Dockerized Web Development Template

A ready-to-use Docker LEMP stack template for PHP web development — configurable, secure by default, and structured for real-world projects.

Features

• Multi-stage PHP build — minimal runtime image, extensions compiled separately
• Compose overrides — dev (hot-reload, debug ports) and prod (locked down, resource limits)
• Single config file — one place to change PHP version, DB version, ports, environment
• Makefile interface — make help shows all commands, no scripts to memorize
• Secure by default — non-root containers, security headers, hidden files blocked, no-new-privileges
• Configurable — PHP 8.4, MySQL 8.0, Node 20, all swappable via config.env

Quick Start

# 1. Clone and enter the project
git clone https://github.com/nspalo/dockerize-web-development-template.git my-project
cd my-project

# 2. Set up environment
cp docker/environments/dev.env.example docker/environments/dev.env
# Edit dev.env with your database credentials

# 3. Build and start
make build
make up

# 4. Visit the site
# http://localhost (or whatever APP_PORT is set to in config.env)

Run make help to see all available commands.

Configuration

All settings are controlled from a single file: docker/environments/config.env

SYS_ENV=dev           # Environment: dev | staging | prod
PHP_VERSION=8.4       # PHP version
DB_VERSION=8.0        # MySQL version
NODE_VERSION=20       # Node.js version
APP_PORT=80           # Web server port

Commands

make build            # Build all Docker images
make up               # Start services (detached)
make up-build         # Build and start in one command
make down             # Stop and remove containers
make down-v           # Stop, remove containers and volumes
make stop             # Stop services (keep containers)
make restart          # Restart all services
make logs             # Follow logs from all containers
make ps               # List running containers
make shell            # Open a shell in the PHP container

# Package Managers
make composer cmd="install"        # Run Composer commands
make composer cmd="dump-autoload"
make npm cmd="install"             # Run NPM commands
make npm cmd="run build"
make artisan cmd="migrate"         # Run Artisan commands

# Maintenance
make prune            # Remove ALL Docker images (dangerous)
make clean            # Stop services, remove volumes, prune images

Directory Structure

my-project/
├── docker/
│   ├── containers/                // Service Dockerfiles and configs
│   │   ├── nginx/
│   │   │   ├── conf.d/default.conf
│   │   │   └── Dockerfile
│   │   ├── php/
│   │   │   ├── config/
│   │   │   │   ├── php-dev.ini
│   │   │   │   ├── php-staging.ini
│   │   │   │   └── php-prod.ini
│   │   │   └── Dockerfile         // Multi-stage build
│   │   ├── mysql/
│   │   │   ├── conf.d/my.cnf
│   │   │   └── Dockerfile
│   │   └── composer/
│   │       └── Dockerfile
│   ├── environments/
│   │   ├── config.env             // Single control panel
│   │   ├── dev.env.example        // Credential templates
│   │   ├── staging.env.example
│   │   └── prod.env.example
│   ├── docker-compose.yml         // Base compose (shared)
│   ├── docker-compose.dev.yml     // Dev override (volumes, debug ports)
│   └── docker-compose.prod.yml    // Prod override (locked down)
├── src/                           // Your application source code
│   └── public/
│       └── index.php
└── Makefile                       // Primary command interface

Environments

Environment	Compose Override	Behavior
dev	docker-compose.dev.yml	Volume mounts, all ports exposed, debug-friendly
staging	docker-compose.prod.yml	Production-like, no debug ports
prod	docker-compose.prod.yml	Locked down, resource limits, health checks

Change environment by editing SYS_ENV in docker/environments/config.env.

Host file

Optionally, update your host file:

127.0.0.1 my-website.local

Then access via http://my-website.local instead of localhost.