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Local development

To run your applications locally with an architecture close to production you can use the sam command line tool from AWS.

PHP functions

The serverless invoke local command invokes your PHP functions locally. It is necessary to use the --docker option so that Bref layers are correctly downloaded. You can provide an event if your function expects one.

For example, given this function:

lambda(function (array $event) {
    return 'Hello ' . ($event['name'] ?? 'world');
});

# ...

functions:
    myFunction:
        handler: index.php
        layers:
            - ${bref:layer.php-73}

You can invoke it with or without event data:

$ serverless invoke local --docker -f myFunction
Hello world

$ serverless invoke local --docker -f myFunction --data '{"name": "Jane"}'
Hello John

Learn more in the serverless invoke local documentation or run serverless invoke local --help.

HTTP applications

If you want to keep things simple, you can run your PHP application like you did without Bref. For example with your favorite framework:

Laravel via php artisan serve or Homestead or Laravel Valet
Symfony via php bin/console server:start (documentation)

If you are not using any framework, you can use PHP's built-in server:

php -S localhost:8000 index.php
# The application is now available at http://localhost:8000/

In order to run the application locally in an environment closer to production, we are working on Docker images in #237.

There is also a Serverless plugin called "serverless-offline" that runs API Gateway locally. However it currently doesn't support layers, which means it doesn't work with Bref yet. We are working on this in #648.

Console applications

Console applications can be tested just like before: by running the command in your terminal.

For example with Symfony you can run bin/console <your-command> , or with Laravel run php artisan <your-command>.

If you want to run your console in an environment close to production, you can use the Bref Docker images. Here is an example of a docker-compose.yml file:

console:
    image: bref/php-73
    volumes:
        - .:/var/task:ro # Read only, like a lambda function
        # Some directories can be made writable for the development environment:
        # - ./cache:/var/task/cache
    command: php /var/task/bin/console

Then commands can be run via:

docker-compose run console php /var/task/bin/console <your-command>