Deploying Laravel Projects Manually: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners (No CI/CD Needed)

You're finally done building your Laravel application. It works beautifully on your local machine. Now it's time to share it with the world. But there's one big question:

“How do I get this project live... without using complicated CI/CD pipelines?”

If you’re a beginner or don’t have access to tools like GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or Forge—don’t worry. You can still deploy Laravel manually, and this guide will show you how.

🔧 What You’ll Learn

By the end of this guide, you’ll know how to:

Upload your Laravel project to a remote server
Set up environment variables and permissions
Configure Apache or Nginx
Run Laravel-specific setup commands
Deploy updates safely without downtime

Let’s jump in!

🗂️ Step 1: Prepare Your Server

Whether you're using a VPS (like DigitalOcean), shared hosting, or a control panel like CWP or cPanel, your server should have:

PHP 8.1 or later
MySQL or PostgreSQL
Composer
A web server (Apache or Nginx)

Make sure SSH access is enabled, and you can log in to the server using a terminal.

📁 Step 2: Upload Your Project Files

You can upload your Laravel project using one of these methods:

🔹 Option 1: Using Git (Recommended)

If your code is in GitHub or GitLab:

ssh user@your-server-ip
cd /var/www/html
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/your-laravel-project.git

🔹 Option 2: Using FTP or File Manager

Zip your Laravel project folder.
Upload it via CWP File Manager or an FTP tool like FileZilla.
Unzip the contents inside your web root (/home/your_user/public_html/ or /var/www/html).

⚙️ Step 3: Set Up Your Environment

Laravel needs an .env file for configuration.

Rename the example env file:
```
cp .env.example .env
```

Update Database and App Info:

APP_NAME="MyLaravelApp"
APP_URL=http://yourdomain.com
DB_DATABASE=your_database
DB_USERNAME=your_username
DB_PASSWORD=your_password

📦 Step 4: Install Dependencies

Laravel uses Composer for managing PHP packages.

Run this on your server inside the project folder:

composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

If you get a “composer not found” error, install Composer:

curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

🔑 Step 5: Set Correct Permissions

Laravel needs write permissions for certain folders:

chmod -R 775 storage
chmod -R 775 bootstrap/cache

You might also run:

chown -R www-data:www-data .

🔒 Tip: Never give full 777 permission in production.

🧠 Step 6: Run Key Artisan Commands

Now that everything’s in place, run:

php artisan key:generate
php artisan config:cache
php artisan migrate
php artisan storage:link

These commands:

Generate app encryption keys
Cache configs
Run database migrations
Link the storage folder

🌐 Step 7: Configure the Web Server

Make sure your web server points to the **public/** directory.

🔹 Apache Virtual Host Example:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName yourdomain.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/your-project/public

    <Directory /var/www/html/your-project/public>
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Then restart Apache:

sudo service apache2 restart

🔹 For Nginx Users:

Use this block inside your server config:

root /var/www/html/your-project/public;
index index.php index.html;

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

Restart Nginx:

sudo service nginx restart

🔄 Step 8: Deploying Updates (Manually)

To update your app later:

Pull latest changes from Git (or upload manually)

Run:

composer install --no-dev
php artisan migrate
php artisan config:cache

Done! 🎉

📌 Quick Checklist

✅ Code uploaded
✅ .env configured
✅ Composer dependencies installed
✅ Permissions set
✅ Artisan commands run
✅ Web server pointing to public/
✅ App online!

🧠 Real-Life Example

Let’s say you’re freelancing for a small business that needs their Laravel app online today. You don’t have time to set up GitHub Actions or Forge.

With just SSH, Composer, and this guide—you can deploy manually in under 30 minutes.

⚠️ Tips & Gotchas

🚫 Don’t upload the .env file to public Git repos
🔒 Keep storage/ and .env outside public access
🐘 Always back up your database before running migrate
🎯 Use php artisan down during major updates to prevent user errors

🏁 Conclusion

CI/CD pipelines are powerful—but not required.

Whether you’re freelancing, working solo, or managing a tight budget, manual Laravel deployment is 100% possible and effective if done right.

You now have the step-by-step foundation to go live confidently. 💪

❓ FAQs

Q1: Can I use shared hosting for Laravel?

Yes, but make sure it supports PHP 8+, Composer, and has SSH access. Some shared hosts require a bit more setup.

Q2: Is manual deployment safe for production?

Yes—as long as you follow best practices: proper permissions, secure .env, backups, and safe database updates.

Q3: What’s the risk of skipping CI/CD?

You might introduce errors or downtime if you're not careful. Manual deployment requires discipline and testing before pushing changes.

💬 Your Turn!

Have you manually deployed a Laravel project before?
What worked well—or what went wrong?

👉 Share your experience or ask a question in the comments below!