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React Starter Kit - v1.0.1

Deployment

Standard Laravel deployment with two extras: a frontend build step (Vite) and an optional SSR runner (Inertia).

Build steps

On every deploy:

composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
npm ci
npm run build              # client bundle (CSR)
npm run build:ssr          # client + SSR bundle

php artisan migrate --force
php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache

php artisan wayfinder:generate --no-interaction

build:ssr produces:

  • public/build/ — client assets (CSR)
  • bootstrap/ssr/ssr.js — the Node-side SSR bundle that inertia:start-ssr runs

If you don't need SSR in production, skip build:ssr and just run npm run build.

SSR in production

Run the SSR server alongside the PHP app:

php artisan inertia:start-ssr

By default it binds to port 13714. The Inertia middleware (HandleInertiaRequests) automatically dispatches requests to that port for SSR rendering, then PHP returns the pre-rendered HTML.

Run it under a process supervisor — Supervisor, systemd, or your hosting provider's equivalent. Example systemd unit:

[Unit]
Description=Inertia SSR server
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/var/www/your-app
ExecStart=/usr/bin/php artisan inertia:start-ssr
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Restart the SSR server after every deploy:

sudo systemctl restart inertia-ssr
# or, with Supervisor:
php artisan inertia:stop-ssr   # graceful stop, supervisor restarts

Environment

APP_ENV=production
APP_DEBUG=false
APP_URL=https://your-domain.com
APP_KEY=base64:...

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=...

SESSION_DRIVER=database     # or redis
CACHE_STORE=redis
QUEUE_CONNECTION=redis

MAIL_MAILER=smtp

Queue worker

If you use queues (the kit has a queue worker in composer dev), run:

php artisan queue:work --sleep=3 --tries=3

Under Supervisor:

[program:laravel-worker]
process_name=%(program_name)s_%(process_num)02d
command=php /var/www/your-app/artisan queue:work --sleep=3 --tries=3
autostart=true
autorestart=true
user=www-data
numprocs=2
redirect_stderr=true
stdout_logfile=/var/log/laravel-worker.log

Hosting platforms

Laravel Forge / Vapor / Cloud

These platforms detect the Vite + SSR pattern and run the right commands. You'll typically:

  • Set the build command to composer install --no-dev && npm ci && npm run build:ssr
  • Add a daemon for php artisan inertia:start-ssr

DigitalOcean / Fly / generic VPS

Follow the build steps above plus the systemd / Supervisor units. You'll also need:

  • nginx or Caddy in front of PHP-FPM
  • A long-running queue worker
  • A long-running SSR process

Without SSR

If SSR is overkill for you (say, an internal tool), skip npm run build:ssr and don't run inertia:start-ssr. Pages still render client-side from the Vite client bundle. The first paint is just slower than with SSR.

CDN for built assets

public/build/ is fingerprinted (Vite manifest). Push it to a CDN and configure APP_URL + asset host as needed.

Health check

The kit registers a /up health endpoint via bootstrap/app.php's withRouting(health: '/up'). Point your load balancer there.