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Symfony is a PHP framework that you can use to create web applications. Platform.sh is the official Symfony PaaS.

This guide provides instructions for deploying, and working with, Symfony on Platform.sh.

Before you begin

You need:

• Git. Git is the primary tool to manage everything your app needs to run. Push commits to deploy changes and control configuration through YAML files. These files describe your infrastructure, making it transparent and version-controlled.
• A Platform.sh account. If you don’t already have one, register for a trial account. You can sign up with an email address or an existing GitHub, Bitbucket, or Google account. If you choose one of these accounts, you can set a password for your Platform.sh account later.
• The Symfony CLI. This lets you interact with your project from the command line. You can also do most things through the Web Console.

Create your Symfony app

To get familiar with Platform.sh, create a new Symfony project from scratch. The present tutorial uses the Symfony Demo app as an example :

symfony new PROJECT_NAME --demo --cloud
cd PROJECT_NAME

The --demo flag pulls the Symfony Demo skeleton.
The --cloud flag automatically generates the Platform.sh configuration files.

Platform.sh manages the entire infrastructure of your project, from code to services (such as databases, queues, or search engines), all the way to email sending, cron jobs, and workers. This infrastructure is described through configuration files stored alongside your code.

Create the project

To create the project on Platform.sh, run the following command from within the project’s directory:

symfony cloud:create --title PROJECT_TITLE --set-remote

The --set-remote flag sets the new project as the remote for this repository.

symfony project:set-remote PROJECT_ID

Deploy your project

To deploy your project, run the following command:

symfony cloud:deploy

Congratulations, your first Symfony app has been deployed on Platform.sh!

Now that your app is deployed in production mode, you can define a custom domain for your live website. To do so, see how to set up a custom domain on Platform.sh, or run the following command:

symfony cloud:domain:add YOUR_DOMAIN

Make changes to your project

Now that your project is deployed, you can start making changes to it. For example, you might want to fix a bug or add a new feature.

In your project, the main branch always represents the production environment. Other branches are for developing new features, fixing bugs, or updating the infrastructure.

To make changes to your project, follow these steps:

1. Create a new environment (a Git branch) to make changes without impacting production:

   symfony cloud:branch feat-a

   This command creates a new local feat-a Git branch based on the main Git branch and activates a related environment on Platform.sh. The new environment inherits the data (service data and assets) of its parent environment (the production environment here).

2. Make changes to your project.

   For example, if you created a Symfony Demo app, edit the templates/default/homepage.html.twig template and make the following visual changes:

   templates/default/homepage.html.twig

   {% block body %}
       <div class="page-header">
   -        <h1>{{ 'title.homepage'|trans|raw }}</h1>
   +        <h1>Welcome to the Platform.sh Demo</h1>
       </div>
   
       <div class="row">

3. Commit your changes:

   git commit -a -m "Update text"

4. Deploy your changes to the feat-a environment:

   symfony cloud:deploy

   Note that each environment has its own domain name. To view the domain name of your new environment, run the following command:

   symfony cloud:url --primary

5. Iterate by changing the code, committing, and deploying. When satisfied with your changes, merge them to the main branch, deploy, and remove the feature branch:

   git checkout main
   git merge feat-a
   symfony environment:delete feat-a
   git branch -d feat-a
   symfony cloud:deploy

   Note

   Deploying to production was fast because the image built for the feat-a environment was reused.

   For a long running branch, to keep the code up-to-date with the main branch, use git merge main or git rebase main. You can also keep the data in sync with the production environment by using symfony cloud:env:sync.

Use a third-party Git provider

When you choose to use a third-party Git hosting service, the Platform.sh Git repository becomes a read-only mirror of the third-party repository. All your changes take place in the third-party repository.

Add an integration to your existing third-party repository:

• BitBucket
• GitHub
• GitLab

Next steps

Symfony integration

Learn more about the Symfony integration, a set of tools and auto-configurations that makes it easier to use Platform.sh for Symfony projects.

Environment variables

When you use the Symfony integration, more environment variables related to Symfony are defined.

Local development

Once Symfony has been deployed on Platform.sh, you might want to set up a local development environment.

Symfony CLI tips

You might find the following commands useful when using the Symfony CLI.

• Open the web administration console:

  symfony cloud: web

• Open the URL of the current environment:

  symfony cloud: url

• Open an SSH connection to your environment:

  symfony cloud: ssh

• Initialize a new project using templates:

  symfony project:init

• Get a list of all the domains:

  symfony cloud:domains

• Create a new environment:

  symfony cloud:branch new-branch

• Get a list of all the environments:

  symfony cloud:environments

• Push code to the current environment:

  symfony cloud:push

• Get a list of all the active projects:

  symfony cloud:projects

• Add a user to the project:

  symfony cloud:user:add

• List variables:

  symfony cloud:variables

You might find the following commands useful when using a database with your Symfony app.

• Create a local dump of the remote database:

  symfony cloud: db:dump --relationship database

• Run an SQL query on the remote database:

  symfony cloud: sql 'SHOW TABLES'

• Import a local SQL file into a remote database:

  symfony cloud: sql < my_database_backup.sql

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