Multiple PHP Versions

Laradock builds one PHP version by default, PHP_VERSION in your .env, shared by every PHP container (php-fpm, workspace, php-worker, laravel-horizon). There are two very different "multiple versions" needs, and they have different answers.

Different projects, different versions

If each version belongs to a separate project, don't run them in one stack. Give each project its own Laradock copy and its own .env, then set PHP_VERSION per project. Switching a project's version is one line plus a rebuild:

PHP_VERSION=7.4

./laradock rebuild        # or: docker compose build

This is the normal, fully-supported setup. See Running Multiple Projects for how to keep several Laradock instances (or several sites in one instance) side by side without them clashing.

Two versions at once, in one stack

Sometimes a single setup genuinely needs two versions running at the same time, a legacy app on PHP 7.4 next to a new project on PHP 8.3, or one project whose services (microservices) target different versions. For that, use the opt-in docker-compose.multi-php.yml overlay. It adds php-fpm-83 and workspace-83 alongside your primary services and changes nothing about the default single-version setup: if you never load it, it doesn't exist.

docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.multi-php.yml up -d \
    nginx php-fpm workspace php-fpm-83 workspace-83

To avoid repeating the -f flags, set this once in your .env so every docker compose command (and the Laradock CLI) picks up both files:

COMPOSE_FILE=docker-compose.yml:docker-compose.multi-php.yml

Route each site to a version

Point a site at a specific version by editing its Nginx config (nginx/sites/your-site.conf):

fastcgi_pass php-fpm-83:9000;

Sites left on the default php-upstream keep using your primary php-fpm. On Apache2, set the matching SetHandler "proxy:fcgi://php-fpm-83:9000" in that site's vhost.

Run CLI on the alternate version

docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.multi-php.yml exec workspace-83 bash

You now have composer, artisan, and php on 8.3 in workspace-83, and your primary version in workspace.

Add a third (or fourth) version

The alternate services inherit the real php-fpm / workspace build args via Compose extends, so there is no duplicated config to maintain, the only thing overridden is the PHP version. To add another version, copy a pair of blocks in multi-php/compose.yml and change 83 to the version you want in both the service name and LARADOCK_PHP_VERSION:

    php-fpm-74:
      extends:
        file: ../php-fpm/compose.yml
        service: php-fpm
      build:
        context: ../php-fpm
        args:
          - LARADOCK_PHP_VERSION=7.4

Queue workers and Horizon on an alternate version follow the identical pattern, extend php-worker / laravel-horizon the same way.

tip

Each extra version is a full PHP image. Two or three side by side is fine; if you find yourself wanting many, that's a sign the versions belong to separate projects, use one Laradock per project instead (see above).