Running A local Laravel application like one in production?

Level 58

To set up a local Laravel application to mimic a production environment with automated deployment and startup, you can follow these steps:

1. Local Development Environment

WSL 2 Setup: Ensure you have WSL 2 installed and configured on your Windows machine. Install a Linux distribution (like Ubuntu) and set up your development environment with PHP, Composer, and Laravel.
Local Server: Use a tool like Laravel Valet for WSL or Homestead to serve your application locally. This will give you a more production-like environment.

2. Version Control with Git and GitHub

Git Setup: Initialize a Git repository in your Laravel project and commit your changes regularly.
GitHub Repository: Push your local repository to GitHub. This will serve as the central repository for your code.

3. Automated Deployment

Deployment Script: Write a deployment script that pulls the latest changes from GitHub and runs necessary commands like composer install, php artisan migrate, and npm run production.

GitHub Actions: Set up a GitHub Actions workflow to automate the deployment process. You can trigger this workflow on every push to the main branch.

name: Deploy to Local Server

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
    - name: Checkout code
      uses: actions/checkout@v2

    - name: Set up PHP
      uses: shivammathur/setup-php@v2
      with:
        php-version: '8.0'

    - name: Install dependencies
      run: composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

    - name: Run migrations
      run: php artisan migrate --force

    - name: Build assets
      run: npm ci && npm run production

    - name: Deploy to server
      run: |
        ssh user@your-local-server 'cd /path/to/your/app && git pull origin main && php artisan migrate --force && npm run production'

4. Running the App on Startup

Systemd Service: Create a systemd service to start your Laravel application automatically on boot. This is applicable if you're using a Linux environment.

Create a service file, e.g., /etc/systemd/system/laravel-app.service:

[Unit]
Description=Laravel Application

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/php /path/to/your/app/artisan serve --host=0.0.0.0 --port=8000
Restart=always
User=your-username
Group=www-data
Environment=PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
Environment=NODE_ENV=production
WorkingDirectory=/path/to/your/app

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl enable laravel-app
sudo systemctl start laravel-app

5. Accessing the Application

Local Domain: Use a tool like Valet to map your application to a local domain, e.g., http://myapp.test.

By following these steps, you can create a local environment that closely resembles a production setup, with automated deployment and startup processes. This will help you practice real-world deployment workflows while keeping everything on your local machine.