---
title: Running Drupal 8.8 with the Symfony Local Server
excerpt: Running Drupal 8.8 with the Symfony Local Server
date: ~
tags:
  - drupal
  - drupal-8
  - symfony
draft: true
---

![A screenshot of a terminal window running a Drupal project with the Symfony local server](/images/blog/running-drupal-with-symfony-local-server/terminal.png)

## Installation

https://symfony.com/doc/current/setup/symfony_server.html

The Symfony server is bundled as part of the `symfony` binary that is available
to download from <https://symfony.com/download>.

To install it, run this command:

```bash
curl -sS https://get.symfony.com/cli/installer | bash
```

Even though it’s by Symfony, the local webserver works with any type of
project - including Drupal 8 and Drupal 7.

## Getting started

```bash
# Alias for server:start, starts the server
symfony serve

# Run the server in daemon mode (in the background)
symfony serve -d

# Display the status of the server
symfony server:status

# Stop the server
symfony server:stop
```

`web` and `docroot` directories are automatically used as the document root for
the server, so files are served from there if you run the `serve` command within
the project’s root directory.

## Different PHP Versions

One of the most useful features of the Symfony server is that it
[supports multiple versions of PHP](https://symfony.com/doc/current/setup/symfony_server.html#different-php-settings-per-project)
if you have them installed, and a different version can be selected per
directory.

This is done by adding a `.php-version` file to the root of the project that
contains the PHP version to use. For example:

```bash
echo "7.3" > .php-version
```

Next time the server is started, this file will be read and the correct version
of PHP will be used.

If you’re using macOS and want to install another version of PHP, you can do it
using Homebrew:

```bash
# Install PHP 7.3
brew install php@7.3
```

[Further PHP customisations can be made per project](https://symfony.com/doc/current/setup/symfony_server.html#overriding-php-config-options-per-project)
by adding a `php.ini` file.

## Securing Sites Locally

The Symfony server allows for serving sites via HTTPS by installing its own
local certificate authority.

If it’s not installed automatically, run this command to install it:

```
symfony server:ca:install
```

Now any site will be served via HTTPS by default, and any HTTP requests will be
automatically redirected to HTTPS.

If you need to run a site with just HTTP, add the `--no-tls` option to the
`serve` command.

## Adding Databases with Docker

The Symfony server has an integration with Docker for providing extra services -
such as databases that we’ll need for Drupal.

This is my `docker-compose.yaml` file which defines a `database` service for
MySQL:

```yaml
version: '2.1'

services:
  database:
    image: mysql:5.7
    ports: [3306]
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: secret
    volumes:
      - mysql-data:/var/lib/mysql

volumes:
  mysql-data:
```

Because port 3306 is exposed, the server recognises it as a database service and
automatically creates environment variables prefixed with `DATABASE_`.

A list of all the environment variables can be seen by running
`symfony var:export` (add `| tr " " "\n"` if you want to view each one on a new
line, and `| sort` if you want to list them alphabetically):

```dotenv
DATABASE_DATABASE=main
DATABASE_DRIVER=mysql
DATABASE_HOST=127.0.0.1
DATABASE_NAME=main
DATABASE_PASSWORD=secret
DATABASE_PORT=32776
DATABASE_SERVER=mysql://127.0.0.1:32776
DATABASE_URL=mysql://root:secret@127.0.0.1:32776/main?sslmode=disable&charset=utf8mb4
DATABASE_USER=root
DATABASE_USERNAME=root
SYMFONY_DOCKER_ENV=1
SYMFONY_TUNNEL=
SYMFONY_TUNNEL_ENV=
```

Now I can use these environment variables within my `settings.php` file to allow
Drupal to connect to the database service.

```php
// web/sites/default/settings.php

if ($_SERVER['SYMFONY_DOCKER_ENV']) {
  $databases['default']['default'] = [
    'driver' => $_SERVER['DATABASE_DRIVER'],
    'host' => $_SERVER['DATABASE_HOST'],
    'database' => $_SERVER['DATABASE_NAME'],
    'username' => $_SERVER['DATABASE_USER'],
    'password' => $_SERVER['DATABASE_PASSWORD'],
    'port' => $_SERVER['DATABASE_PORT'],
    'prefix' => '',
    'namespace' => 'Drupal\\Core\\Database\\Driver\\mysql',
    'collation' => 'utf8mb4_general_ci',
  ];
}
```

## Installing Drupal

Drush is added as a dependency via Composer.

```bash
../vendor/bin/drush site-install
```

However, this will cause an error like this because Drupal cannot connect to the
database.

> Error: Class 'Drush\Sql\Sql' not found in Drush\Sql\SqlBase::getInstance()

To fix this, ensure that the command is prefixed with `symfony php`. This will
ensure that the correct PHP version and configuration is used, and that the
appropriate environment variables are available.

```bash
symfony php ../vendor/bin/drush site-install
```

This also applies to all other Drush commands.

## Custom Domain Names

Good for multisites.

https://symfony.com/doc/current/setup/symfony_server.html#local-domain-names

TODO: add proxy image

```
cp web/sites/default web/sites/umami
```

`symfony proxy:domain:attach umami`

> The proxy is now configured with the following domains for this directory:
>
> - http://umami.wip

```php
// web/sites/sites.php

$sites['umami.wip'] = 'umami';
```

labels:

```yaml
labels:
  com.symfony.server.service-prefix: 'DATABASE_UMAMI'
```

symfony-server-drupal-test_database_1
symfony-server-drupal-test_database_umami_1

```bash
symfony php ../vendor/bin/drush si demo_umami \
  -l umami \
  --no-interaction
```