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PHP

LaraEnv ships with a wide range of PHP versions so you can run any project — legacy or modern — on the version it needs.

Supported versions​

The catalog provides the following PHP series as native Windows x64 non-thread-safe (NTS) builds for FastCGI:

5.6, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5

PHP 8.6 is also offered as an explicitly marked beta. Use the catalog to check the available patch builds; automatic requirements normally select stable builds.

Each version is installed side-by-side under C:\laraenv\php\<version>\, so they never interfere with one another. The path C:\laraenv\php\current\ is a symlink that always points to the active version.

Installing versions​

Install any PHP version from the Installer/Downloads catalog. See the Installer for details on browsing and downloading runtimes.

Switching the global version​

Switch the global active PHP version from the runtime chips on the Dashboard. This repoints C:\laraenv\php\current\ to the version you pick, which becomes the default for terminals and tools that don't override it.

Per-project versions​

Choose Automatic to detect PHP from .php-version or Composer's requirement, or select a manual version per project. See Automatic detection and Project configuration.

LaraEnv runs a dedicated PHP-FPM pool per version and points each project's vhost at the correct FPM upstream. This means several projects can run on different PHP versions at the same time — for example, a legacy app on 7.4 and a new app on 8.4, both served simultaneously.

PHP-FPM status​

The Dashboard shows PHP-FPM status cards for each version, displaying the version, its port, and whether it is running.

Behind the scenes, Nginx defines FPM upstreams for each version. Ports fall in the ~9000–9400 range per version, and each pool runs multiple workers for load-balancing.

tip

Projects assigned to different PHP versions can be served simultaneously. Projects using the same version share that version's pool.

See also​