Streamlining CI/CD for PHP Projects with GitLab and Docker

How to implement efficient and secure continuous integration and deployment pipelines for Laravel projects using GitLab CI and Docker.

Why CI/CD Matters in Modern Web Development

Manual deployment is error-prone and time-consuming. In today's fast-moving development cycles, CI/CD pipelines ensure your code is tested, built, and deployed consistently and securely — with minimal developer intervention.

For PHP developers using Laravel, GitLab CI combined with Docker can be a powerful combo for automation.

GitLab CI Pipeline Structure

A typical GitLab pipeline for a Laravel project may look like this:

stages:
  - install
  - test
  - deploy

install_dependencies:
  stage: install
  script:
    - composer install --no-interaction --prefer-dist
    - cp .env.testing .env
    - php artisan key:generate

run_tests:
  stage: test
  script:
    - php artisan migrate
    - ./vendor/bin/phpunit

deploy_production:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - echo "Deploying to production server via SSH..."
    - ssh user@server 'cd /var/www && git pull && php artisan migrate --force'
  only:
    - main

Using Docker for Local and CI Environments

Docker ensures your local and CI environments are identical. For Laravel, you might define services like:

PHP 8.x with Composer
MySQL/PostgreSQL
Redis
Nginx
Node.js for frontend builds

This allows full testing in CI with the same environment as production.

Secrets & Security

Avoid hardcoding credentials or secrets. Use GitLab CI/CD variables and GitLab’s secret management features for storing:

API Keys
SSH keys for deployment
Database credentials

Real-world Implementation

In one of my Laravel-based client projects, I implemented a GitLab CI pipeline that:

Ran PHPUnit tests automatically on each merge
Built frontend assets with Vite in CI
Deployed to staging automatically
Deployed to production only on manual approval

It reduced deployment time by over 80% and improved developer confidence dramatically.

Final Thoughts

CI/CD is not just for big teams. Even as a solo developer, setting up GitLab pipelines can save time, reduce bugs, and make your deployment repeatable and stress-free. Start small: Test your code automatically. Then grow your pipeline step-by-step.