Setting up without PHP on the host

podman:setup and podman:generate only render files. You can delete and regenerate the output any time, so don't commit it.

Usual workflow: render on your dev machine with php artisan podman:setup, copy the podman/ folder to the server, and install it there with lpod. The server needs neither PHP nor this package.

No PHP anywhere

If the machine you render on has no PHP either, run Composer and Artisan in throwaway containers. These are the same composer and php:8.5-cli images lpod setup uses:

# vendor/ must exist before "podman:setup" can run
podman run --rm --userns=keep-id -u "$(id -u):$(id -g)" \
    -v "$PWD":/app:Z -w /app docker.io/library/composer:2 \
    install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader --no-interaction

podman run --rm --userns=keep-id -u "$(id -u):$(id -g)" \
    -e PODMAN_WORKING_PATH="$PWD" \
    -v "$PWD":/var/www/html:Z -w /var/www/html docker.io/library/php:8.5-cli \
    php artisan podman:setup --preset=production

# Back on the host: install and set secrets
lpod install production/pgsql.quadlets --replace
lpod my-app-pgsql secrets

For an app named acme, this is what podman/production/valkey.quadlets looks like:

# FileName=acme-valkey
[Unit]
Description=Valkey container

[Container]
Image=docker.io/valkey/valkey:9
AutoUpdate=registry
Exec=valkey-server --save --loglevel warning
Volume=acme-valkey:/data:rw,Z,U
Network=acme.network
ExposeHostPort=6379

[Service]
Restart=always
RestartSec=5
TimeoutStartSec=120
TimeoutStopSec=60
---
# FileName=acme-valkey
[Volume]
Label=acme-valkey
VolumeName=systemd-acme-valkey

lpod install production/valkey.quadlets --replace

Good to know:

• PODMAN_WORKING_PATH (or --working-path=) sets the host path written into the rendered files. The container itself always renders from /var/www/html.
• --userns=keep-id -u "$(id -u):$(id -g)" makes you, not root, the owner of the generated files. Keep :Z on SELinux hosts.
• lpod setup runs the commands above for you. Add --install to install right away, or --secrets to also set secrets.
• lpod setup still needs this project's vendor/, because it runs php artisan podman:setup. That's why copying pre-rendered files is the usual way to deploy.

See lpod CLI for all commands.