Forge: Zero-Downtime Deployments

Zero-downtime deployments are now native to Laravel Forge, following the server management platform overhaul earlier this year. This means users can create new sites and avoid even those brief milliseconds of downtime while the server updates their code without having to integrate with Envoyer.

While you can’t enable zero-downtime deployments retroactively for existing sites in Forge, we highly recommend you use the new native functionality for new sites. You can migrate existing sites connected to Envoyer to Forge: just open the site in the Forge UI, and hit the “Migrate to Forge” button.

Since Forge currently only supports zero-downtime deployments on one server, you won’t be able to migrate if your site is deployed to a number of servers. Envoyer subscriptions will keep working with Forge for the foreseeable future, as they allow users to deploy a single project across multiple servers.

Zero-Downtime Deployments to Several Servers: Using Envoyer

If you need to deploy a site to multiple servers, it is incredibly straightforward to link new sites to your Envoyer projects within Forge, allowing for seamless deployments without any downtime. Forge will even ensure your server is added to your Envoyer project and SSH access is properly configured.

Getting Started with Forge and Envoyer

To kick things off, you'll need active subscriptions for both Laravel Forge and Envoyer. Once you’re set up, navigate to your Envoyer dashboard and create a new API token. At a minimum, Forge requires the following scopes:

• deployments:create
• projects:create
• servers:create

To future-proof the integration, consider providing Forge with additional access permissions. You can update your Envoyer’s API token in Forge at any point.

Next, it’s time to link Forge with your Envoyer API token. Navigate to your account settings in Forge and click on the Envoyer navigation item.

When creating a new site in Forge, you’ll notice a new option labeled “Configure with Envoyer”. Toggle this option to reveal a dropdown menu, where you can either select an existing Envoyer project or create a brand new one.

To deploy your Envoyer project within Forge, simply click the “Deploy Now” button, just as you would with any other site in Forge. The “Deployment Trigger URL” is also available for use in a CI environment.

Additionally, Forge has been updated to align perfectly with Envoyer projects:

• Commands are executed from the /current directory.
• The Environment panel will display a read-only version of the .env file. Continue to use Envoyer to manage your environment file, especially since it may need to be synchronized across multiple servers.
• The site’s Packages panel is disabled to ensure the auth.json file remains intact through subsequent deployments.

We hope you enjoy this streamlined, efficient deployment process as much as we do!