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Nginx

What is Nginx?​

Nginx is a fast, low-memory HTTP server and reverse proxy, the default web server in Laradock. It terminates HTTP/HTTPS requests and forwards PHP requests to php-fpm over FastCGI.

Start Nginx​

./laradock start nginx

Nginx's compose.yml declares depends_on: php-fpm, so Compose starts php-fpm automatically. You'll still want a database and any other services your app needs, for example:

./laradock start nginx mysql workspace

Stop Nginx​

Stopping just pauses the container:

./laradock stop nginx

To delete the container entirely (your site configs, SSL certs, and logs on disk are untouched, they live under NGINX_SITES_PATH, NGINX_SSL_PATH, and NGINX_HOST_LOG_PATH):

./laradock remove nginx

Configuration​

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

VariableDefaultWhat it does
NGINX_HOST_HTTP_PORT80Host-side port mapped to container port 80.
NGINX_HOST_HTTPS_PORT443Host-side port mapped to container port 443.
NGINX_HOST_LOG_PATH./logs/nginx/Host folder mounted to /var/log/nginx inside the container.
NGINX_SITES_PATH./nginx/sites/Host folder mounted to /etc/nginx/sites-available, one file per site.
NGINX_PHP_UPSTREAM_CONTAINERphp-fpmContainer name Nginx proxies PHP requests to (build arg).
NGINX_PHP_UPSTREAM_PORT9000Port on the upstream PHP container (build arg).
NGINX_SSL_PATH./nginx/ssl/Host folder mounted to /etc/nginx/ssl, for your certificates.

The container also publishes ${VARNISH_BACKEND_PORT}:81, the port Varnish uses to talk back to Nginx when you run it behind Varnish as a cache.

Add a site config​

Every file in nginx/sites/ is loaded automatically. There's a default.conf that serves the app root on localhost, plus several *.conf.example templates for common frameworks (laravel.conf.example, symfony.conf.example, node.conf.example, confluence.conf.example, laravel_varnish.conf.example).

To add a site:

cp nginx/sites/laravel.conf.example nginx/sites/laravel.conf

Edit server_name and root to match your app, then restart:

./laradock restart nginx

The laravel.conf.example template already routes .php requests to fastcgi_pass php-upstream;, which resolves to NGINX_PHP_UPSTREAM_CONTAINER:NGINX_PHP_UPSTREAM_PORT, and denies access to .ht* files.

Test your config before reloading​

A typo in a site file can take Nginx down entirely. Validate the config before restarting, so a bad file fails loudly instead of crashing the running container:

./laradock exec nginx nginx -t

nginx -t parses every file under /etc/nginx/sites-available (your nginx/sites/*.conf) and reports the exact file and line of any syntax error, without touching the running process. Only restart once it prints syntax is ok / test is successful.

Enable SSL​

Laradock generates a self-signed certificate automatically on first boot (nginx/startup.sh), so NGINX_SSL_PATH (./nginx/ssl/ by default) already has a working default.crt/default.key pair you can use for local HTTPS testing right away.

To use it (or your own certificate placed in the same folder), uncomment the SSL lines in your site config:

listen 443 ssl;
listen [::]:443 ssl ipv6only=on;
ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/default.crt;
ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/default.key;

Test the config, then restart the container.

Increase the upload size​

Laravel/PHP file uploads larger than 20M get rejected by Nginx itself with 413 Request Entity Too Large before the request ever reaches PHP, since nginx/nginx.conf ships with:

client_max_body_size 20M;

Raise (or lower) it in nginx/nginx.conf, then rebuild, since that file is baked into the image at build time (not a mounted volume):

./laradock rebuild nginx
./laradock start nginx

Also raise your PHP-side limits (upload_max_filesize, post_max_size in php-fpm) and, if you're behind Varnish or another proxy in front of Nginx, its body-size limit too, all three have to agree or the smallest one wins.

View logs​

The main Nginx process logs to the container's stdout/stderr (access_log /dev/stdout and error_log /dev/stderr in nginx/nginx.conf), so the fastest way to see what's happening is:

./laradock logs nginx

Site configs can also log to their own files instead, laravel.conf.example does this with error_log /var/log/nginx/laravel_error.log; and access_log /var/log/nginx/laravel_access.log;. Those land on your host under NGINX_HOST_LOG_PATH (./logs/nginx/ by default), and nginx/logrotate/nginx rotates them daily and keeps 32 days.

Change the exposed port​

NGINX_HOST_HTTP_PORT=8080
NGINX_HOST_HTTPS_PORT=8443
./laradock start nginx

Port mappings are set when the container is created, so this needs up -d (recreates the container) rather than restart.

Common issues​

  • 502 Bad Gateway. Nginx can't reach PHP-FPM. Confirm php-fpm is running (docker compose ps php-fpm) and that NGINX_PHP_UPSTREAM_CONTAINER/NGINX_PHP_UPSTREAM_PORT match its actual name and port.
  • New site file has no effect. Config in nginx/sites/ is picked up on container start, run ./laradock restart nginx after adding or editing a file, and test it first if you're not sure it's valid.
  • 413 Request Entity Too Large. Your upload exceeds client_max_body_size (20M by default). See Increase the upload size.
  • Port already in use on your host. Another web server (or another Laradock project) is already bound to 80/443. Change NGINX_HOST_HTTP_PORT/NGINX_HOST_HTTPS_PORT and restart.
  • Domain doesn't resolve. Add it to /etc/hosts pointing at 127.0.0.1, and set server_name in the site config to match.

Need a different web server? See Apache, Caddy, or OpenResty. New to Laradock? Start with Getting Started.