Symfony Backend — Dockerized Stack

Apache 2.4 · PHP-FPM 8.3 · MySQL 8 · Composer · Symfony CLI

Fully cross-platform (Linux/macOS/Windows). No host dependency required other than Docker Desktop (or Docker Engine + Compose v2) and GNU Make (use Git Bash on Windows, or run the commands directly).

Architecture

        ┌──────────┐   :8080      ┌──────────┐  fcgi:9000   ┌──────────┐
host ──▶│  apache  │─────────────▶│   php    │─────────────▶│  mysql   │
        │  (httpd) │              │  (fpm)   │              │   (8.0)  │
        └──────────┘              └──────────┘              └──────────┘
                  shared bind-mount: ./app  ──────────────▶ /var/www/html

Two utility images (profile tools, started on demand only):

• composer — runs composer …
• symfony — runs symfony … and the init-symfony bootstrap script

Quick start

make setup     # copies .env, creates ./app and ./secrets
make build     # builds all images in parallel (BuildKit + Bake cache)
make init      # creates Symfony project + first page in ./app
make up        # starts apache + php + mysql

Open http://localhost:8080 — the welcome page is served.

Common commands

make help                          # list every target
make logs                          # tail logs
make shell-php                     # shell into the php container
make composer ARGS="require twig/extra-bundle"
make symfony  ARGS="console make:controller"
make migrate                       # run Doctrine migrations
make reset                         # nuke + rebuild + restart

Secrets

DB passwords are read from ./secrets/*.txt files exposed to the MySQL container as Docker secrets (/run/secrets/mysql_*). ./secrets/ and .env are git-ignored — never commit them.

Build-speed optimisations

• Alpine-based images (php, apache, composer, symfony-cli)
• # syntax=docker/dockerfile:1.7 + BuildKit cache mounts on apk & pear
• Composer pulled from the official composer:2 image (no rebuild)
• COMPOSE_BAKE=true + --parallel build all services concurrently
• Persistent composer_cache volume → instant subsequent composer installs
• Single RUN layer per Dockerfile to maximise cache reuse