Docker with PHP & Laravel

Set up a complete Laravel development environment using Docker with PHP-FPM, Nginx, and MySQL — without installing anything locally.

Project Structure

my-laravel-app/
├── docker/nginx/default.conf
├── Dockerfile
├── docker-compose.yml
└── (Laravel project files)

Step 1: Create the Dockerfile

FROM php:8.2-fpm
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y git curl zip unzip libpng-dev
RUN docker-php-ext-install pdo_mysql mbstring gd
COPY --from=composer:latest /usr/bin/composer /usr/bin/composer
WORKDIR /var/www/html
COPY . .
RUN composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
RUN chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/storage /var/www/html/bootstrap/cache
EXPOSE 9000
CMD ["php-fpm"]

Step 2: Nginx Config

docker/nginx/default.conf:

server {
    listen 80;
    root /var/www/html/public;
    index index.php;
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }
    location ~ .php$ {
        fastcgi_pass app:9000;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    }
}

Step 3: docker-compose.yml

version: "3.9"
services:
  app:
    build: .
    container_name: laravel-app
    volumes:
      - .:/var/www/html
    networks:
      - laravel-net

  nginx:
    image: nginx:latest
    container_name: laravel-nginx
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    volumes:
      - .:/var/www/html
      - ./docker/nginx/default.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
    networks:
      - laravel-net

  mysql:
    image: mysql:8.0
    container_name: laravel-mysql
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: secret
      MYSQL_DATABASE: laravel_db
      MYSQL_USER: laravel
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: laravel123
    volumes:
      - mysql-data:/var/lib/mysql
    networks:
      - laravel-net

networks:
  laravel-net:
volumes:
  mysql-data:

Step 4: Laravel .env

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=mysql
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=laravel_db
DB_USERNAME=laravel
DB_PASSWORD=laravel123

Step 5: Start and Run

docker compose up -d
docker compose exec app php artisan migrate
docker compose exec app php artisan key:generate
docker compose exec app php artisan config:clear

Visit http://localhost:8080 — your Laravel app is running in Docker!

Summary

• Use PHP-FPM + Nginx + MySQL containers for a full Laravel stack
• Use docker compose exec app to run artisan commands
• Set DB_HOST=mysql (container name) in .env for database connection
• Mount your project with volumes so code changes reflect instantly