Implement Symfony automations: migrations, fixtures, cache. like laravel

[TheoD02]

👉 Describe the problem

serversideup/php only provides automated deployment scripts for Laravel. Symfony developers have no automation for migrations, fixtures, cache warmup, or other deployment tasks, forcing them to write custom scripts
or manually run commands.

👥 Problem evidence & reach

• Symfony is a top-3 PHP framework with significant enterprise adoption
• Laravel gets 8+ automated tasks; Symfony gets 0
• Creates perception of Laravel-only support
• Forces Symfony developers to maintain custom automation scripts
• Inconsistent experience across the PHP ecosystem

🏆 How to solve this problem

Add comprehensive Symfony automation with feature parity to Laravel while supporting modern tooling.

Automatic Framework Detection

• Detect Laravel by artisan file presence
• Detect Symfony by bin/console AND symfony.lock files
• No manual configuration - fully automatic
• No conflicts between frameworks

Migration Support with Multiple Modes

• Default: Normal migrations (doctrine:migrations:migrate) - production-safe
• Schema-reset: Drop/recreate schema - for development
• Fresh: Drop database, recreate, run migrations - for staging/testing
• Database connection retry with 30-second timeout
• Cache clearing before migrations

Fixture Loading with Provider Choice

• Doctrine Fixtures (default): Traditional doctrine:fixtures:load with purge/append modes
• Zenstruck Foundry: Modern foundry:load-fixtures with stories/factories (2.6+)
• Smart fallback if Foundry requested but not installed
• Provider selection via AUTORUN_SYMFONY_FIXTURES_PROVIDER

Production Best Practices

• Cache warmup (enabled by default)
• Assets installation (optional)
• Messenger transport setup (optional)
• Schema validation for development (optional)

New Environment Variables (11)

• AUTORUN_SYMFONY_MIGRATION - Enable migrations (default: true)
• AUTORUN_SYMFONY_MIGRATION_MODE - Mode: default/schema-reset/fresh
• AUTORUN_SYMFONY_MIGRATION_TIMEOUT - Connection timeout (default: 30s)
• AUTORUN_SYMFONY_FIXTURES - Enable fixtures (default: false)
• AUTORUN_SYMFONY_FIXTURES_PROVIDER - Provider: doctrine/foundry (default: doctrine)
• AUTORUN_SYMFONY_FIXTURES_APPEND - Append mode (default: false, Doctrine only)
• AUTORUN_SYMFONY_CACHE_WARMUP - Cache warmup (default: true)
• AUTORUN_SYMFONY_ASSETS_INSTALL - Install assets (default: false)
• AUTORUN_SYMFONY_SCHEMA_VALIDATE - Validate schema (default: false)
• AUTORUN_SYMFONY_MESSENGER_SETUP_TRANSPORTS - Setup transports (default: false)
• Master switch: existing AUTORUN_ENABLED

Complete Documentation

• New Symfony automations guide with examples
• 11 variables added to environment reference
• Production vs development configuration examples
• Multiple Docker Compose examples
• Framework detection explanation

🥰 Describe the "impact" on users?

For Symfony developers:

• Zero-configuration deployments - just enable automations
• Production-ready defaults and best practices built-in
• Choice between Doctrine and Foundry fixtures
• No custom scripts needed
• First-class support matching Laravel

For DevOps teams:

• Standardized deployments across Laravel and Symfony
• Reduced maintenance with tested automation
• Flexible per-environment configuration

For the project:

• Opens entire Symfony user base
• Eliminates framework bias perception
• Enterprise-ready (Symfony's strength)
• Broader PHP community appeal

💯 How do we validate the problem is solved?

Framework Detection

• ✅ Laravel (artisan only) runs Laravel automations
• ✅ Symfony (bin/console + symfony.lock) runs Symfony automations
• ✅ No conflicts when both frameworks detected

Migrations

• ✅ All three modes work correctly
• ✅ Connection retry works with PostgreSQL/MySQL/SQLite
• ✅ Timeout respected

Fixtures

• ✅ Doctrine fixtures load with purge/append modes
• ✅ Foundry fixtures load when installed
• ✅ Fallback to Doctrine with helpful warning when Foundry unavailable

Integration Testing

• Test with Symfony 5.4, 6.4, 7.3 (and in November 2025 7.4 LTS)
• Test with PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite
• Test production (default mode, cache warmup)
• Test development (fresh mode, fixtures, validation)
• Test Foundry fallback scenario

[jaydrogers]

I love this idea!

Please excuse my ignorance: But I've never run a vanilla Symphony app. 😅

My experience has been Laravel, so that's why you see it everywhere. I would love to see more support for more frameworks.

Good news is I started restructuring things in v4 for this. So if anyone wants to share more information or even help on a PR once we get through v4, I am all ears 😃

[TheoD02]

Thanks for your answer !

No problem at all 😄 that’s exactly what the community is here for!

I noticed you’ve done quite a bit of refactoring in v4, I’ve already started working on it, mainly to get some feedback. For now, I’ll go ahead and implement what I mentioned earlier in the topic.

Just one quick question:
Would you prefer something like AUTORUN_FRAMEWORK="laravel" (as default), where users can choose between compatible frameworks, or should it rely on auto-detection (like checking for artisan for Laravel, and bin/console or symfony.lock for Symfony)?