---
title: Laravel Development Setup with Docker Compose
description: Set up a Laravel development environment using Docker Compose.
weight: 30
---

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](https://github.com/dockersamples/laravel-docker-examples) repository. It contains pre-configured setups for both development and production.

## Project structure

```plaintext
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.

```dockerfile
# 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; \