This post covers how to add phpMyAdmin to a Dockerized Laravel project.

At the end of the article, there’s a video showing the actual environment setup.

If you get stuck at any point, feel free to refer to the video.

Introduction

This article is intended for readers who:

• Have already set up a Laravel project using Docker.

If you’re planning to create a Laravel project with Docker, please refer to the following article:

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

Conclusion

To implement this, edit your docker-compose.yml file as follows:

phpmyadmin:
  container_name: "phpmyadmin"
  image: phpmyadmin
  restart: always
  ports:
    - 8980:80
  environment:
    - PMA_HOST=db
    - PMA_USER=user
    - PMA_PASSWORD=password

Then, run the following command:

docker compose up -d

Once the build is complete, you can access phpMyAdmin by visiting the following URL in your browser:

localhost:8980

If you can see the phpMyAdmin screen, the setup was successful.

Benefits of Using phpMyAdmin

phpMyAdmin is a convenient tool for database management.

It is especially suitable for beginners who lack SQL knowledge and developers who prefer a visual approach to database operations.

With its GUI, you can easily manage and operate databases, making your work more efficient.

In essence, it allows you to verify via your browser that functionalities are working correctly and that data has been added, updated, or deleted.

Explanation

The container name can be anything, but avoid duplicates

container_name: "phpmyadmin"

Choose any port number you like

I’ve chosen this port number because of conflicts with another project. Feel free to change the number in 8980 to any other number.

  ports:
    - 8980:80

Be careful with the environment variables

    environment:
      - PMA_HOST=db
      - PMA_USER=user
      - PMA_PASSWORD=password

• PMA_HOST should be the name of the service.
• PMA_USER should match the MYSQL_USER of the db container.
• PMA_PASSWORD should match the MYSQL_PASSWORD of the db container.

For example, if your db container is set up like this:

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"

You will use the following values for phpMyAdmin:

db:
- MYSQL_USER=${DB_USER:-user}
- MYSQL_PASSWORD=${DB_PASS:-password}

Notes

As someone who teaches Laravel, I’m occasionally asked, “How do I implement phpMyAdmin in a production environment?”

I don’t recommend using phpMyAdmin in a production environment

This is my personal opinion.

If you do decide to implement it, make sure to take various security measures to reduce risks. While it is possible to make it more secure through several steps, I personally don’t believe the effort is worth the benefit, which is why I don't recommend it.

Summary

That’s how you can add phpMyAdmin to a Dockerized Laravel project.