Laravel .env configuration and Homestead Valet Docker path resolution

Laravel’s .env Loading Mechanism

Laravel uses the vlucas/phpdotenv library. At bootstrap, Dotenv::load is called with base_path('.env'). The library reads the file once per request, populates $_ENV and $_SERVER, and exposes the values through the env() helper.

Impact of the Working Directory

The path returned by base_path() is relative to the directory PHP is executing from. Therefore the environment that hosts the PHP process determines where Laravel looks for .env.

• Homestead: The shared folder is mounted at /home/vagrant/Code/ and the web server’s DocumentRoot is set to that mount point. The PHP worker’s working directory is the mount point, so .env is found at /home/vagrant/Code//.env.
• Valet: Valet creates a symlink from ~/Sites/ to the real project directory. PHP‑FPM inherits the symlinked path as its working directory. If the symlink is broken or points to a relative path that resolves differently on the host, Laravel may load .env from the symlink target or from a parent directory.
• Docker: The container’s WORKDIR (set in the Dockerfile or via working_dir in Compose) defines the PHP worker’s current directory. If the host project root is not mounted to that WORKDIR, Laravel will look for .env in the wrong place and fall back to default values for APP_ENV and APP_DEBUG.

Common Sources of Drift

• Missing or mis‑mounted .env (Docker WORKDIR not matching host mount).
• Symlink resolution differences (Valet relative symlinks behave differently on macOS vs Linux).
• Cached configuration (php artisan config:cache) created on a machine with a different .env will persist until config:clear.
• Laravel 10’s stricter handling of missing .env keys when configuration is cached.

Practical Verification Steps

1. Check the PHP working directory:

   # Homestead or Valet
   pwd
   # Docker
   docker exec -it  pwd
   

2. Confirm Laravel sees the expected .env:

   php artisan env
   # or
   php artisan tinker --eval "echo base_path('.env');"
   

3. Ensure the file exists at that path and clear any stale cache:

   php artisan config:clear
   php artisan env
   

4. For Docker, verify the volume mapping:

   docker inspect  | grep -A3 Mounts
   

   Check that the host’s project root is mapped to the container’s WORKDIR.
5. Re‑create the cache after correcting the path:

   php artisan config:cache
   

Laravel Features That Aid Team‑Wide Consistency

• .env.example: Commit a template listing all required keys. Team members generate local .env files from this example.
• php artisan env (Laravel 9+): Lists the current environment variables and their values, useful for quick sanity checks.
• config:cache / config:clear: Ensure the application uses a single, deterministic configuration snapshot. Run these as part of the deployment pipeline to catch mismatches early.
• Environment‑specific files: Tools such as dotenv-cli or direnv can load different .env files per branch or per machine, keeping secrets out of version control.

Missing Detail That May Change the Recommendation

Could you confirm what WORKDIR (or equivalent) is set inside your Docker container, and whether the host project root is mounted to that path? This will help determine if the container is looking at the correct .env file.