Memcached

What is Memcached?

Memcached is a simple, high-performance in-memory key-value cache. Unlike Redis, it has no persistence and no built-in data structures (lists, sets, hashes), it's pure cache: store a value, get it back fast, let it expire. That simplicity makes it lighter and sometimes faster for pure caching workloads where you don't need Redis's extra features.

Start Memcached

docker compose up -d memcached

The container's compose.yml declares depends_on: php-fpm, so docker compose up -d memcached also starts php-fpm if it isn't running yet.

Stop Memcached

docker compose stop memcached

This stops the container without deleting its data. To remove the container (data on disk is untouched, it lives under DATA_PATH_HOST): docker compose rm -f memcached.

Configuration

All settings live in memcached/defaults.env and can be overridden by adding the same line to your own .env:

Variable	Default	What it does
MEMCACHED_HOST_PORT	11211	Host-side port Memcached is published on (host:container), Memcached's standard port.

Use Memcached from Laravel

1. In your Laravel .env, set CACHE_DRIVER=memcached.
2. In config/cache.php, point the memcached connection's host at the container name:

   'memcached' => [
       'servers' => [
           [
               'host' => 'memcached',
               'port' => 11211,
               'weight' => 100,
           ],
       ],
   ],

3. Laravel's Memcached driver requires the PHP memcached extension in php-fpm/workspace; make sure it's installed and enabled in those containers.

Connect from your host machine

Inside Laradock, other containers reach it by container name: memcached:11211. From your own machine, connect to localhost:11211 (or your custom MEMCACHED_HOST_PORT) with a Memcached client or CLI tool.

Common issues

• App can't connect but the container is running. Confirm the app's config uses memcached (the container name) as the host, not localhost or 127.0.0.1, those only work from your host machine, not from inside another container.
• Cache writes silently fail. The PHP memcached extension isn't installed/enabled in php-fpm or workspace. Without it, Laravel's Memcached driver can't connect and cache operations no-op or throw depending on your error handling.
• Port already in use on your host. Another local Memcached (or another Laradock project) is already bound to 11211. Change MEMCACHED_HOST_PORT in .env and restart: docker compose up -d memcached.
• Cached data vanishes on restart. This is expected: Memcached has no persistence by design. If you need cached values to survive a restart, use Redis, Valkey, or Dragonfly instead.

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Need persistence or richer data structures? See Redis. New to Laradock? Start at Getting Started.