Serverless computing has transformed how we build and deploy applications. AWS Lambda lets you run code without provisioning or managing servers — and yes, you can run PHP on it. Thanks to Bref, deploying Laravel and PHP applications to Lambda is straightforward.
In this guide, I'll walk you through everything: from understanding Lambda's execution model to deploying a full Laravel application with database connections, queue workers, and automated CI/CD.
Why Serverless PHP?
Traditional PHP hosting requires managing web servers, PHP-FPM processes, and scaling infrastructure. Serverless flips this model:
- Zero server management — AWS handles the infrastructure
- Auto-scaling — from zero to thousands of concurrent executions
- Pay-per-use — you're billed only for actual execution time
- Built-in high availability — Lambda runs across multiple availability zones
With Bref, deploying PHP to Lambda is as simple as deploying a Node.js function.
Matthieu Napoli, Bref Creator
Setting Up Bref
npm install -g serverless
composer require bref/bref bref/laravel-bridge
php artisan vendor:publish --tag=serverless-configHere's a production-ready serverless.yml configuration:
service: my-laravel-app
provider:
name: aws
region: us-east-1
runtime: provided.al2
environment:
APP_ENV: production
CACHE_DRIVER: dynamodb
SESSION_DRIVER: dynamodb
QUEUE_CONNECTION: sqs
functions:
web:
handler: public/index.php
runtime: php-83-fpm
timeout: 28
events:
- httpApi: '*'
artisan:
handler: artisan
runtime: php-83-console
timeout: 720
queue:
handler: Bref\LaravelBridge\Queue\QueueHandler
runtime: php-83
timeout: 120
events:
- sqs:
arn: !GetAtt Queue.ArnDatabase Connections
Lambda functions run in a VPC-isolated environment. To connect to RDS:
- Create an RDS instance in a private subnet
- Configure Lambda's VPC settings in
serverless.yml - Use RDS Proxy to manage connection pooling
Always use RDS Proxy with Lambda. Without it, each invocation opens a new database connection, which can exhaust your connection limit.
Handling Cold Starts
Cold starts are the most common concern. Strategies to minimize them:
- Provisioned Concurrency — Keep warm instances
- Optimize deployment package — Smaller = faster cold starts
- Use PHP 8.3 — Performance improvements each version
- Cache config and routes during deployment
functions:
web:
handler: public/index.php
runtime: php-83-fpm
provisionedConcurrency: 5Deployment
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache
serverless deploy --stage productionConclusion
Running PHP on AWS Lambda is production-ready. Key takeaways:
- Use Bref as the bridge between PHP and Lambda
- Cache everything — config, routes, views
- Use RDS Proxy for database connections
- Monitor cold starts and use provisioned concurrency
- Automate deployments with CI/CD
Start small, deploy a simple endpoint, and gradually migrate your workloads.
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