Docker Compose for Laravel + Elasticsearch + Mailpit
Laravel is the most popular PHP framework for web development, known for its elegant syntax and rich ecosystem. It is the framework of choice for SaaS products, REST APIs, and rapid application development with Eloquent ORM and first-class queue support.
This configuration has no database service. Add one with the generator above if your application needs to persist data — or keep it out if you're only prototyping stateless logic or a static/API-less layer.
Elasticsearch provides distributed full-text search and real-time analytics. It requires at least 1 GB of dedicated memory — ensure your Docker host has sufficient RAM before starting the stack.
When should you use this stack?
Laravel and Elasticsearch is a solid default for local development when your production environment matches it. If you're evaluating alternatives, the related configurations below swap one piece at a time — same framework with a different database, or the same data layer under a different framework — so you can compare without starting from scratch.
docker compose up -d
http://localhost:8080
http://localhost:8025
compose.yml
services:
nginx:
image: nginx:latest
ports:
- "${WEB_PORT-8080}:80"
volumes:
- .:/var/www/html
- ./docker/nginx/default.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf:ro
depends_on:
- php
php:
image: php:8.5-fpm
volumes:
- .:/var/www/html
elasticsearch:
image: elasticsearch:8.11.0
environment:
discovery.type: single-node
xpack.security.enabled: "false"
ES_JAVA_OPTS: "-Xms512m -Xmx512m"
ports:
- "${ELASTICSEARCH_PORT-9200}:9200"
volumes:
- elasticsearch_data:/usr/share/elasticsearch/data
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD-SHELL", "curl -s http://localhost:9200/_cluster/health | grep -q status"]
interval: 30s
timeout: 10s
retries: 5
mailpit:
image: axllent/mailpit
ports:
- "${MAILPIT_SMTP_PORT-1025}:1025"
- "${MAILPIT_UI_PORT-8025}:8025"
volumes:
elasticsearch_data:
docker/nginx/default.conf
Run mkdir -p docker/nginx first
server {
listen 80;
server_name localhost;
root /var/www/html/public;
index index.php index.html;
location / {
try_files $uri /index.php$is_args$args;
}
location ~ \.php$ {
fastcgi_pass php:9000;
fastcgi_index index.php;
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
}
}
.env.example
Optional — Compose uses ${VAR-default} fallbacks
WEB_PORT=8080 ELASTICSEARCH_PORT=9200 MAILPIT_SMTP_PORT=1025 MAILPIT_UI_PORT=8025