Laravel - What steps should one take to make a Laravel app ready for production mode

Question

The scenario is I have developed a Laravel app in my localhost. Everything works fine. Now I need to make it go online. I am just trying to figure out what steps (configuration , security etc.) should I take before I make it go online.

I am listing a few steps:

1) Change in .env file to make the environment point to production mode using APP_ENV=production.

2) Avoide showing errors directly in pages as that would expose the innards of the app. Enable error logging instead.

3) Use caching for faster user experience 4) building a nice 404, not found page

What else should I undertake to turn the app from development mode into production mode ?

Answer 1

1. Apply changes to .env file:
   • APP_ENV=production
   • APP_DEBUG=false
2. Make sure that you are optimizing Composer's class autoloader map (docs):
   • composer dump-autoload --optimize
   • or along install: composer install --optimize-autoloader --no-dev
   • or during update: composer update --optimize-autoloader

3. Optimizing Configuration Loading:

   • php artisan config:cache

4. Optimizing Route Loading

   • php artisan route:cache
5. Compile all of the application's Blade templates:
   • php artisan view:cache

6. Cache the framework bootstrap files:

   • php artisan optimize

7. (Optional) Compiling assets (docs):

   • npm run production

8. (Optional) Generate the encryption keys Laravel Passport needs (docs):

   • php artisan passport:keys

9. (Optional) Start Laravel task scheduler by adding the following Cron entry (docs):

   • * * * * * cd /path-to-your-project && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

10. (Optional) Install, config and start the Supervisor (docs):

11. (Optional) Create a symbolic link from public/storage to storage/app/public (docs):
    • php artisan storage:link

---

• Laravel deployment docs: https://laravel.com/docs/master/deployment
• Digital Ocean's tutorial: How to Install and Configure Laravel

Answer 2

There are some steps you can check

1. Install LEMP or LAMP stack.
2. You can check/add PHP and Dependencies for Laravel
3. Test Your Site’s Functionality
4. Optimize Image Size
5. Google Analytics & SEO addition
6. Check w3 validation
7. Page speed optimization