Deployment

Deployment of a CodeIgniter Application (CodeIgniter 4)

Deploying a CodeIgniter 4 app means moving it from local development to a production server safely, securely, and efficiently.

1. Server Requirements

Ensure your production server has:

• PHP 7.4+

• Extensions: intl, mbstring, openssl, json, mysqlnd

• Web server: Apache or Nginx

• Composer (recommended)

• Database server (MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.)

2. Project Structure for Deployment

Your server should point to the public/ directory as the web root:

/var/www/myapp/
├── app/
├── public/   ← document root
├── system/
├── writable/
├── vendor/
└── .env

✔ This protects core files from public access

3. Upload Project Files

Options:

• Git (git clone)

• FTP/SFTP

• CI/CD pipeline

Recommended:

git clone https://github.com/yourrepo/myapp.git

4. Install Dependencies

Inside the project folder:

composer install --no-dev

✔ Excludes development packages
✔ Optimized for production

5. Environment Configuration

Create .env file:

CI_ENVIRONMENT = production

app.baseURL = 'https://example.com/'

database.default.hostname = localhost
database.default.database = mydb
database.default.username = dbuser
database.default.password = strongpassword
database.default.DBDriver = MySQLi

⚠️ Never commit .env to Git

6. Set Folder Permissions

Make writable/ writable:

chmod -R 775 writable/

Owner example:

chown -R www-data:www-data writable/

7. Run Migrations (If Used)

php spark migrate

(Optional) Seed data:

php spark db:seed UserSeeder

8. Apache Configuration

Enable mod_rewrite

a2enmod rewrite

Virtual Host Example

    ServerName example.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/myapp/public

    
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    

Restart Apache:

systemctl restart apache2

9. Nginx Configuration (Alternative)

server {
    server_name example.com;
    root /var/www/myapp/public;

    index index.php;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.1-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
    }
}

10. Disable Debugging (Critical)

In production:

CI_ENVIRONMENT = production

✔ Debug toolbar disabled
✔ Errors hidden from users
✔ Logs still enabled

11. Enable HTTPS

• Use Let’s Encrypt (Certbot)

• Force HTTPS using filter:

public $globals = [
    'before' => ['forcehttps']
];

12. Cache & Performance Setup

• Enable OPcache in php.ini

• Configure CodeIgniter cache (file/Redis)

• Enable gzip compression

• Use CDN for assets

13. Security Checklist

✅ .env not public
✅ writable/ permissions correct
✅ Errors hidden
✅ HTTPS enabled
✅ Database credentials secured

14. Common Deployment Issues

15. Post-Deployment Testing

• Test login & forms

• Test file uploads

• Check logs

• Verify API endpoints

• Load test critical pages

Summary

• Point server to public/

• Use production environment

• Secure .env and permissions

• Run migrations

• Enable HTTPS & caching