Running PHP Under FrankenPHP: Deployment Basics

FrankenPHP embeds PHP into Caddy and can run conventional web apps or persistent workers.

What It Does and When to Use It

Run the relevant deployment or container command in the intended trusted environment. The web server handles HTTP, the PHP worker executes scripts, and CLI has separate configuration and lifecycle.

Requirements, Inputs and Expected Behavior

Confirm the runtime, extension, environment variables, and permissions before running the examples in production. Worker mode keeps process state across requests and requires resetting request-specific state.

Example 1: Basic Operation

Run the relevant deployment or container command in the intended trusted environment.

docker run --rm -p 8080:80 -v "$PWD/public:/app/public:ro" dunglas/frankenphp:1-php8.4

Example 2: Behavior and Validation

Confirm PHP version, extensions and INI paths in the target runtime.

php -v
php -m | grep -E 'pdo|openssl|mbstring'
php --ini

Practical Example: Application Use

Check actual service health and log output; adapt host and service names to deployment.

curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1/health || exit 1
sudo journalctl -n 30 --no-pager

Important Behavior and Edge Cases

The second example highlights: Confirm PHP version, extensions and INI paths in the target runtime. The practical example adds: Check actual service health and log output; adapt host and service names to deployment.

Comparison with Related Approaches

Common Beginner Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• FrankenPHP embeds PHP into Caddy and can run conventional web apps or persistent workers.
• Check actual service health and log output; adapt host and service names to deployment.
• Check the effective configuration in the SAPI serving requests before changing production.