🚀 Dockerize Laravel Application! | Ariful Haque Sajib

Dockerize Monorepo Laravel Application By Ariful Haque Sajib

Dockerize Monorepo architecture Laravel application — by Ariful Haque Sajib.
In this blog, I’ll walk you through setting up a Laravel 11 project in a Dockerized environment. The setup orchestrates PHP, NGINX, and MySQL services, creating a smooth development experience. Let’s break it all down.

What is Monorepo architecture in Laravel?

A monorepo (single repository) keeps all your Laravel projects and related packages in one repository.

Folder Structure

Here’s the folder structure for our project:

Dockerize monorepo Folder Structure by Ariful Haque Sajib

This structure keeps our Docker-specific files (docker/) separate from the application code (src/). The src/ The folder contains all the Laravel application code.

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1. Setting Up Laravel

I use the Laravel Global installer to install the Laravel application using the steps below.

laravel new docerize-laravel-applicati

2. docker-compose.yml

docker-compose.yml defines and configures three essential services: PHP, NGINX, and MySQL.

version: '3.8'

services:
  app:
    build:
      context: ./docker/php
    container_name: laravel-app
    volumes:
      - ./src:/var/www/html
    ports:
      - "9000:9000"
    networks:
      - laravel

  web:
    image: nginx:latest
    container_name: laravel-nginx
    ports:
      - "8081:80" # Changed from 8080 to 8081
    volumes:
      - ./src:/var/www/html
      - ./docker/nginx/default.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
    depends_on:
      - app
    networks:
      - laravel

  db:
    image: mysql:8.0
    container_name: laravel-db
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: root
      MYSQL_DATABASE: laravel
      MYSQL_USER: laravel
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: laravel
    volumes:
      - db-data:/var/lib/mysql
    ports:
      - "3307:3306" # Use port 3307 to avoid conflicts
    networks:
      - laravel

  node:
    image: node:18
    container_name: laravel-node
    working_dir: /var/www/html
    volumes:
      - ./src:/var/www/html
    command: sh -c "npm install && npm run dev"
    networks:
      - laravel

volumes:
  db-data:

networks:
  laravel:

🔑 Key Points

1. PHP Service (app):

• Uses the custom Dockerfile located at docker/php/Dockerfile to build the PHP image.
• Mounts the entire project directory (./) to /var/www/html inside the container, enabling live syncing of code.
• Exposes port 9000, which is used internally by PHP-FPM.

2. NGINX Service (web):

• Uses the official nginx:latest image to serve your Laravel app.
• Serves files from /var/www/html/public (the Laravel public directory).
• Maps host port 8081 to container port 80, so the app is accessible via http://localhost:8081.
• Uses a custom config file at docker/nginx/default.conf.

3. MySQL Service (db):

• Runs MySQL version 8.0 with specified environment variables (MYSQL_DATABASE, MYSQL_USER, etc.).
• Maps host port 3307 to container port 3306 (default MySQL port).
• Persists data using a named volume db-data, so data isn’t lost when the container stops.

4. Node Service (node) [Optional if not needed]:

• Uses node:18 to install dependencies and run npm run dev.
• Mounts the project directory to allow real-time code access.
• You can safely remove this service if you’re not using Laravel Mix, Tailwind, or frontend assets.

5. Networks & Volumes:

• All containers share the same custom Docker network: laravel, which enables them to talk to each other using service names like db or app.
• The volume db-data stores MySQL data persistently across container rebuilds.

3. PHP Dockerfile

The Dockerfile in docker/php/ defines the PHP environment for Laravel.

FROM php:8.2-fpm

# Install system dependencies
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    git \
    unzip \
    curl \
    libpng-dev \
    libonig-dev \
    libxml2-dev \
    zip \
    libzip-dev \
    && docker-php-ext-install pdo_mysql mbstring exif pcntl bcmath gd

# Install Composer
COPY --from=composer:2.6 /usr/bin/composer /usr/bin/composer

WORKDIR /var/www/html

Key Points:
1. Base Image: Uses the official php:8.2-fpm image optimized for Laravel.
2. Dependencies: Installs required extensions like pdo_mysql for MySQL, gd for image processing, and zip for file compression.
3. Composer: Adds Composer for dependency management.
4. Working Directory: Sets the working directory to /var/www/html.

4. NGINX Configuration

The NGINX configuration file default.conf is placed inside docker/nginx/.

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name localhost;
    index index.php index.html;
    server_name localhost;
    root /var/www/html/public;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_pass app:9000;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    }

    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }
}

Key Points:
Root Directory: Points to Laravel’s public/ folder.
PHP Requests: Forwards .php requests to the PHP service (app) on port 9000.
Security: Denies access to hidden files (e.g., .htaccess).

5. Environment Setup .env

copy and paste in Laravel .env file

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=db
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=laravel
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=laravel

6. Running the Docker Containers

Start the Docker services with docker-compose:

docker-compose up -d

Access the Application:

• Laravel App: http://localhost:8081
• MySQL: Accessible on port 3307.

Docker Commands

# Start containers
docker-compose up -d

# Stop containers
docker-compose down

# View container logs
docker-compose logs -f

# Access PHP container shell
docker-compose exec app bash

# List running containers
docker-compose ps

Conclusion

With this Dockerized setup, your Laravel app is fully isolated, portable, and production-ready. You can now run your project across any system without worrying about PHP/MySQL/Node.js conflicts.
Let me know if you want to deploy this setup to a production server using Docker or Docker Swarm!

Feel free to tweak this setup based on your project’s needs. Happy coding! 🚀

For the complete source code, visit:
📂 Git Repository: dockerize-monorepo-laravel-app

Note: Follow the repository’s readme.md file if you want to run this application on your pc.

I’m Md Ariful Haque Sajib, a Software Engineer 👨‍💻 Specializing in PHP, Laravel, Java, Spring Boot, Vue.js, and React.js. With expertise in OTA Platform, ERP, Microservices, E-commerce, Payment Gateways, APIs, various Management and Finance-based software. I am passionate about 🧠 learning and delivering 🌟 high-quality solutions.

📌 Follow me for updates and insights:
🌐 GitHub: ArifulHaque313
🔗 LinkedIn: Md Ariful Haque Sajib

📧 Contact: asajib7654@gmail.com

📢 Hashtags:
#DockerizeLaravelApp #DocerizeMonorepoLaravelApp #LaravelDocker #DockerLaravel #DockerizeLaravelAPP #ArifulHaque313 #ArifulHaqueSajib #ariful_haque #sajib

Hope this makes it more visually appealing! 😊