> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.instapods.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# PHP

> PHP preset with nginx, PHP-FPM, and Composer. Versions 8.2, 8.3 (default), and 8.4 available.

The PHP preset provides a full PHP development environment with nginx, PHP-FPM, and Composer pre-installed.

## Available Versions

| Version     | Status    |
| ----------- | --------- |
| **PHP 8.2** | Supported |
| **PHP 8.3** | Default   |
| **PHP 8.4** | Latest    |

Select a version when creating your pod. If not specified, PHP 8.3 is used.

```bash theme={null}
instapods pods create my-app -p php --version 8.4
```

## What's Included

| Component    | Version                        | Details                         |
| ------------ | ------------------------------ | ------------------------------- |
| **nginx**    | Latest (Ubuntu 24.04)          | Web server, proxies to PHP-FPM  |
| **PHP-FPM**  | 8.2, 8.3, or 8.4 (your choice) | FastCGI process manager         |
| **Composer** | Latest                         | PHP dependency manager (global) |
| **git**      | Latest                         | Version control                 |
| **SSH**      | OpenSSH                        | Access via dedicated port       |

**Pre-installed PHP extensions**: mbstring, xml, curl, mysql, pgsql, redis, zip, and more.

Pre-installed utilities: curl, wget, vim, htop, unzip.

## Directory Structure

```
/home/instapod/app/
├── public/
│   └── index.php       # Web-accessible entry point
├── composer.json        # (your project)
└── vendor/              # (after composer install)
```

* **App Root**: `/home/instapod/app`
* **Public Root**: `/home/instapod/app/public`
* **Port**: 80 (nginx)
* **PHP-FPM socket**: `/run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock`

<Warning>
  nginx is configured to serve from `/home/instapod/app/public`. Place your entry point (`index.php`) there. Application code, configs, and vendor directory go in the parent `/home/instapod/app`.
</Warning>

## Deploying Your App

### Upload Files

```bash theme={null}
instapods files sync my-php-app --local ./my-laravel-project

# Or use the deploy command
instapods deploy my-php-app --local ./my-laravel-project
```

### Install Dependencies

```bash theme={null}
instapods exec my-php-app -- composer install --no-dev
```

### Reload Services

After deploying or updating your code:

```bash theme={null}
instapods pods reload my-php-app
```

This restarts both PHP-FPM and nginx.

## Routing

The nginx config includes `try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string`, which means all requests that don't match a file are forwarded to `index.php`. This works out of the box for:

* **Laravel** — all routes handled by `public/index.php`
* **Custom routers** — write your own front controller in `public/index.php`

## File Permissions

PHP-FPM runs as the `www-data` user. Files uploaded via the CLI or IDE are owned by `root`. If your PHP app needs to **write** to data directories (file uploads, JSON storage, cache), you must fix permissions:

```bash theme={null}
instapods exec my-php-app -- chown -R www-data:www-data /home/instapod/app/data
```

For Laravel, also set writable permissions on `storage` and `bootstrap/cache`:

```bash theme={null}
instapods exec my-php-app -- chown -R www-data:www-data /home/instapod/app/storage /home/instapod/app/bootstrap/cache
```

## Adding a Database

PHP apps commonly need a database. Install one with:

```bash theme={null}
# MySQL
instapods services add my-php-app -s mysql -w
instapods services creds my-php-app -s mysql

# PostgreSQL
instapods services add my-php-app -s postgresql -w
```

<Note>
  Database services require the Build plan or higher.
</Note>

## Use Cases

* Laravel applications
* Custom PHP APIs and REST services
* Content management systems
* PHP microservices