Symfony + FrankenPHP — PHP worker mode on Clever Cloud

A Symfony application running on FrankenPHP in worker mode, deployed on the FrankenPHP runtime of Clever Cloud (no Docker image to build). Demonstrates how to run a modern PHP app with persistent worker processes — dressed with the Clever Brand Kit, certification front and centre.

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Deploy on Clever Cloud

1. Fork this repository

2. Create a FrankenPHP application and link it to your fork:

   clever create -t frankenphp demo-php-frankenphp
   clever link <app_id>          # writes the binding into .clever.json

   The committed .clever.json is empty ({"apps": []}): no application is bound in this repository, clever link fills it in your own clone.

3. Set the environment variables (console → Environment variables, or clever env set) — see the table below. APP_SECRET is mandatory: the committed .env only carries a placeholder.

4. No add-on needed by default (SQLite, see Data below)

5. git push (or clever deploy) → Clever Cloud runs composer install --no-dev --no-scripts, then the hooks, then starts FrankenPHP

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Value / description
APP_SECRET	yes	Real secret, e.g. php -r 'echo bin2hex(random_bytes(32));' — overrides the placeholder committed in .env
APP_ENV	yes	prod
APP_DEBUG	yes	0
CC_WEBROOT	yes	public
CC_FRANKENPHP_WORKER	yes	/public/index.php — enables worker mode, the whole point of this demo (symfony/runtime + runtime/frankenphp-symfony support it natively)
CC_PRE_RUN_HOOK	yes	php bin/console doctrine:migrations:migrate --no-interaction — creates the schema before each start
CC_POST_BUILD_HOOK	yes	php bin/console assets:install public --no-interaction — installs the Swagger UI assets of API Platform (public/bundles/ is git-ignored and Composer scripts are not run at build time)
CC_HEALTH_CHECK_PATH	recommended	/health — served by MainController::health(), returns 200 {"status":"ok"}
DATABASE_URL	no	Defaults to SQLite in .env; set it to the PostgreSQL add-on URI if you link one

Equivalent CLI:

clever env set APP_SECRET "$(php -r 'echo bin2hex(random_bytes(32));')"
clever env set APP_ENV prod
clever env set APP_DEBUG 0
clever env set CC_WEBROOT public
clever env set CC_FRANKENPHP_WORKER /public/index.php
clever env set CC_PRE_RUN_HOOK "php bin/console doctrine:migrations:migrate --no-interaction"
clever env set CC_POST_BUILD_HOOK "php bin/console assets:install public --no-interaction"
clever env set CC_HEALTH_CHECK_PATH /health

Data

The default DATABASE_URL points to SQLite in var/data.db. On Clever Cloud this file lives on the instance's ephemeral filesystem: it is recreated at every deployment or restart (CC_PRE_RUN_HOOK replays the migration and its seed) and it is not shared between instances — keep the app at 1 instance, or treat the data as throw-away demo data.

For persistent data, link a PostgreSQL add-on (plan DEV is enough for a demo) and set DATABASE_URL to its POSTGRESQL_ADDON_URI. Note that the committed migration Version20220929114250 is SQLite-specific (INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT, CLOB): on PostgreSQL it must be regenerated (php bin/console doctrine:migrations:diff against the add-on, or doctrine:schema:update for a throw-away demo).

About .env, Caddyfile and static-build.Dockerfile

• .env is committed on purpose (Symfony Dotenv needs it to boot) and only contains non-secret defaults plus an APP_SECRET placeholder. Real environment variables set in the console always win over .env.
• Caddyfile and benchmark.Caddyfile are not used by the Clever Cloud runtime (which ships its own Caddy configuration driven by CC_* variables). They are kept for running FrankenPHP locally (frankenphp run) and for the k6 benchmarks.
• static-build.Dockerfile is not used by the Clever Cloud runtime either: it builds an optional standalone static binary of the app (see frankenphp.dev/docs/static). .dockerignore keeps .git, var/, vendor/ and local .env.* files out of that build context.

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Stack

Layer	Technology
Language	PHP 8.2+ (Clever Cloud FrankenPHP runtime)
Framework	Symfony 7.4 + API Platform 3.4
Server	FrankenPHP (worker mode via CC_FRANKENPHP_WORKER)
Database	SQLite (ephemeral) — PostgreSQL add-on optional
Deploy	Clever Cloud FrankenPHP runtime
Design	Clever Brand Kit (Plus Jakarta Sans, navy #13172e, dégradé Clever)

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Features

• FrankenPHP worker mode — PHP process stays alive between requests for maximum performance
• Symfony routing and templating (Twig), API Platform resource Monster with Swagger UI at /api
• Clever Brand Kit landing page: sticky brand bar, hero, certification block, four content tabs (Worker Mode / API Platform / Performance / Deploy), k6 benchmark cards, platform panel, footer
• Platform panel "Vu depuis Clever Cloud" reads the variables injected by the platform (see below)
• k6 reports served at /benchmark/{name} (e.g. /benchmark/summary-100-vus-worker) from the committed benchmark/ folder
• /health endpoint for the Clever Cloud health check
• Responsive layout — no horizontal scroll at 375 px, single dark theme

API write access

POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE /api/monsters are deliberately left open (no authentication) so the Swagger UI can be demoed end to end; the name field is validated (NotBlank, max 255 characters → 422 otherwise) and the SQLite database is reset at every deployment. To lock it down, either restrict the resource to read operations (#[ApiResource(operations: [new Get(), new GetCollection()])]) or add an access_control rule on ^/api for write methods in config/packages/security.yaml.

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Certification Clever Cloud

The homepage puts the Clever Cloud Academy certification right under the hero: badge, the two official tracks (Cloud Computing Fundamentals, Advanced Deployment) and a call to action to academy.clever.cloud. The brand bar also carries a permanent « Se certifier ↗ » pill.

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Platform panel (variables read at runtime)

MainController::platform() reads the environment injected by Clever Cloud and passes it to Twig as cc:

Variable	Shown as
CC_APP_NAME	Application
APP_ID	App ID — absent locally → pill « Local · hors Clever Cloud »
INSTANCE_NUMBER + CC_PRETTY_INSTANCE_NAME	Instance (#0 · Pikachu)
INSTANCE_TYPE	Type d'instance
CC_COMMIT_ID (7 chars)	Commit déployé
CC_DEPLOYMENT_ID (16 chars)	Déploiement
PHP_VERSION, $_SERVER['FRANKENPHP_WORKER']	PHP, Worker actif / inactif

Reference: Clever Cloud environment variables.

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Project Structure

demo-php-frankenphp/
├── templates/
│   ├── base.html.twig            # <head> Brand Kit, brand bar, footer
│   ├── homepage/index.html.twig  # Hero, certification, tabs, benchmarks, platform panel
│   └── partials/
│       ├── cc-logo.svg.twig      # Official Clever Cloud logo (inlined)
│       └── cc-badge.svg.twig     # Certification badge (inlined)
├── public/
│   ├── cc-brand.css              # Shared Clever Brand Kit — copied as-is, do not edit
│   ├── demo.css                  # Demo-specific styles (tabs, benchmark table)
│   └── index.php                 # Web root / FrankenPHP worker script
├── src/
│   ├── Controller/MainController.php  # Homepage (+ platform panel data), /health, /benchmark/{name}, /download-logo
│   ├── EventSubscriber/SecurityHeadersSubscriber.php  # nosniff, Referrer-Policy, X-Frame-Options
│   └── Entity/Monster.php        # API Platform resource (validated name)
├── migrations/                   # Doctrine migration (SQLite schema + seed), replayed by CC_PRE_RUN_HOOK
├── benchmark/                    # k6 script and HTML reports (FPM / no-worker / worker)
├── Caddyfile                     # Local FrankenPHP config only (not used on Clever Cloud)
├── static-build.Dockerfile       # Optional static binary build (not used on Clever Cloud)
├── .dockerignore                 # Build context of static-build.Dockerfile
├── .env                          # Committed — Symfony defaults + APP_SECRET placeholder
└── .clever.json                  # Clever Cloud app binding — committed empty, filled by `clever link`

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Local run

composer install
APP_ENV=dev php -S 127.0.0.1:8083 -t public
# http://127.0.0.1:8083/  ·  http://127.0.0.1:8083/api  ·  http://127.0.0.1:8083/health
php bin/console lint:twig templates
composer audit

Without FrankenPHP the platform panel shows « Worker : inactif (php -S) » — expected outside Clever Cloud. To try worker mode locally: frankenphp run (uses the committed Caddyfile).

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Deployment Notes

• App type on Clever Cloud: FrankenPHP runtime (not Docker, not the PHP/Apache runtime)
• .env must stay committed — Symfony requires it at boot time; secrets are set in the console
• .clever.json is committed empty ({"apps": []}) — no application is bound here; clever link writes the binding of your application into it
• HTTPS is terminated at the Clever Cloud proxy — no HTTPS config needed inside the app; trusted_proxies/trusted_headers in config/packages/framework.yaml make Symfony honour X-Forwarded-Proto/For
• Known dependency debt: api-platform/core 3.4 has two medium advisories only fixed in 4.x (migration to plan separately)