How to Properly Execute Composer Commands at Container Startup

[omarherri]

I'm looking for guidance on how to effectively run Composer commands during container startup instead of during the image build process. Here's the background:

Context:
I am working with a Laravel application, and I'm using Docker to manage the environment. The project requires running specific Laravel commands such as composer install and php artisan optimize. However, these commands in my case depend on external services like Redis.

Current Issue:
When building the Docker image, Redis is not available, and thus, the build process fails with the following error:
php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo for redis failed: Name or service not known

My Current Docker Setup:

Docker Compose File (docker-compose.yml):

services:
  laravel-mailcoach:
    container_name: laravel-mailcoach
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    image: laravel:mailcoach
    volumes:
      - './storage/app:/var/www/html/storage/app'
    networks:
      - traefik_network
    environment:
      PHP_OPCACHE_ENABLE: 1
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      ...
    depends_on:
      - redis

  schedule:
    image: laravel:mailcoach
    command: [ "php", "/var/www/html/artisan", "schedule:work" ]
    networks:
      - traefik_network
    depends_on:
      - redis
      - laravel-mailcoach

  horizon:
    image: laravel:mailcoach
    command: [ "php", "/var/www/html/artisan", "horizon" ]
    networks:
      - traefik_network
    depends_on:
      - redis
      - laravel-mailcoach

  redis:
    image: 'redis:alpine'
    volumes:
      - 'redis_data:/data'
    networks:
      - traefik_network

networks:
  traefik_network:
    external: true

volumes:
  redis_data:

Dockerfile:

FROM serversideup/php:8.3-fpm-nginx

ENV S6_CMD_WAIT_FOR_SERVICES=1

COPY --chmod=755 ./entrypoint.d/ /etc/entrypoint.d/

# Switch to root so we can do root things
USER root

# Install the intl extension with root permissions
RUN install-php-extensions exif gd imagick \
    && install-php-extensions bcmath mbstring intl

# Install composer
WORKDIR /var/www/html

# Copy the entire app to the container
COPY . .

# Fix permissions for Laravel's storage and cache directories
RUN chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/storage /var/www/html/bootstrap/cache \
    && chmod -R 775 /var/www/html/storage /var/www/html/bootstrap/cache

RUN docker-php-serversideup-s6-init

# Drop back to our unprivileged user
USER www-data

99-entrypoint.sh

#!/bin/sh
composer install --no-dev --prefer-dist --optimize-autoloader
php artisan optimize
php artisan storage:link

Desired Outcome:
Instead of running Composer commands (like php artisan optimize or composer install) during the Docker image build process, I would like these commands to be executed at container startup. This way, Redis and other services are fully available, and the Laravel app can properly interact with them.

[jaydrogers]

You might want to look into something like this: https://docs.docker.com/compose/how-tos/startup-order/

The above uses native Docker healthchecks to ensure things are online before bringing up the next service.

Also, have you considered having the image built before deploying it?

With Spin Pro, I have everything built into a single Docker Image and the healthchecks defined for you already https://getspin.pro/

[omarherri]

That was my idea build the image before deploying it. The problem to build the image i need redis service to be running to be able to run composer install. I managed to do it by making 99-entrypoint.sh.

So i'm gonna definitely look into the pro version to simplify more my life.

[moisish]

Best way is to run the individual artisan commands that can be run during build and leave the rest to run on startup

eg i am running routes, events and view caching on build

config has to run on startup since env variables don't exist during build