How to Set Up a Laravel 11 and PHP 8 Environment with Docker

We’ve summarized how to set up a Laravel 11 and PHP 8 environment using Docker.

At the end of the article, there is a video that demonstrates the actual environment setup.

If you run into any difficulties, refer to the video for guidance.

Tools You’ll Use

• Docker Desktop
• VScode
• Mac (Intel chip)

Final Development Environment

• Laravel 11
• PHP 8.3
• Node.js 20
• MySQL 8.4

Configuring Docker Desktop

First, create an “empty folder” in a suitable location for your project.

Download and Install Docker Desktop

Official Docker Desktop Page

Download and install the version suitable for your PC from the link above.

Add Folder to File Sharing

Note: This may not be necessary for Windows.

1. Click the gear icon in the top right
2. Go to Resources
3. Select File Sharing
4. Click the Add button at the bottom and select the empty folder you created
5. Click Apply

Folder and File Structure

This will be your final structure. There are many folders and files, so be careful as mistakes can prevent it from working properly.

docker/
├── db/
│ ├── data/
│ ├── Dockerfile
│ └── my.conf
├── nginx/
│ ├── default.conf
│ └── Dockerfile
├── php/
│ ├── Dockerfile
│ └── php.ini
src/
docker-compose.yml

Creating the Web Container

Create docker-compose.yml and Add the Following Code

services:
web:
container_name: "web"
build:
dockerfile: "./docker/nginx/Dockerfile"
ports: - "8900:80"
volumes: - "./src:/var/www/html"

Create docker/nginx/Dockerfile and Add the Following Code

# Lightweight stable version

FROM nginx:stable-alpine

# Copy the configuration file

# COPY ./docker/nginx/default.conf /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf

### Create `docker/nginx/default.conf` and Add the Following Code

server { listen 80; listen [::]:80; # Specify the root directory root /var/www/html/public;

    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff";

    index index.php;

    charset utf-8;

    location / {
            try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location = /favicon.ico { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
    location = /robots.txt  { access_log off; log_not_found off; }

    error_page 404 /index.php;

    location ~ \.php$ {
            fastcgi_pass app:9000;
            fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $realpath_root$fastcgi_script_name;
            include fastcgi_params;
    }

    location ~ /\.(?!well-known).* {
            deny all;
    }

}

Run the Command in the Project Folder (Where docker-compose.yml Is)

Execute the following command in your terminal:

docker compose up -d

Make sure to read the display carefully as Docker errors may not appear in red. Check if there are any errors.

Check if the container is running:

docker compose ps

If the web container is running, you’re good to go.

Also, visit:

http://localhost:8900/

You should see an nginx error screen. This error is expected since Laravel is not yet installed.

Creating the App Container

Add the Following to docker-compose.yml

app:
container_name: "app"
mem_limit: 6g
build:
dockerfile: "./docker/php/Dockerfile"
volumes: - "./src:/var/www/html"
environment: - DB_CONNECTION=${DB_CONNECTION:-mysql}
      - DB_HOST=${DB_HOST:-db} - DB_PORT=${DB_PORT:-3306}
      - DB_DATABASE=${DB_DATABASE:-laravel-docker} - DB_USERNAME=${DB_USERNAME:-user}
      - DB_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD:-password}

Create docker/php/Dockerfile and Add the Following Code

FROM php:8.3-fpm

# Copy the configuration file

COPY ./docker/php/php.ini /usr/local/etc/php/php.ini

# Install packages

RUN apt-get update \
 && apt-get -y install git zip unzip vim \
 wget xz-utils

RUN docker-php-ext-install pdo_mysql mysqli

RUN apt-get -y install libzip-dev \
 && docker-php-ext-install zip

RUN curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_lts.x | bash -
RUN apt-get install -y nodejs

# Install composer

RUN cd /usr/bin && curl -s http://getcomposer.org/installer | php && ln -s /usr/bin/composer.phar /usr/bin/composer

# Specify the Node.js version to use

ENV NODE_VERSION=20.9.0
RUN curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.34.0/install.sh | bash
ENV NVM_DIR=/root/.nvm
RUN . "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" && nvm install ${NODE_VERSION}
RUN . "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" && nvm use v${NODE_VERSION}
RUN . "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" && nvm alias default v${NODE_VERSION}
ENV PATH="/root/.nvm/versions/node/v${NODE_VERSION}/bin/:${PATH}"
RUN node --version
RUN npm --version

# Set the working directory inside the container

# WORKDIR /var/www/html

### Create `docker/php/php.ini` and Add the Following Code

[Date] date.timezone = "Asia/Tokyo" [mbstring] mbstring.internal_encoding = "UTF-8" mbstring.language = "Japanese"

### Check if Everything Is Working Properly

Execute the following command in your terminal:

docker compose up -d

Check if the container is running properly:

docker compose ps

If the app container is running, everything is good.

## Creating the Database Container

### Add the Following to `docker-compose.yml`

db: container_name: db build: dockerfile: "./docker/db/Dockerfile" ports: - 3306:3306 environment: - MYSQL_DATABASE=${DB_NAME:-laravel-docker} - MYSQL_USER=${DB_USER:-user} - MYSQL_PASSWORD=${DB_PASS:-password} - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=${DB_PASS:-password} volumes: - "./docker/db/data:/var/lib/mysql"

### Create `docker/db/Dockerfile` and Add the Following Code

Base image

FROM mysql:8.4.0

Copy the configuration file

COPY ./docker/db/my.conf /etc/my.conf

Create docker/db/my.conf and Add the Following Code

[mysqld]
character-set-server=utf8mb4
[client]
default-character-set=utf8mb4

Create an Empty Folder docker/db/data/

Create the folder as per the previous structure.

Run the Command

Execute the following command in your terminal:

docker compose up -d

Check if the container is running properly:

docker compose ps

If the db container is running, everything is good.

Installing the Laravel Project

If all goes well, it’s just two commands.

docker compose exec app bash

This command allows you to enter the app container.

Once inside, run the following command to install Laravel:

composer create-project laravel/laravel:^11.0 .

If no errors occur, it’s complete. Access the following URL in your browser:

http://localhost:8900/

If you see the Laravel screen, the environment setup is complete.

Congratulations!

When You Want to Check Database Contents

During development, it can be cumbersome to verify database contents by typing SQL commands each time.

There are various ways to check the contents of a database depending on the language, but for PHP, using phpMyAdmin is convenient.

It’s very simple as you only need to add it to your docker-compose.yml.

How to Add phpMyAdmin to a Dockerized Laravel Project

Conclusion

This concludes the setup of the Laravel 11 environment with Docker.