Laravel Sail is a powerful tool for providing a Docker powered local development environment specifically designed for Laravel. The local setup is compatible across multiple operating systems including macOS, Windows (WSL2), and Linux. What sets Laravel Sail apart is its ease of use -- there's no need to install any other software or libraries on your computer apart from Docker to start utilizing Sail. This simplicity extends to Sail's Command-Line Interface (CLI) which is designed to be user-friendly even for those who have little to no past experience with Docker.
To effectively use Laravel Sail, first you need Docker installed on your computer. Once Docker is ready and running, you can use composer to create a new Laravel project and set up Laravel Sail:
composer require laravel/sail --dev
And then use the Sail artisan command to start Laravel Sail:
./vendor/bin/sail up
This command builds and starts the Docker containers defined in your docker-compose.yml file. Now, your Laravel Sail environment is up and running. You can execute any artisan command as if it's local via Sail's CLI:
./vendor/bin/sail artisan migrate
This will perform migration in your Sail environment without causing any change to your local machine settings.
The comprehensive official documentation for Laravel Sail is available on the Laravel website at https://laravel.com/docs/sail. In these documents, you'll find detailed guidance on installing and using Sail, as well as information on its features, configuration options, and more. This is an excellent ressource for becoming proficient in using Laravel Sail in your development workflow.
