The Pragmatic Pixel

Hey everyone, Jamie here. Hope you all had a decent Easter break! Back in the saddle now, and after a bit of downtime, the focus inevitably shifts back to shipping features. And shipping features means... deployment.

Ah, deployment. It might not have the creative thrill of building a new feature, but getting your code reliably and safely from your machine into the hands of users is arguably one of the most critical parts of the whole process. Especially when you're juggling both a backend API (hello, Laravel!) and a mobile frontend (our friend, Flutter). It's not just one deployment; it's (at least) two coordinated dances.

So, let's talk practical strategies for deploying both parts of our stack without pulling our hair out.

Part 1: The Laravel Side – Keeping the API Ship Sailing Smoothly

Our Laravel API is the engine room. Deploying it typically involves updating code on a server, running commands, and ensuring the database is in sync. The goal? Automation, reliability, and minimal (ideally zero) downtime.

While the specific tools vary (and developers have strong opinions!), the process often involves similar steps.

• Common Tooling: You might be using services like Laravel Forge, Ploi, or RunCloud to provision and manage your servers. For the deployment itself, maybe Laravel Envoyer for zero-downtime PHP deployments, the open-source Deployer (PHP), custom scripts triggered via GitHub Actions, or even platforms like Laravel Vapor if you're going serverless. Docker (often via Laravel Sail locally) also plays a big role in ensuring environment consistency from development through to production.
• The Pragmatic Checklist (Automate This!): Regardless of the tool, your deployment script must handle key tasks reliably:
  • Pull the latest code (git pull).
  • Install/update backend dependencies (composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader).
  • Install/build frontend assets if needed (npm install && npm run build).
  • Manage environment variables (.env file) securely – never commit secrets! Use the tooling's environment management.
  • Run database migrations: php artisan migrate --force (the --force is crucial in production).
  • Clear relevant caches: php artisan config:cache, php artisan route:cache, php artisan view:clear. Maybe php artisan optimize depending on your workflow.
  • Restart queue workers if you use them (php artisan queue:restart).

The key takeaway here is automation and repeatability. Script these steps. Use a deployment tool. Remove manual SSH commands as much as possible to reduce errors.

Part 2: The Flutter Side – Getting the App onto Devices

Deploying a Flutter app is a whole different kettle of fish. We're compiling native code, dealing with app stores, code signing, and review processes.

• CI/CD is Your Best Friend: Manually building, signing, and uploading Flutter apps is tedious and error-prone. Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines are practically essential.
  • Popular Choices: Codemagic is excellent and Flutter-focused. GitHub Actions is incredibly versatile and popular. Bitrise is another strong mobile CI/CD platform. You can also script local automation using Fastlane.
• The Pragmatic Pipeline: A typical Flutter CI/CD pipeline should:
  • Checkout the code.
  • Set up the correct Flutter version.
  • Install dependencies (flutter pub get).
  • Run tests! (flutter test). Don't skip this!
  • Build the release artifact (flutter build appbundle --release for Android, flutter build ipa --release for iOS).
  • Handle Code Signing: This is often fiddly but unavoidable. Securely manage your .jks file (Android) and provisioning profiles/certificates (iOS) using secrets management in your CI/CD platform (e.g., GitHub Secrets, Codemagic encrypted variables).
  • Distribute to Testers: Automatically deploy builds to TestFlight (iOS) and Google Play Internal/Closed Testing tracks. Get feedback before going live.
  • Deploy to Production: Automate uploads to the App Store and Google Play (e.g., using Fastlane deliver/supply actions, or specific platform integrations).

Remember to factor in app store review times (especially for iOS). You can't just push a button and have it live instantly.

Part 3: The Coordination Challenge – Making Them Dance Together

Okay, we have two separate deployment processes. The real trick is making them work in harmony. A new app feature often requires both backend API changes and frontend UI changes. Deploying them out of sync can break things for users.

• API Versioning is CRITICAL: I mentioned this in the API design post, and it's vital for deployment. Your new Flutter app (v1.1) might need /api/v2/feature, but users still running the old app (v1.0) will be hitting /api/v1/feature. Your backend must support both during the transition, either via explicit versioning (/api/v1, /api/v2) or careful backward-compatible changes.
• Staging Environment is Mandatory: You need a dedicated staging environment that mirrors production. Here, you deploy the release candidate of your Laravel API and install the release candidate build of your Flutter app. Test the entire user flow thoroughly before anything goes to production.
• The Usual Release Order: Based on painful experience and general best practice (confirmed by others online too!):
  1. Deploy the Backend Changes First: Get your /api/v2 endpoints live, while ensuring /api/v1 (or backward compatibility) remains functional for existing app users. Monitor the deployment closely.
  2. Submit New App to Beta: Once the backend is stable, submit the new Flutter app build (which uses the /api/v2 endpoints) to TestFlight and Google Play's testing tracks.
  3. Test, Test, Test: Rigorously test the new app build against the new API endpoints in staging and via your beta testing groups.
  4. Release App to Production: Once confident, promote the Flutter app release to production in the respective app stores.
  5. Monitor: Keep an eye on analytics and error reporting as users adopt the new version.
  6. (Eventually) Sunset Old API: Months later, once most users have updated (or you implement a force-update mechanism), you can consider scheduling the removal of the old /api/v1 endpoints. Don't rush this!
• Consider Feature Flags: To further decouple, you can deploy backend code changes behind feature flags. The code is live but inactive until you enable the flag (often coordinated with the app release).
• Communicate (Even with Yourself!): Whether you're a solo dev or part of a team, have a clear deployment plan or checklist. Document the steps. It prevents “Oops, I forgot to restart the queue worker” moments at 5 PM on a Friday.

Wrapping Up

Deploying a full-stack Laravel/Flutter application requires discipline. It means managing two distinct pipelines and, crucially, coordinating their releases carefully. Planning, automation (especially for CI/CD), thorough testing in a staging environment, solid API versioning, and a dose of patience (thanks, app stores!) are your keys to success.

What are your favourite deployment tools or strategies for this kind of stack? Any war stories or hard-won lessons to share? Let's chat in the comments!

Cheers,

Jamie C