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Laravel Netsons Deploy

FTP Strategy

The FTP strategy builds your application in the GitHub Actions runner and uploads it to the server via FTP.

How It Works

  1. Build — GitHub Actions installs Composer dependencies and builds Node assets (with dependency caching)
  2. Prepare — A new release directory is created on the server via SSH, copying the current release as a base
  3. Upload — SamKirkland/FTP-Deploy-Action syncs files incrementally
  4. First deploy — If first deploy, generates APP_KEY and runs configured seeders
  5. Post-deploy — Symlinks set up, .env values updated, migrations run, caches rebuilt
  6. Switch — The current symlink is updated to point to the new release
  7. Cleanup — Old releases removed, SSH agent cleaned up

When to Use

  • Works on all Netsons plans (no git required on server)
  • Good for projects where you want full control over what gets uploaded
  • First deploy is slower (full upload), subsequent deploys are incremental

Required Secrets & Variables

See GitHub Secrets for the complete list. FTP strategy additionally requires FTP_HOST, FTP_USER, FTP_PASS, and FTP_PORT secrets.

FTP Root Path

The FTP account root directory affects how files are uploaded:

  • Home directory root (default) — FTP root is /home/user/. The workflow uses DEPLOY_PATH/releases/....
  • Site-scoped root — FTP root is /home/user/mysite.com/. The workflow uses releases/... directly.

Set this in config/netsons-deploy.php:

'ftp' => [
    // ...
    'root_path' => env('NETSONS_FTP_ROOT_PATH', '/home/user/mysite.com'),
],

Check your FTP root in cPanel > Files > FTP Accounts > Configure FTP Client.

Server Directory Structure

After deployment, your server will look like:

~/public_html/
├── .htaccess              # Root rewrite to public/
├── index.php              # Proxy to active release
├── current -> releases/20240101120000/
├── shared/
│   ├── .env
│   └── storage/
└── releases/
    ├── 20240101120000/    # Current release
    ├── 20231215100000/    # Previous release
    └── ...

FTP Exclusions

The following paths are excluded from the FTP upload:

  • .git* — Git files and directories
  • node_modules/ — Node dependencies
  • tests/ — Test files
  • .env, .env.* — Environment files
  • storage/logs/ — Log files

Configuration

Set the strategy in config/netsons-deploy.php:

'strategy' => env('NETSONS_DEPLOY_STRATEGY', 'ftp'),


'ftp' => [
    'host' => env('NETSONS_FTP_HOST'),
    'port' => env('NETSONS_FTP_PORT', 21),
    'user' => env('NETSONS_FTP_USER'),
    'password' => env('NETSONS_FTP_PASS'),
    'protocol' => env('NETSONS_FTP_PROTOCOL', 'ftp'),
    'root_path' => env('NETSONS_FTP_ROOT_PATH', ''),
],