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Akshay Joshi
Akshay Joshi

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Deploying Laravel Applications to Shared Hosting via Git and cPanel

#webdev #laravel #deployment #programming

For teams deploying Laravel apps to shared hosting using Git push, post-receive hooks, and manual cPanel setups, this SOP enables:

  • Clean deployment via Git
  • MySQL database configuration
  • Environment setup via .env
  • Seamless handling of subdomains vs. root domains
  • Production-ready deployment without root access

šŸ“¦ Assumptions

  • Shared hosting (e.g., A2, Hostinger, Bluehost) with cPanel + SSH
  • Git, Composer, and PHP (>= 7.4) are available
  • Laravel version 8+
  • DNS already configured to hosting server

šŸ” SSH Key Setup (One-Time)

  1. Generate SSH key on your local machine: 
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "[email protected]"
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  1. Copy the public key: 
cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
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  1. SSH into the server and append it to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys: 
nano ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
# Paste the key and save
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šŸ”§ Laravel Deployment Structure

ā— Subdomain vs. Primary Domain: Key Differences

Context Laravel Folder Placement Document Root Target Notes
Subdomain Full Laravel app (including /public) /subdomain.domain.com/public Clean separation; recommended for staging/UAT
Primary Domain Laravel core outside /public_html /public_html/ Must expose only public/, rest stays outside

šŸŒ Subdomain Deployment (Recommended)

šŸ”¹ Step-by-Step

  1. Create Subdomain in cPanel

    • Navigate to Domains > Subdomains
    • Example: uat.domain.com
    • Set Document Root: /home/<username>/subdomains/uat.domain.com/public

  2. Create Bare Git Repo on Server

mkdir -p /home/<username>/repos/laravel-uat.git
cd /home/<username>/repos/laravel-uat.git
git init --bare
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  1. Configure post-receive Hook 
nano hooks/post-receive
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#!/bin/sh
GIT_WORK_TREE=/home/<username>/subdomains/uat.domain.com git checkout -f
cd /home/<username>/subdomains/uat.domain.com
composer install --no-dev
php artisan migrate --force
php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache
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chmod +x hooks/post-receive
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  1. Deploy from Local or GitHub 
git remote add live ssh://<username>@<host_ip>/home/<username>/repos/laravel-uat.git
git push live uat
git push live master
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šŸ  Primary Domain Deployment (domain.com)

ā— Caveat

Shared hosting ties domain.com to /public_html. You cannot place the full Laravel folder in /public_html. Use the approach below:

šŸ”¹ Directory Structure 

/home/<username>/laravel_main
/home/<username>/public_html    ā† contains only files from `/public`
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šŸ”¹ Steps

  1. Push Full Laravel App to ~/laravel_main

  2. Copy /public Contents to /public_html

cp -R laravel_main/public/* public_html/
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  1. Edit public_html/index.php

Update paths:

require __DIR__.'/../laravel_main/vendor/autoload.php';
$app = require_once __DIR__.'/../laravel_main/bootstrap/app.php';
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  1. Install Dependencies & Migrate 
cd ~/laravel_main
composer install --no-dev
php artisan migrate --force
php artisan key:generate
php artisan config:cache
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  1. Set Permissions 
chmod -R 775 storage
chmod -R 775 bootstrap/cache
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šŸ› ļø MySQL Database Setup

  1. Go to cPanel > MySQL Databases
  2. Create database: db_laravel
  3. Create user: user_laravel
  4. Assign user to database with All Privileges
  5. Update .env: 
DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=db_laravel
DB_USERNAME=user_laravel
DB_PASSWORD=StrongPassword123
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āš ļø Common Issues & Fixes

Problem Cause Fix
500 Internal Server Error Wrong index paths / file permissions Fix index.php, run chmod -R 775 storage bootstrap/cache
Composer not installed Shared host restriction Install locally and upload vendor/
.env missing Laravel config errors Upload .env, run php artisan config:cache
Directory listing visible Wrong document root Set root to public/, not project root
Artisan fails PHP CLI outdated Check php -v, request upgrade or use compatible Laravel version

šŸ“Œ Summary Table

Context Code Location Public Files Location Method
Subdomain ~/subdomains/app/ ~/subdomains/app/public Full Laravel folder used
Primary Domain ~/laravel_main ~/public_html public folder only exposed

āœ… Post-Deployment Checklist

  • [ ] .env configured correctly
  • [ ] php artisan key:generate run
  • [ ] storage and bootstrap/cache are writable
  • [ ] Composer dependencies installed
  • [ ] Artisan commands run: config:cache, route:cache, view:cache
  • [ ] Database connection tested
  • [ ] Subdomain or root domain resolving properly
  • [ ] Debug mode off in production (APP_DEBUG=false)

P.S. - This post was refined with the help of ChatGPT and includes an image sourced from the web. If anyone has concerns or would like the content removed, Iā€™m open to doing so.

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