PHP version: ${ version }.` );
 		}
 	} else {
-		result = DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS[ version ].image;
+		result =
+			DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS[ version as keyof typeof DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS ].image;
 	}
 
 	debug( 'Resolved PHP image: %j', result );
@@ -797,9 +799,15 @@ export async function promptForPhpVersion( initialValue: string ): Promise< stri
 	let answer = initialValue;
 	if ( isStdinTTY ) {
 		const choices = [];
-		Object.keys( DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS ).forEach( version => {
+		(
+			Object.keys( DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS ) as ( keyof typeof DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS )[]
+		 ).forEach( version => {
 			const phpImage = DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS[ version ];
-			choices.push( { message: phpImage.label, value: version } );
+			const label =
+				version === DEV_ENVIRONMENT_DEFAULT_PHP_VERSION
+					? `${ phpImage.label } (recommended)`
+					: phpImage.label;
+			choices.push( { message: label, value: version } );
 		} );
 		const images = Object.values( DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS );
 		let initial = images.findIndex( version => version.image === initialValue );
diff --git a/src/lib/dev-environment/dev-environment-core.ts b/src/lib/dev-environment/dev-environment-core.ts
index 25d46564e..8982265a7 100644
--- a/src/lib/dev-environment/dev-environment-core.ts
+++ b/src/lib/dev-environment/dev-environment-core.ts
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ import {
 	DEV_ENVIRONMENT_WORDPRESS_CACHE_KEY,
 	DEV_ENVIRONMENT_WORDPRESS_VERSION_TTL,
 	DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS,
+	DEV_ENVIRONMENT_DEFAULT_PHP_VERSION,
 	DEV_ENVIRONMENT_VERSION,
 } from '../constants/dev-environment';
 import { createProxyAgent } from '../http/proxy-agent';
@@ -321,8 +322,7 @@ function preProcessInstanceData( instanceData: InstanceData ): Required< Instanc
 		mariadb: instanceData.mariadb ?? '',
 		elasticsearch: instanceData.elasticsearch || false, // NOSONAR
 		php:
-			instanceData.php ??
-			DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS[ Object.keys( DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS )[ 0 ] ].image,
+			instanceData.php ?? DEV_ENVIRONMENT_PHP_VERSIONS[ DEV_ENVIRONMENT_DEFAULT_PHP_VERSION ].image,
 		xdebug: Boolean( instanceData.xdebug ),
 		phpmyadmin: Boolean( instanceData.phpmyadmin ),
 		photon: Boolean( instanceData.photon ),