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Your First Application

Ready to bring your first masterpiece to the cluster? LaraKube makes the process as intuitive as running a standard Laravel installer.

1. Start the Wizard​

Run the following command to begin the interactive orchestration process:

larakube new my-awesome-app

💡 Fast Track: Want to skip the LaraKube questions and use our "ideal" high-performance defaults (MySQL, Redis, Reverb, etc.)? Just add the --fast flag: larakube new my-awesome-app --fast

2. Architectural Choices​

LaraKube will guide you through several thoughtful decisions:

  1. Application Blueprint: Choose your foundation (Standard Laravel, FilamentPHP, or Statamic).
  2. Server Variation: Select your engine. FrankenPHP is recommended for its incredible performance and Octane support.
  3. Operating System: Choose between the lightweight Alpine or the standard Debian.
  4. Laravel Features: Select the "Lego bricks" your app needs (Horizon, Reverb, Scout, etc.).
  5. Databases: Choose your foundation (SQLite, MySQL, MariaDB, or PostgreSQL).

3. Configuration (The .env Source of Truth)​

LaraKube uses your local environment files to configure the entire cluster.

  • Local: Edit the standard .env file.
  • Production: A .env.production was created for you.

LaraKube automatically configures these files with the correct Kubernetes hostnames (e.g., DB_HOST=mysql), so you usually don't need to change much for local development.

4. Launching the Cluster​

Enter your new project directory and bring the environment to life:

cd my-awesome-app
larakube up

LaraKube will automatically:

  • Build your local Docker image.
  • Configure your /etc/hosts for the project's local domains.
  • Deploy the Kubernetes manifests (Deployments, Services, Ingresses, PVCs).
  • Wait for all pods to be healthy.
  • Run migrations once the database is fully ready.
  • Perform a smoke test to verify that your domains are reachable.

5. Daily Development (Pause & Resume)​

LaraKube makes daily development fast and stable. Instead of deleting your environment when you're finished for the day, use the Stop/Start workflow to preserve your data:

# Pause your cluster (Saves CPU/RAM, keeps data safe)
larakube stop

# Resume exactly where you left off
larakube start

6. Behold!​

Your application is now live!