---
title: Laravel Production Setup with Docker Compose
description: Set up a production-ready environment for Laravel using Docker Compose.
weight: 20
---
This guide demonstrates how to set up a production-ready Laravel environment using Docker and Docker Compose. This configuration is designed for streamlined, scalable, and secure Laravel application deployments.
> [!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/
│ ├── production/
│ │ ├── php-fpm/
│ │ │ └── entrypoint.sh
│ │ └── nginx
│ │ ├── Dockerfile
│ │ └── nginx.conf
├── 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.
## Create a Dockerfile for PHP-FPM (production)
For production, the `php-fpm` Dockerfile creates an optimized image with only the PHP extensions and libraries your application needs. As demonstrated in the [GitHub example](https://github.com/dockersamples/laravel-docker-examples), a single Dockerfile with multi-stage builds maintains consistency and reduces duplication between development and production. The following snippet shows only the production-related stages:
```dockerfile
# Stage 1: Build environment and Composer dependencies
FROM php:8.4-fpm AS builder
# Install system dependencies and PHP extensions for Laravel with MySQL/PostgreSQL support.
# Dependencies in this stage are only required for building the final image.
# Node.js and asset building are handled in the Nginx stage, not here.
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 \
&& docker-php-ext-enable redis \
&& apt-get autoremove -y && apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* /tmp/* /var/tmp/*
# Set the working directory inside the container
WORKDIR /var/www
# Copy the entire Laravel application code into the container
# -----------------------------------------------------------
# In Laravel, `composer install` may trigger scripts
# needing access to application code.
# For example, the `post-autoload-dump` event might execute
# Artisan commands like `php artisan package:discover`. If the
# application code (including the `artisan` file) is not
# present, these commands will fail, leading to build errors.
#
# By copying the entire application code before running
# `composer install`, we ensure that all necessary files are
# available, allowing these scripts to run successfully.
# In other cases, it would be possible to copy composer files
# first, to leverage Docker's layer caching mechanism.
# -----------------------------------------------------------
COPY . /var/www
# Install Composer and dependencies
RUN curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php -- --install-dir=/usr/local/bin --filename=composer \
&& composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader --no-interaction --no-progress --prefer-dist
# Stage 2: Production environment
FROM php:8.4-fpm
# Install only runtime libraries needed in production
# libfcgi-bin and procps are required for the php-fpm-healthcheck script