Deployment - Filament

Introduction

Deploying a Filament panel to production requires several steps to ensure optimal performance and security. This guide covers best practices for production deployments.

Pre-deployment checklist

Before deploying, ensure you’ve completed these steps:

Environment configuration

Set APP_ENV=production and APP_DEBUG=false in your .env file.

Generate application key

php artisan key:generate

Configure database

Update database credentials in .env for your production database.

Run migrations

php artisan migrate --force

Cache configuration

php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache

Cache Filament components

php artisan filament:cache-components

Build assets

npm run build

Component caching

Filament automatically caches discovered resources, pages, and widgets in production. This significantly improves performance.

Manual caching

Cache components manually:

php artisan filament:cache-components

Clearing the cache

When you add or remove components, clear the cache:

php artisan filament:clear-cached-components

Cache location

Component cache is stored in bootstrap/cache/filament/panels/{panel-id}.php.

Asset compilation

Always compile assets for production:

npm run build

This:

Minifies CSS and JavaScript
Optimizes for production
Removes source maps
Applies PostCSS transformations

Custom themes

If using custom themes with Vite:

npm run build

Ensure the built assets are committed or deployed with your application.

Environment variables

Key environment variables for production:

APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_URL=https://your-domain.com

# Session and cache
SESSION_DRIVER=redis
CACHE_DRIVER=redis
QUEUE_CONNECTION=redis

# Database
DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=your-db-host
DB_DATABASE=your-database
DB_USERNAME=your-username
DB_PASSWORD=your-password

# Mail
MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=your-smtp-host
MAIL_PORT=587
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls

Performance optimization

Enable OPcache

Ensure OPcache is enabled in your PHP configuration:

opcache.enable=1
opcache.memory_consumption=256
opcache.interned_strings_buffer=16
opcache.max_accelerated_files=20000
opcache.validate_timestamps=0

Use Redis for caching

CACHE_DRIVER=redis
SESSION_DRIVER=redis

Install Redis PHP extension:

pecl install redis

Database optimization

Add indexes to frequently queried columns:

Schema::table('users', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->index('email');
    $table->index('created_at');
});

Enable SPA mode

For faster navigation:

$panel->spa()

Queue long-running tasks

Move heavy operations to queues:

php artisan queue:work --daemon

Use Supervisor to keep queue workers running.

Security considerations

HTTPS

Always use HTTPS in production. Force HTTPS in your web server configuration.

Rate limiting

Add rate limiting to prevent abuse:

$panel->middleware([
    'throttle:60,1',
])

CSRF protection

Ensure CSRF protection is enabled (Laravel default).

Content Security Policy

Add CSP headers to prevent XSS attacks:

$panel->renderHook(
    PanelsRenderHook::HEAD_START,
    fn () => '<meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="default-src \'self\';">'
)

Disable registration

Disable public registration in production if not needed:

$panel->registration(false)

Strong passwords

Enforce strong password requirements:

use Illuminate\Validation\Rules\Password;

Password::defaults(function () {
    return Password::min(8)
        ->mixedCase()
        ->numbers()
        ->symbols()
        ->uncompromised();
});

Database setup

Run migrations

php artisan migrate --force

The --force flag is required in production.

Seed initial data

If needed, seed initial data:

php artisan db:seed --force

Backup strategy

Implement regular database backups:

php artisan backup:run

Use packages like spatie/laravel-backup.

File permissions

Set correct file permissions:

chmod -R 755 /path/to/your/project
chmod -R 775 storage
chmod -R 775 bootstrap/cache

Ensure your web server user owns the files:

chown -R www-data:www-data /path/to/your/project

Web server configuration

Nginx

Example Nginx configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your-domain.com;
    root /var/www/your-project/public;

    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff";

    index index.php;

    charset utf-8;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location = /favicon.ico { access_log off; log_not_found off; }
    location = /robots.txt  { access_log off; log_not_found off; }

    error_page 404 /index.php;

    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $realpath_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    location ~ /\.(?!well-known).* {
        deny all;
    }
}

Apache

Ensure mod_rewrite is enabled and .htaccess is configured:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]
</IfModule>

Deployment automation

Using Laravel Forge

Laravel Forge provides one-click deployments:

Connect your Git repository
Configure deployment script:

cd /home/forge/your-site.com
git pull origin main
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
npm ci
npm run build
php artisan migrate --force
php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache
php artisan filament:cache-components
php artisan queue:restart

Using Deployer

Example deploy.php for Deployer:

import('recipe/laravel.php');

set('repository', 'git@github.com:your/repository.git');
set('keep_releases', 3);

host('production')
    ->set('remote_user', 'forge')
    ->set('deploy_path', '/home/forge/your-site.com');

task('npm:install', function () {
    run('cd {{release_path}} && npm ci');
});

task('npm:build', function () {
    run('cd {{release_path}} && npm run build');
});

task('filament:cache', function () {
    run('cd {{release_path}} && php artisan filament:cache-components');
});

after('deploy:vendors', 'npm:install');
after('npm:install', 'npm:build');
after('artisan:migrate', 'filament:cache');

Monitoring

Error tracking

Use error tracking services:

composer require sentry/sentry-laravel

Configure in .env:

SENTRY_LARAVEL_DSN=your-sentry-dsn

Performance monitoring

Monitor application performance:

Laravel Telescope (development)
New Relic (production)
Blackfire (profiling)

Uptime monitoring

Use services like:

Pingdom
UptimeRobot
Oh Dear

Zero-downtime deployment

For zero-downtime deployments:

Use a deployment tool (Forge, Envoyer, Deployer)
Keep queue workers running
Use php artisan down only when necessary
Enable maintenance mode with secret bypass:

php artisan down --secret="your-secret-token"

Access your site during maintenance:

https://your-site.com/your-secret-token

Post-deployment

After deployment:

Verify installation

Check that the site loads correctly and all features work.

Test authentication

Verify login, registration, and password reset work.

Check logs

Review storage/logs/laravel.log for errors.

Monitor performance

Use monitoring tools to track performance metrics.

​Introduction

​Pre-deployment checklist

​Component caching

​Manual caching

​Clearing the cache

​Cache location

​Asset compilation

​Custom themes

​Environment variables

​Performance optimization

​Enable OPcache

​Use Redis for caching

​Database optimization

​Enable SPA mode

​Queue long-running tasks

​Security considerations

​HTTPS

​Rate limiting

​CSRF protection

​Content Security Policy

​Disable registration

​Strong passwords

​Database setup

​Run migrations

​Seed initial data

​Backup strategy

​File permissions

​Web server configuration

​Nginx

​Apache

​Deployment automation

​Using Laravel Forge

​Using Deployer

​Monitoring

​Error tracking

​Performance monitoring

​Uptime monitoring

​Zero-downtime deployment

​Post-deployment

Introduction

Pre-deployment checklist

Component caching

Manual caching

Clearing the cache

Cache location

Asset compilation

Custom themes

Environment variables

Performance optimization

Enable OPcache

Use Redis for caching

Database optimization

Enable SPA mode

Queue long-running tasks

Security considerations

HTTPS

Rate limiting

CSRF protection

Content Security Policy

Disable registration

Strong passwords

Database setup

Run migrations

Seed initial data

Backup strategy

File permissions

Web server configuration

Nginx

Apache

Deployment automation

Using Laravel Forge

Using Deployer

Monitoring

Error tracking

Performance monitoring

Uptime monitoring

Zero-downtime deployment

Post-deployment