Project development requires not only programming skills but also the ability to set up an effective working environment. In this article, I'll share my experience in creating a dev environment for PHP projects using Docker. I'll explain how to organize the file structure, configure Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml, and share useful tips on optimization and security. Whether you're working on a pet project or preparing for team development, these practices will help you create a reliable and flexible development environment.

This environment is based on my favorite and most frequently used tools:

• Docker for containerization
• Docker compose for container management
• Latest version of PHP
• Composer for PHP dependency management
• xDebug for application debugging
• RoadRunner for running the application in Long-Running mode
• PHP framework Yii3
• PostgreSQL database, as it supports keep-alive connections, unlike some others.

Once upon a time, I put together a working environment with PHP, xDebug, Docker and PhpStorm. Since then, I have been dragging it from project to project and felt happy. For those who find it difficult to set up a local environment with Docker and xDebug, I am posting this config with explanations. Here below we will create a Docker image with xDebug installed, configure PhpStorm and explain a working configuration for Docker Compose.

The answer is definitely simple: use Docker 😃 Benefits I get from using PHP like this:

• No need to bother with setting up a local environment, switching PHP versions, installing additional libraries and resolving conflicts
• One text file with command line aliases is enough for any version of PHP to work on any computer. And from here
  • Ease of transferring data between machines
  • You can safely demolish the system on your main computer, restoring work with PHP will be as simple as git pull