Laravel Sail

Build a zero-config Docker-based local development environment with Laravel Sail.

Introduction

Laravel Sail is a light-weight command-line interface for interacting with Laravel’s Docker development environment. Sail lets you build a Laravel application using PHP, MySQL, and Redis without requiring prior Docker experience.

At its heart, Sail is the compose.yaml file and the sail script stored at the root of your project. The sail script provides a CLI with convenient methods for interacting with the Docker containers defined by the compose.yaml file.

Laravel Sail is supported on macOS, Linux, and Windows (via WSL2).

Sail is no longer the default development environment as of Laravel 13. The skeleton’s composer.json no longer includes laravel/sail. A composer setup command is provided instead, and the standard setup uses local PHP with SQLite.

composer setup
composer dev

If you need Docker containers, you can still install and use Sail manually.

Sail is intended for local development only. It is not designed for production use. For production deployments, consider Laravel Cloud, Forge, or your own Docker / Kubernetes setup.

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Installation

Install in an Existing Project

Install the package via Composer and configure your environment.

1. Require the Sail package

   composer require laravel/sail --dev
   
2. Publish the configuration

   Run the sail:install Artisan command. It publishes a compose.yaml file to your project root and updates .env with the required environment variables.

   php artisan sail:install
   

   An interactive prompt lets you choose services such as MySQL, Redis, and Mailpit.

3. Start Sail

   ./vendor/bin/sail up
   

   The first run downloads Docker images and may take a few minutes. Once running, access your application at http://localhost.

If you are using Docker Desktop for Linux, run docker context use default to use the default context. If you encounter file permission errors inside containers, set the SUPERVISOR_PHP_USER environment variable to root.

Add More Services

To add a service to an existing Sail installation, use the sail:add command.

php artisan sail:add

Using Devcontainers

To develop inside a Devcontainer, pass the --devcontainer flag.

php artisan sail:install --devcontainer

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Configuration

Shell Alias

By default every Sail command requires typing ./vendor/bin/sail. Configure a shell alias to save keystrokes.

alias sail='sh $([ -f sail ] && echo sail || echo vendor/bin/sail)'

Add this line to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc, then restart your shell.

sail up

Once the alias is configured you can replace ./vendor/bin/sail with sail throughout all examples in this guide.

Rebuild Images

To ensure all packages are up to date, rebuild your Sail images with the build command.

docker compose down -v

sail build --no-cache

sail up

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Starting and Stopping Sail

Start all containers defined in compose.yaml with the up command.

# Start in the foreground
sail up

# Start in the background (detached mode)
sail up -d

Stop running containers with the stop command or press Ctrl + C if running in the foreground.

sail stop

Startup Flow

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Executing Commands

When using Sail, your application runs inside a Docker container isolated from your local machine. Use sail as the prefix for all PHP, Artisan, Composer, and Node / NPM commands.

The Laravel documentation often shows commands like php artisan, composer, and npm. When using Sail, prefix them with sail so they run inside the container.

PHP Commands

sail php --version

sail php script.php

Composer Commands

sail composer require laravel/sanctum

Artisan Commands

sail artisan migrate

sail artisan queue:work

Node / NPM Commands

sail node --version

sail npm run dev

# Using Yarn instead
sail yarn

Container Shell

Open a Bash session directly inside the application container.

sail shell

# Connect as root
sail root-shell

Start a Tinker REPL session.

sail tinker

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Services

The services below are available when running sail:install or sail:add.

MySQL

Included by default in compose.yaml. Data is persisted in a Docker Volume. On first startup, Sail creates two databases: one for development and a dedicated testing database.

Set DB_HOST=mysql in your .env file to connect from the application.

DB_HOST=mysql
DB_PORT=3306

Connect from your local machine using TablePlus or any MySQL client on port 3306.

Redis

Set REDIS_HOST=redis in your .env file.

REDIS_HOST=redis
REDIS_PORT=6379

Valkey

Valkey is a Redis-compatible alternative. Set REDIS_HOST=valkey in your .env file.

Mailpit

Mailpit intercepts emails sent during local development and provides a web UI for preview.

MAIL_HOST=mailpit
MAIL_PORT=1025
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=null

Access the Mailpit web UI at http://localhost:8025 while Sail is running.

Meilisearch / Typesense

Both integrate with Laravel Scout for full-text search.

• Meilisearch: set MEILISEARCH_HOST=http://meilisearch:7700
• Typesense: set TYPESENSE_HOST=typesense, TYPESENSE_PORT=8108, etc.

RustFS (S3-compatible storage)

Use RustFS to emulate Amazon S3 locally without creating real S3 buckets.

FILESYSTEM_DISK=s3
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=sail
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=password
AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-1
AWS_BUCKET=local
AWS_ENDPOINT=http://rustfs:9000
AWS_USE_PATH_STYLE_ENDPOINT=true

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Running Tests

sail test

sail test --group orders

sail test is equivalent to sail artisan test. Sail creates a dedicated testing database so your tests never interfere with development data.

Laravel Dusk

Run Dusk browser tests without installing Selenium locally. Uncomment the Selenium service in compose.yaml.

selenium:
    image: 'selenium/standalone-chrome'
    extra_hosts:
      - 'host.docker.internal:host-gateway'
    volumes:
        - '/dev/shm:/dev/shm'
    networks:
        - sail

On Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3), use the selenium/standalone-chromium image instead.

Then run your Dusk test suite.

sail dusk

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PHP and Node Versions

Changing the PHP Version

Update the build.context for the laravel.test container in compose.yaml.

# PHP 8.5 (default)
context: ./vendor/laravel/sail/runtimes/8.5

# PHP 8.4
context: ./vendor/laravel/sail/runtimes/8.4

# PHP 8.3
context: ./vendor/laravel/sail/runtimes/8.3

Rebuild after making changes.

sail build --no-cache
sail up

Additional PHP Extensions

Sail’s runtime images include common PHP extensions. If your application requires additional extensions, add a PHP_EXTENSIONS build argument (space-separated) to the laravel.test service in compose.yaml:

build:
    args:
        WWWGROUP: '${WWWGROUP}'
        PHP_EXTENSIONS: 'gmp imagick'

Rebuild the container image after updating compose.yaml.

sail build --no-cache
sail up

Changing the Node Version

Update build.args in compose.yaml.

build:
    args:
        WWWGROUP: '${WWWGROUP}'
        NODE_VERSION: '20'

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Sharing Your Site

Share your local site publicly for colleague previews or webhook testing.

sail share

A random laravel-sail.site URL is generated. Configure trusted proxies in bootstrap/app.php to ensure URL helpers work correctly.

->withMiddleware(function (Middleware $middleware): void {
    $middleware->trustProxies(at: '*');
})

Choose a custom subdomain with the --subdomain option.

sail share --subdomain=my-sail-site

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Debugging With Xdebug

Enable Xdebug

Publish the Sail configuration first, then add the following to your .env file.

SAIL_XDEBUG_MODE=develop,debug,coverage

Verify that the published php.ini contains the following configuration.

[xdebug]
xdebug.mode=${XDEBUG_MODE}

Rebuild your images to apply the changes.

sail build --no-cache

CLI Debugging

# Run without Xdebug
sail artisan migrate

# Run with Xdebug
sail debug migrate

Browser Debugging

Follow the instructions from Xdebug to start a debug session from your browser. PhpStorm users should refer to JetBrains’ zero-configuration debugging guide.

Sail relies on artisan serve to serve your application. The XDEBUG_CONFIG and XDEBUG_MODE variables are only supported in Laravel 8.53.0 and later. Earlier versions will not accept debug connections.

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Customization

Publish Sail’s Dockerfiles and configuration files to customize your environment.

sail artisan sail:publish

The files are placed in a docker/ directory at your application root. After making changes, rebuild your containers.

sail build --no-cache

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Sail vs. Production

Sail is for local development only. Do not use it in production. For production deployments, consider Laravel Cloud, Forge, Ploi, or a custom Docker / Kubernetes configuration.

Aspect	Sail (local)	Production
Purpose	Development and debugging	Serving users
Xdebug	Can be enabled	Should be disabled
Mailpit	Captures emails for preview	Real mail server
Data persistence	Docker Volume	Managed database service
Performance	Not optimized	Optimization required