firevel

About Firevel

Firevel is a modified, serverless version of Laravel 10 designed to work inside Google App Engine PHP 8.2 standard environment, together with Google Firestore as database and cache.

In addition to standard Laravel Framework benefits it offers:

• Simple, serverless setup.
• Downscaling to zero.
• Micro-service friendly design.
• Free tier eligibility.
• Capacity to deal with high loads.

Requirements

• Laravel Server Requirements
• gRPC extension
• gcloud command-line tool

Before you start

• Make sure you gcloud is initialized using gcloud init command.
• Make sure you created project at Google Cloud Platform Console and set it on your console using gcloud config set project PROJECT_ID.
• Login to Google Console find Firesore section and make sure that your project is running on Native mode. If your project is already using Datastore mode you might need to create a new project.

Installation

1. Create a project in the Google Cloud Platform Console

2. Install and initialize (gcloud init) gcloud command-line tool

3. Create firevel project with composer create-project firevel/firevel

4. Generate your app.yaml file using php artisan firevel:generate app.yaml

5. Deploy project with gcloud beta app deploy

Firevel does not require any credentials while running inside App Engine. If you like to run it locally you will also need to set GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT and GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS .env variables. You might also need to enable App Engine Admin API.

Local Development with Docker and Buildpacks

Building the Image

To replicate the production environment for local development, you can utilize Buildpacks. Use the pack command with specific environment variables:

pack build your_image_name --env=GOOGLE_COMPOSER_ARGS=--dev --builder=gcr.io/buildpacks/builder:v1

Once the image is built, it can be integrated with Docker, typically through a docker-compose.yaml file.

Configuration

You can configure PHP extensions for development mode using the php.local.ini file. This allows for customized behavior during local development.

Accessing the Container Environment

To execute PHP commands within the container, use the /cnb/lifecycle/launcher. For instance:

/cnb/lifecycle/launcher php route:list

For those looking to utilize Composer within the container, it comes pre-installed. Access it with:

/cnb/lifecycle/launcher php vendor/bin/composer

Laravel Tinker

To run Laravel Tinker, execute the following command:

/cnb/lifecycle/launcher php artisan tinker

For MacBook users, ensure the TERM variable is set correctly. As an example:

docker exec -e TERM=$TERM -it your_container_name /cnb/lifecycle/launcher php artisan tinker

Differences between Laravel and Firevel.

Firevel is a Laravel 10 after small updates and packages installation:

• Firestore Session driver
• Firestore Cache driver
• Laravel Firestore wrapper

Usage

You can use Firevel in the same way you use Laravel. Be aware of Firebase limits and Google App Engine limits.

File Storage

By default Firevel running inside App Engine is using Google Cloud Storage file system, and {GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT}.appspot.com/services/{GAE_SERVICE}/storage/ path.

Logging

If you are using app.yaml generated by firevel:generate app your logs going to be stored in Stackdriver.

Artisan

To run artisan commands inside serverless containers, install https://github.com/firevel/artisan.

Workers

If you are going to use serverless workers, install https://github.com/firevel/cloud-tasks-queue-driver.

Roadmap

• CI generator as separate package.
• Improved MySQL handling (socket connections + passwordless authentication).

More

• Serverless PHP on App Engine + Cloud Firestore with Firevel
• App Engine documentation
• How Requests are Routed
• Get to know Cloud Firestore

Credits

• Taylor Otwell - for building Laravel.
• SpringboardVR - for allowing this project to happen by providing initial production case.
• Google Cloud - for building great products.