Deploy and Host Laravel 12, PHP 8.4, MySQL 8.4 on Railway

Laravel 12 is the latest version of the popular PHP framework, featuring enhanced performance and modern syntax. This template combines it with PHP 8.4's cutting-edge features and MySQL 8.4's improved performance, all configured with Docker Sail for consistent development environments.

About Hosting Laravel 12, PHP 8.4, MySQL 8.4

This template provides a minimal Laravel 12 application stack with Docker containerization via Laravel Sail. It includes a pre-configured MySQL 8.4 database, PHP 8.4 runtime with all necessary extensions, and nginx web server. The setup ensures identical environments between local development and Railway production deployment, eliminating the common "works on my machine" problem. Railway automatically handles container orchestration, scaling, and SSL certificates.

Common Use Cases

Modern web applications requiring the latest Laravel features
API backends with high-performance database requirements
Full-stack applications needing consistent dev/prod environments
Rapid prototyping with professional deployment infrastructure

Dependencies for Laravel 12, PHP 8.4, MySQL 8.4 Hosting

Docker and Docker Compose (for local development)
PHP 8.4 with required extensions (PDO, MySQL, mbstring, etc.)

Deployment Dependencies

Implementation Details

The template includes a railway.toml configuration file that automatically deploys using Docker Compose:

[build]
dockerComposeFile = "docker-compose.yml"
dockerComposeService = "app"

The Laravel AppServiceProvider automatically forces HTTPS URLs when deployed to production environments, ensuring proper asset loading and security.

Why Deploy Laravel 12, PHP 8.4, MySQL 8.4 on Railway?

Railway deploys Docker containers directly, allowing this template to run the same environment locally and in production. The railway.toml configuration automatically uses your docker-compose setup, eliminating environment differences.