In this episode, we walk through the entire process of getting your Laravel application live on Laravel Forge. Whether you're totally new to Forge or just need a quick refresher, we cover everything you need to know to get up and running.
Here's how it goes: we start off by setting up a new server in Forge, picking our preferred provider and region (no worries, any basic setup is fine for this). Then, we walk through connecting your repo—making sure your project is pushed to GitHub and that Forge can access it. Once the server is provisioned, we add our domain, clear out the default site, and set up our new one.
Next, we handle the deployment: linking your repo, setting which branch to use, and making sure the deployment script includes npm install
and npm run build
so your assets are compiled. We then go over pointing your domain to your new server by adding an A record (and a note about DNS propagation).
Once the deploy is done and DNS is sorted, we check out the app in the browser. We troubleshoot a quick issue with SQLite by manually creating the database file on the server. Finally, we confirm the app is working, and mention what's coming next—specifically, setting up the real-time stuff with Laravel Reverb in later episodes.
So by the end, you've got your app running live on a custom domain via Forge, and you're ready to rock with the next parts of the course!