Deployment

Laravix deploys like any Laravel application — plus a scheduler, a queue worker and (optionally) Meilisearch. This is the production checklist.

Server requirements#

• PHP 8.4 (with fileinfo; gd for image variants)
• A web server (Nginx/Apache/FrankenPHP) with the document root at public/
• MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL or SQLite
• Composer on the server (also used by laravix:upgrade)
• Optional: Meilisearch for production-grade search

First deployment#

1. Get the code onto the server (git or composer create-project laravix/laravix).

2. Configure .env: APP_ENV=production, APP_DEBUG=false, APP_URL, database credentials, mail settings (invitations and contact forms send email!).

3. Run the installer — it migrates, links storage, publishes assets and theme, creates the first site and super admin:

   php artisan laravix:install --site-name="My Site" --domain=example.com \
     --admin-name="Admin" [email protected] --admin-password=********
   

4. Point the site's DNS at the server. The domain in the admin must equal the public hostname — that's how Laravix picks the site for each request.

5. Cache the config and routes:

   php artisan config:cache && php artisan route:cache && php artisan view:cache
   

The two background essentials#

Scheduler — scheduled publishing (laravix:publish-scheduled runs every minute) requires the Laravel scheduler. Add to crontab:

* * * * * cd /path/to/app && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

Queue worker — image variants (GenerateImageVariants) run on the queue. Run a worker under a process manager (systemd, Supervisor):

php artisan queue:work --tries=3

For very small sites, QUEUE_CONNECTION=sync in .env processes jobs inline instead — uploads get slower, but no worker is needed.

Warning: Without the cron entry, scheduled content never publishes. Without a worker (on a queue connection other than sync), image variants never appear. These are the two most common "it works locally" surprises.

Multiple sites, one server#

Point every site's domain at the same virtual host / document root and create the sites in the admin. TLS certificates must cover every domain. With multiple domains, enable the cross-domain tenant switcher so the admin links each site to its own domain:

CMS_CROSS_DOMAIN_SWITCHER=true

Environment reference (Laravix-specific)#

Everything else (database, cache, session, mail, queue) is standard Laravel configuration.

Deploying updates#

For code/config updates: pull, composer install --no-dev, php artisan migrate --force, re-cache. For Laravix core updates use php artisan laravix:upgrade — the full procedure is in Upgrading.

Post-deploy verification#

1. Open the public site — the homepage renders (theme mode) or returns 404 (headless — expected).
2. Open /admin, log in, upload a test image and check its variants appear (worker OK).
3. Schedule a piece of content a minute ahead and watch it publish (cron OK).
4. Submit the contact form if the site uses one (mail OK).

Related articles#

• Installation
• Upgrading
• Full-text Search