Laravel Development Setup with Docker Compose

Table of contents

This guide demonstrates how to configure a development environment for a Laravel application using Docker and Docker Compose. It builds on top of the production image for PHP-FPM and then adds developer-focused features—like Xdebug—to streamline debugging. By basing the development container on a known production image, you keep both environments closely aligned.

This setup includes PHP-FPM, Nginx, and PostgreSQL services (although you can easily swap PostgreSQL for another database, like MySQL or MariaDB). Everything runs in containers, so you can develop in isolation without altering your host system.

Note

To experiment with a ready-to-run configuration, download the Laravel Docker Examples repository. It contains pre-configured setups for both development and production.

Project structure

my-laravel-app/
├── app/
├── bootstrap/
├── config/
├── database/
├── public/
├── docker/
│   ├── common/
│   │   └── php-fpm/
│   │       └── Dockerfile
│   ├── development/
│   │   ├── php-fpm/
│   │   │   └── entrypoint.sh
│   │   ├── workspace/
│   │   │   └── Dockerfile
│   │   └── nginx
│   │       ├── Dockerfile
│   │       └── nginx.conf
│   └── production/
├── compose.dev.yaml
├── compose.prod.yaml
├── .dockerignore
├── .env
├── vendor/
├── ...

This layout represents a typical Laravel project, with Docker configurations stored in a unified docker directory. You’ll find two Compose files — compose.dev.yaml (for development) and compose.prod.yaml (for production) — to keep your environments separate and manageable.

The environment includes a workspace service, a sidecar container for tasks like building front-end assets, running Artisan commands, and other CLI tools your project may require. While this extra container may seem unusual, it’s a familiar pattern in solutions like Laravel Sail and Laradock. It also includes Xdebug to aid in debugging.

Create a Dockerfile for PHP-FPM

This Dockerfile extends the production image by installing Xdebug and adjusting user permissions to ease local development. That way, your development environment stays consistent with production while still offering extra debug features and improved file mounting.

# Builds a dev-only layer on top of the production image
FROM production AS development

# Use ARGs to define environment variables passed from the Docker build command or Docker Compose.
ARG XDEBUG_ENABLED=true
ARG XDEBUG_MODE=develop,coverage,debug,profile
ARG XDEBUG_HOST=host.docker.internal
ARG XDEBUG_IDE_KEY=DOCKER
ARG XDEBUG_LOG=/dev/stdout
ARG XDEBUG_LOG_LEVEL=0

USER root

# Configure Xdebug if enabled
RUN if [ "${XDEBUG_ENABLED}" = "true" ]; then \
    pecl install xdebug && \
    docker-php-ext-enable xdebug && \
    echo "xdebug.mode=${XDEBUG_MODE}" >> /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-xdebug.ini && \
    echo "xdebug.idekey=${XDEBUG_IDE_KEY}" >> /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-xdebug.ini && \
    echo "xdebug.log=${XDEBUG_LOG}" >> /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-xdebug.ini && \
    echo "xdebug.log_level=${XDEBUG_LOG_LEVEL}" >> /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-xdebug.ini && \
    echo "xdebug.client_host=${XDEBUG_HOST}" >> /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-xdebug.ini ; \
    echo "xdebug.start_with_request=yes" >> /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-xdebug.ini ; \
fi

# Add ARGs for syncing permissions
ARG UID=1000
ARG GID=1000

# Create a new user with the specified UID and GID, reusing an existing group if GID exists
RUN if getent group ${GID}; then \
      group_name=$(getent group ${GID} | cut -d: -f1); \
      useradd -m -u ${UID} -g ${GID} -s /bin/bash www; \
    else \
      groupadd -g ${GID} www && \
      useradd -m -u ${UID} -g www -s /bin/bash www; \
      group_name=www; \
    fi

# Dynamically update php-fpm to use the new user and group
RUN sed -i "s/user = www-data/user = www/g" /usr/local/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf && \
    sed -i "s/group = www-data/group = $group_name/g" /usr/local/etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf


# Set the working directory
WORKDIR /var/www

# Copy the entrypoint script
COPY ./docker/development/php-fpm/entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/entrypoint.sh
RUN chmod +x /usr/local/bin/entrypoint.sh

# Switch back to the non-privileged user to run the application
USER www-data

# Change the default command to run the entrypoint script
ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/local/bin/entrypoint.sh"]

# Expose port 9000 and start php-fpm server
EXPOSE 9000
CMD ["php-fpm"]

Create a Dockerfile for Workspace

A workspace container provides a dedicated shell for asset compilation, Artisan/Composer commands, and other CLI tasks. This approach follows patterns from Laravel Sail and Laradock, consolidating all development tools into one container for convenience.

# docker/development/workspace/Dockerfile
# Use the official PHP CLI image as the base
FROM php:8.3-cli

# Set environment variables for user and group ID
ARG UID=1000
ARG GID=1000
ARG NODE_VERSION=22.0.0

# Install system dependencies and build libraries
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
    curl \
    unzip \
    libpq-dev \
    libonig-dev \
    libssl-dev \
    libxml2-dev \
    libcurl4-openssl-dev \
    libicu-dev \
    libzip-dev \
    && docker-php-ext-install -j$(nproc) \
    pdo_mysql \
    pdo_pgsql \
    pgsql \
    opcache \
    intl \
    zip \
    bcmath \
    soap \
    && pecl install redis xdebug \
    && docker-php-ext-enable redis xdebug\
    && curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer \
    && apt-get autoremove -y && apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* /tmp/* /var/tmp/*

# Use ARG to define environment variables passed from the Docker build command or Docker Compose.
ARG XDEBUG_ENABLED
ARG XDEBUG_MODE
ARG XDEBUG_HOST
ARG XDEBUG_IDE_KEY
ARG XDEBUG_LOG
ARG XDEBUG_LOG_LEVEL

# Configure Xdebug if enabled
RUN if [ "${XDEBUG_ENABLED}" = "true" ]; then \
    docker-php-ext-enable xdebug && \
    echo "xdebug.mode=${XDEBUG_MODE}" >> /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-xdebug.ini && \
    echo "xdebug.idekey=${XDEBUG_IDE_KEY}" >> /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-xdebug.ini && \
    echo "xdebug.log=${XDEBUG_LOG}" >> /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-xdebug.ini && \
    echo "xdebug.log_level=${XDEBUG_LOG_LEVEL}" >> /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-xdebug.ini && \
    echo "xdebug.client_host=${XDEBUG_HOST}" >> /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-xdebug.ini ; \
    echo "xdebug.start_with_request=yes" >> /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/docker-php-ext-xdebug.ini ; \
fi

# If the group already exists, use it; otherwise, create the 'www' group
RUN if getent group ${GID}; then \
      useradd -m -u ${UID} -g ${GID} -s /bin/bash www; \
    else \
      groupadd -g ${GID} www && \
      useradd -m -u ${UID} -g www -s /bin/bash www; \
    fi && \
    usermod -aG sudo www && \
    echo 'www ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL' >> /etc/sudoers

# Switch to the non-root user to install NVM and Node.js
USER www

# Install NVM (Node Version Manager) as the www user
RUN export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm" && \
    curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.0/install.sh | bash && \
    [ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && . "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" && \
    nvm install ${NODE_VERSION} && \
    nvm alias default ${NODE_VERSION} && \
    nvm use default

# Ensure NVM is available for all future shells
RUN echo 'export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"' >> /home/www/.bashrc && \
    echo '[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"' >> /home/www/.bashrc && \
    echo '[ -s "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion"' >> /home/www/.bashrc

# Set the working directory
WORKDIR /var/www

# Override the entrypoint to avoid the default php entrypoint
ENTRYPOINT []

# Default command to keep the container running
CMD ["bash"]

Note

If you prefer a one-service-per-container approach, simply omit the workspace container and run separate containers for each task. For example, you could use a dedicated php-cli container for your PHP scripts, and a node container to handle the asset building.

Create a Docker Compose Configuration for development

Here's the compose.yaml file to set up the development environment:

services:
  web:
    image: nginx:latest # Using the default Nginx image with custom configuration.
    volumes:
      # Mount the application code for live updates
      - ./:/var/www
      # Mount the Nginx configuration file
      - ./docker/development/nginx/nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro
    ports:
      # Map port 80 inside the container to the port specified by 'NGINX_PORT' on the host machine
      - "80:80"
    environment:
      - NGINX_HOST=localhost
    networks:
      - laravel-development
    depends_on:
      php-fpm:
        condition: service_started # Wait for php-fpm to start

  php-fpm:
    # For the php-fpm service, we will use our common PHP-FPM Dockerfile with the development target
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: ./docker/common/php-fpm/Dockerfile
      target: development
      args:
        UID: ${UID:-1000}
        GID: ${GID:-1000}
        XDEBUG_ENABLED: ${XDEBUG_ENABLED:-true}
        XDEBUG_MODE: develop,coverage,debug,profile
        XDEBUG_HOST: ${XDEBUG_HOST:-host.docker.internal}
        XDEBUG_IDE_KEY: ${XDEBUG_IDE_KEY:-DOCKER}
        XDEBUG_LOG: /dev/stdout
        XDEBUG_LOG_LEVEL: 0
    env_file:
      # Load the environment variables from the Laravel application
      - .env
    user: "${UID:-1000}:${GID:-1000}"
    volumes:
      # Mount the application code for live updates
      - ./:/var/www
    networks:
      - laravel-development
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_started # Wait for postgres to start

  workspace:
    # For the workspace service, we will also create a custom image to install and setup all the necessary stuff.
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: ./docker/development/workspace/Dockerfile
      args:
        UID: ${UID:-1000}
        GID: ${GID:-1000}
        XDEBUG_ENABLED: ${XDEBUG_ENABLED:-true}
        XDEBUG_MODE: develop,coverage,debug,profile
        XDEBUG_HOST: ${XDEBUG_HOST:-host.docker.internal}
        XDEBUG_IDE_KEY: ${XDEBUG_IDE_KEY:-DOCKER}
        XDEBUG_LOG: /dev/stdout
        XDEBUG_LOG_LEVEL: 0
    tty: true # Enables an interactive terminal
    stdin_open: true # Keeps standard input open for 'docker exec'
    env_file:
      - .env
    volumes:
      - ./:/var/www
    networks:
      - laravel-development

  postgres:
    image: postgres:16
    ports:
      - "${POSTGRES_PORT:-5432}:5432"
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=app
      - POSTGRES_USER=laravel
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=secret
    volumes:
      - postgres-data-development:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    networks:
      - laravel-development

  redis:
    image: redis:alpine
    networks:
      - laravel-development

networks:
  laravel-development:

volumes:
  postgres-data-development:

Note

Ensure you have an .env file at the root of your Laravel project with the necessary configurations. You can use the .env.example file as a template.

Run your development environment

To start the development environment, use:

$ docker compose -f compose.dev.yaml up --build -d

Run this command to build and start the development environment in detached mode. When the containers finish initializing, visit http://localhost/ to see your Laravel app in action.

Summary

By building on top of the production image and adding debug tools like Xdebug, you create a Laravel development workflow that closely mirrors production. The optional workspace container simplifies tasks like asset building and running Artisan commands. If you prefer a separate container for every service (e.g., a dedicated php-cli and node container), you can skip the workspace approach. Either way, Docker Compose provides an efficient, consistent way to develop your Laravel project.

Common Questions on Using Laravel with Docker »