🐘 PHP Lab – Modern PHP Dev Environment with Docker

A fully containerized, zero-install local PHP lab with:

• PHP 8.3 (CLI + Apache)
• Composer (globally available)
• MySQL 8.0
• phpMyAdmin
• Environment config via .env
• Makefile DX shortcuts

Ideal for:

• Learning modern PHP (OOP, strict types, composer)
• Prototyping CLI or web apps
• Isolated development without polluting your system

🚀 Quick Start

1. Clone the repo

git clone [email protected]:yourname/php-lab.git
cd php-lab

2. Create your .env

cp .env.example .env

Set values that fit your local environment, for example:

# .env

# PHP container
APP_PORT=8082

# MySQL
DB_PORT=3307
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=root
MYSQL_DATABASE=lab
MYSQL_USER=user
MYSQL_PASSWORD=secret

# phpMyAdmin
PHPMYADMIN_PORT=8081
PHPMYADMIN_DEFAULT_DB=lab

3. Boot the stack

make up

📁 Folder Structure

php-lab/
├── docker/
│   ├── php/
│   │   └── Dockerfile
│   └── apache/
│       └── default.conf
├── src/               ← All your PHP code lives here
│   └── index.php
├── .env               ← Docker config (not committed)
├── .gitignore
├── Makefile
└── docker-compose.yml

📦 Docker Services

Service	Container Name	Image	Description	Default URL / Port
php	php-lab	php:8.3-apache	PHP 8.3 with Apache and Composer	http://localhost:8082
db	php-lab-db	mysql:8.0	MySQL database for your PHP app	Host: 127.0.0.1:3307
phpmyadmin	php-lab-pma	phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin	GUI for managing MySQL database	http://localhost:8081

🛠 Makefile Commands

Command	Description
make up	Start all containers (docker compose up -d)
make down	Stop & remove containers (docker compose down -v)
make bash	Open a shell in the PHP container (docker exec -it php-lab bash)
make mysql	Open MySQL CLI in the DB container (docker exec -it php-lab-db mysql -uuser -psecret lab)
make logs	Tail logs for all services (docker compose logs -f)
make rebuild	Stop, remove volumes, rebuild and restart (down -v && build --no-cache && up -d)
make composer-install	Run composer install inside the PHP container
make run	Run php /var/www/html/index.php inside the PHP container

🧪 Tips

• PHP files live in src/
• Database is accessible via both MySQL CLI and phpMyAdmin
• Composer is available inside the container (make bash)
• Add libraries via:

make bash
composer require vendor/package