Laravel Envoy

Introduction

Laravel Envoy is a tool for executing common tasks you run on your remote servers. Using Blade style syntax, you can easily setup tasks for deployment, Artisan commands, and more. Currently, Envoy only supports the Mac and Linux operating systems. However, Windows support is achievable using WSL2.

Installation

First, install Envoy into your project using the Composer package manager:

composer require laravel/envoy --dev

Once Envoy has been installed, the Envoy binary will be available in your application's vendor/bin directory:

php vendor/bin/envoy

Writing Tasks

Defining Tasks

Tasks are the basic building block of Envoy. Tasks define the shell commands that should execute on your remote servers when the task is invoked. For example, you might define a task that executes the php artisan queue:restart command on all of your application's queue worker servers.

All of your Envoy tasks should be defined in an Envoy.blade.php file at the root of your application. Here's an example to get you started:

@servers(['web' => ['user@192.168.1.1'], 'workers' => ['user@192.168.1.2']])

@task('restart-queues', ['on' => 'workers'])
    cd /home/user/example.com
    php artisan queue:restart
@endtask

As you can see, an array of @servers is defined at the top of the file, allowing you to reference these servers via the on option of your task declarations. The @servers declaration should always be placed on a single line. Within your @task declarations, you should place the shell commands that should execute on your servers when the task is invoked.

Local Tasks

You can force a script to run on your local computer by specifying the server's IP address as 127.0.0.1:

@servers(['localhost' => '127.0.0.1'])

Importing Envoy Tasks

Using the @import directive, you may import other Envoy files so their stories and tasks are added to yours. After the files have been imported, you may execute the tasks they contain as if they were defined in your own Envoy file:

@import('vendor/package/Envoy.blade.php')

Multiple Servers

Envoy allows you to easily run a task across multiple servers. First, add additional servers to your @servers declaration. Each server should be assigned a unique name. Once you have defined your additional servers you may list each of the servers in the task's on array:

@servers(['web-1' => '192.168.1.1', 'web-2' => '192.168.1.2'])

@task('deploy', ['on' => ['web-1', 'web-2']])
    cd /home/user/example.com
    git pull origin {{ $branch }}
    php artisan migrate --force
@endtask

Parallel Execution

By default, tasks will be executed on each server serially. In other words, a task will finish running on the first server before proceeding to execute on the second server. If you would like to run a task across multiple servers in parallel, add the parallel option to your task declaration:

@servers(['web-1' => '192.168.1.1', 'web-2' => '192.168.1.2'])

@task('deploy', ['on' => ['web-1', 'web-2'], 'parallel' => true])
    cd /home/user/example.com
    git pull origin {{ $branch }}
    php artisan migrate --force
@endtask

Setup

Sometimes, you may need to execute arbitrary PHP code before running your Envoy tasks. You may use the @setup directive to define a block of PHP code that should execute before your tasks:

@setup
    $now = new DateTime;
@endsetup

If you need to require other PHP files before your task is executed, you may use the @include directive at the top of your Envoy.blade.php file:

@include('vendor/autoload.php')

@task('restart-queues')
    # ...
@endtask

Variables

If needed, you may pass arguments to Envoy tasks by specifying them on the command line when invoking Envoy:

php vendor/bin/envoy run deploy --branch=master

You may access the options within your tasks using Blade's "echo" syntax. You may also define Blade if statements and loops within your tasks. For example, let's verify the presence of the $branch variable before executing the git pull command:

@servers(['web' => ['user@192.168.1.1']])

@task('deploy', ['on' => 'web'])
    cd /home/user/example.com

    @if ($branch)
        git pull origin {{ $branch }}
    @endif

    php artisan migrate --force
@endtask

Stories

Stories group a set of tasks under a single, convenient name. For instance, a deploy story may run the update-code and install-dependencies tasks by listing the task names within its definition:

@servers(['web' => ['user@192.168.1.1']])

@story('deploy')
    update-code
    install-dependencies
@endstory

@task('update-code')
    cd /home/user/example.com
    git pull origin master
@endtask

@task('install-dependencies')
    cd /home/user/example.com
    composer install
@endtask

Once the story has been written, you may invoke it in the same way you would invoke a task:

php vendor/bin/envoy run deploy

Hooks

When tasks and stories run, a number of hooks are executed. The hook types supported by Envoy are @before, @after, @error, @success, and @finished. All of the code in these hooks is interpreted as PHP and executed locally, not on the remote servers that your tasks interact with.

You may define as many of each of these hooks as you like. They will be executed in the order that they appear in your Envoy script.

@before

Before each task execution, all of the @before hooks registered in your Envoy script will execute. The @before hooks receive the name of the task that will be executed:

@before
    if ($task === 'deploy') {
        // ...
    }
@endbefore

@after

After each task execution, all of the @after hooks registered in your Envoy script will execute. The @after hooks receive the name of the task that was executed:

@after
    if ($task === 'deploy') {
        // ...
    }
@endafter

@error

After every task failure (exits with a status code greater than 0), all of the @error hooks registered in your Envoy script will execute. The @error hooks receive the name of the task that was executed:

@error
    if ($task === 'deploy') {
        // ...
    }
@enderror

@success

If all tasks have executed without errors, all of the @success hooks registered in your Envoy script will execute:

@success
    // ...
@endsuccess

@finished

After all tasks have been executed (regardless of exit status), all of the @finished hooks will be executed. The @finished hooks receive the status code of the completed task, which may be null or an integer greater than or equal to 0:

@finished
    if ($exitCode > 0) {
        // There were errors in one of the tasks...
    }
@endfinished

Running Tasks

To run a task or story that is defined in your application's Envoy.blade.php file, execute Envoy's run command, passing the name of the task or story you would like to execute. Envoy will execute the task and display the output from your remote servers as the task is running:

php vendor/bin/envoy run deploy

Confirming Task Execution

If you would like to be prompted for confirmation before running a given task on your servers, you should add the confirm directive to your task declaration. This option is particularly useful for destructive operations:

@task('deploy', ['on' => 'web', 'confirm' => true])
    cd /home/user/example.com
    git pull origin {{ $branch }}
    php artisan migrate
@endtask

Notifications

Slack

Envoy supports sending notifications to Slack after each task is executed. The @slack directive accepts a Slack hook URL and a channel / user name. You may retrieve your webhook URL by creating an "Incoming WebHooks" integration in your Slack control panel.

You should pass the entire webhook URL as the first argument given to the @slack directive. The second argument given to the @slack directive should be a channel name (#channel) or a user name (@user):

@finished
    @slack('webhook-url', '#bots')
@endfinished

By default, Envoy notifications will send a message to the notification channel describing the task that was executed. However, you may overwrite this message with your own custom message by passing a third argument to the @slack directive:

@finished
    @slack('webhook-url', '#bots', 'Hello, Slack.')
@endfinished

Discord

Envoy also supports sending notifications to Discord after each task is executed. The @discord directive accepts a Discord hook URL and a message. You may retrieve your webhook URL by creating a "Webhook" in your Server Settings and choosing which channel the webhook should post to. You should pass the entire Webhook URL into the @discord directive:

@finished
    @discord('discord-webhook-url')
@endfinished

Telegram

Envoy also supports sending notifications to Telegram after each task is executed. The @telegram directive accepts a Telegram Bot ID and a Chat ID. You may retrieve your Bot ID by creating a new bot using BotFather. You can retrieve a valid Chat ID using @username_to_id_bot. You should pass the entire Bot ID and Chat ID into the @telegram directive:

@finished
    @telegram('bot-id','chat-id')
@endfinished

Microsoft Teams

Envoy also supports sending notifications to Microsoft Teams after each task is executed. The @microsoftTeams directive accepts a Teams Webhook (required), a message, theme color (success, info, warning, error), and an array of options. You may retrieve your Teams Webhook by creating a new incoming webhook. The Teams API has many other attributes to customize your message box like title, summary, and sections. You can find more information on the Microsoft Teams documentation. You should pass the entire Webhook URL into the @microsoftTeams directive:

@finished
    @microsoftTeams('webhook-url')
@endfinished