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Tips to improve the efficiency of PHP project deployment: Use Deployer

M66 2025-05-30

Deployer: A powerful tool to improve the deployment efficiency of PHP projects

With the continuous evolution of Web technology, PHP is still an important language that cannot be ignored in back-end development. In actual development, whether the deployment process is efficient often directly affects the project's online efficiency and stability. This article will take you through an excellent automated deployment tool - Deployer, which will help you build an efficient and controllable PHP deployment process.

What is a Deployer?

Deployer is a PHP-based open source deployment tool designed to simplify complex deployment processes. It uses PHP to write configuration logic, allowing developers to flexibly control deployment strategies and quickly complete project launch with automated tasks.

The core advantages of Deployer include:

  • Flexible configuration : The deployment script itself is PHP code, allowing flexible configuration using logical judgments, code snippets, etc.

  • Supports multiple environments : Deployment policies can be set for different environments (such as staging and production).

  • Parallel deployment capability : Supports the deployment of code to multiple server nodes at the same time, greatly reducing deployment time.

Project directory structure example

Here is the directory structure of a typical PHP project when deploying using Deployer:

my-project/
├── current/
├── releases/
│ ├── 20220101_120000/
│ └── 20220102_150000/
└── shared/
    ├── logs/
    └── storage/

Install Deployer

In the project root directory, use Composer to install Deployer:

composer requires deployer/deployer

Configure deployment scripts

Create a deploy.php file in the project root directory as the main deployment configuration script. Here is a basic configuration example:

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

// Project name
set('application', 'my-project');

// Code repository address
set('repository', 'git@github.com:username/my-project.git');

// Configuration staging environment
host('staging')
    -> hostname(&#39;example.com&#39;)
    ->set(&#39;deploy_path&#39;, &#39;/var/www/staging&#39;);

// Configure the production environment host(&#39;production&#39;)
    ->hostname(&#39;example.com&#39;)
    ->set(&#39;deploy_path&#39;, &#39;/var/www/production&#39;);

// Define the main deployment task task(&#39;deploy&#39;, function () {
    // Switch to the latest version $releasePath = "{{deploy_path}}/releases/{{timestamp}}";
    run("git clone --depth 1 {{repository}} $releasePath");

    // Create a symbolic link run("ln -sfn $releasePath {{deploy_path}}/current");

    // Install dependency run("cd {{deploy_path}}/current && composer install");

    // Clean up the old version of run("ls -dt {{deploy_path}}/releases/* | tail -n +6 | xargs -r rm -rf");
});

// Define staging deployment task task(&#39;staging&#39;, function () {
    set(&#39;branch&#39;, &#39;staging&#39;);
    invoke(&#39;deploy&#39;);
})->onRoles(&#39;staging&#39;);

// Define production Deployment task task(&#39;production&#39;, function () {
    set(&#39;branch&#39;, &#39;production&#39;);
    invoke(&#39;deploy&#39;);
})->onRoles(&#39;production&#39;);

This configuration example shows how to set up project basic information, environment information, and define deployment logic through task() . Variables such as {{deploy_path}} and {{timestamp}} will be automatically replaced with actual values ​​when deployed.

Execute deployment commands

Deploy the commands are very simple, just execute them in the terminal:

dep deploy

Deployer will automatically connect to the server, pull code, update dependencies, clean up old versions, etc. according to configuration, to automate the entire deployment process.

Conclusion

With Deployer, the deployment process of PHP projects is no longer complicated. It not only improves efficiency, but also enhances the controllability and maintainability of deployments. Whether it is small and medium-sized projects or large-scale systems with multiple nodes, Deployer provides strong support. If you haven't tried it, you might as well introduce it to your next project and experience the changes brought about by deployment automation.

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