Step-by-Step CI/CD Pipeline Setup for Laravel 12 on GitHub Actions

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) ensures your Laravel 12 projects are always tested, built, and deployed automatically. With GitHub Actions, you can build pipelines that handle testing, asset compilation, and server deployment whenever you push to your main branch. In this tutorial, we’ll build a full CI/CD pipeline step by step, integrating with services like DigitalOcean, AWS, and even Docker-based flows.

1 — Why Use CI/CD with Laravel?

Consistency: Every push runs tests in the same environment (Docker/Ubuntu runners).
Speed: No more manual deployments—production updates are automated.
Quality: Run PHPUnit, PHPStan, and Laravel Dusk before deploys.
Scalability: Works equally well with EC2, DigitalOcean, or any cloud provider.

If you’ve already set up DigitalOcean Deployments or AWS Deployments, CI/CD ensures those environments are updated safely and automatically.

2 — Basic GitHub Actions Workflow

Create a workflow file in your Laravel repo at .github/workflows/ci.yml. This runs tests and builds assets on every push to main.

# .github/workflows/ci.yml
name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches: [ "main" ]
  pull_request:

jobs:
  build-test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up PHP
        uses: shivammathur/setup-php@v2
        with:
          php-version: '8.3'
          extensions: mbstring, bcmath, pdo_mysql

      - name: Install Composer dependencies
        run: composer install --no-interaction --no-progress --prefer-dist

      - name: Run tests
        run: php artisan testCode language: YAML (yaml)

This workflow installs PHP 8.3 with required extensions, pulls dependencies, and runs Laravel’s test suite. It ensures every commit is validated before deploying.

3 — Building Frontend Assets

If your app uses Vite for assets, add Node to the pipeline and build before deployment.

- name: Set up Node.js
  uses: actions/setup-node@v4
  with:
    node-version: 20

- name: Install NPM packages
  run: npm ci

- name: Build assets
  run: npm run buildCode language: YAML (yaml)

This step ensures your CSS and JS are compiled, ready for production. Combined with php artisan config:cache and route:cache, it results in fast deployments (see High Traffic Optimization).

4 — Deployment to DigitalOcean (via SSH)

One simple approach is deploying with SSH and Rsync. Store your server’s SSH key in GitHub Secrets.

- name: Deploy to DigitalOcean
  uses: appleboy/ssh-action@v1.2.0
  with:
    host: ${{ secrets.DO_HOST }}
    username: ${{ secrets.DO_USER }}
    key: ${{ secrets.DO_SSH_KEY }}
    script: |
      cd /var/www
      ./deploy.shCode language: YAML (yaml)

This uses the ssh-action to connect and run your deploy.sh (see #51 for a full zero-downtime script). It’s straightforward and great for single-server setups.

5 — Deployment to AWS (CodeDeploy)

For AWS, we recommend using CodeDeploy. Combine this with OIDC for GitHub Actions so no static IAM keys are needed.

- name: Configure AWS creds
  uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4
  with:
    role-to-assume: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/GitHubDeployRole
    aws-region: us-east-1

- name: Upload to S3
  run: aws s3 cp deploy.zip s3://your-bucket/deploy.zip

- name: Trigger CodeDeploy
  run: |
    aws deploy create-deployment \
      --application-name laravel-app \
      --deployment-group-name laravel-asg \
      --s3-location bucket=your-bucket,key=deploy.zip,bundleType=zipCode language: YAML (yaml)

This triggers a rolling deploy across your Auto Scaling Group without downtime. For the full AWS walkthrough, see AWS Guide.

6 — Caching for Faster Pipelines

Caching Composer and NPM dependencies drastically speeds up builds. Use GitHub’s cache action.

- name: Cache Composer
  uses: actions/cache@v4
  with:
    path: vendor
    key: ${{ runner.os }}-composer-${{ hashFiles('**/composer.lock') }}

- name: Cache NPM
  uses: actions/cache@v4
  with:
    path: ~/.npm
    key: ${{ runner.os }}-npm-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}Code language: YAML (yaml)

Each run reuses cached dependencies unless composer.lock or package-lock.json changes, saving minutes. This is part of larger optimization strategies—see 10 Proven Ways to Optimize Laravel for High Traffic.

7 — Deployment Status UI (Optional)

You can add a simple admin-only UI in Laravel to display the last GitHub Actions deployment status by consuming the GitHub API.

// routes/web.php
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Http;

Route::middleware(['auth', 'can:viewAdmin'])->get('/deploy-status', function () {
    $response = Http::withToken(config('services.github.token'))
        ->get('https://api.github.com/repos/your-org/your-repo/actions/runs?per_page=1');
    $run = $response->json('workflow_runs.0');
    return view('admin.deploy', ['run' => $run]);
});Code language: PHP (php)

This route calls the GitHub Actions API for the latest workflow run and passes it to a Blade view. Store a GitHub PAT in config/services.php for authentication.

<!-- resources/views/admin/deploy.blade.php -->
@extends('layouts.app')
@section('content')
<div class="container">
  <h1 class="mb-4">Latest Deployment</h1>
  <p><strong>Workflow:</strong> {{ $run['name'] }}</p>
  <p><strong>Status:</strong> {{ $run['status'] }} / {{ $run['conclusion'] ?? 'in-progress' }}</p>
  <p><strong>Commit:</strong> {{ $run['head_commit']['message'] }}</p>
  <p><a href="{{ $run['html_url'] }}" class="btn btn-theme" target="_blank">View in GitHub</a></p>
</div>
@endsectionCode language: HTML, XML (xml)

With this UI, your team can see at a glance if the last deployment succeeded—without leaving your app. For debugging failed jobs, you can also integrate with Using Laravel Telescope to Debug Performance Issues.

Wrapping Up

A well-structured GitHub Actions pipeline makes your Laravel 12 workflow smooth: test every commit, build assets, cache dependencies, and deploy automatically to DigitalOcean or AWS. This not only saves time but also ensures reliability and confidence with every release.