Laravel 5.0 Envoy Task Runner

Introduction

Laravel Envoy provides a clean, minimal syntax for defining common tasks you run on your remote servers. Using a Blade style syntax, you can easily setup tasks for deployment, Artisan commands, and more.

Note: Envoy requires PHP version 5.4 or greater, and only runs on Mac / Linux operating systems.

Installation

First, install Envoy using the Composer global command:

composer global require "laravel/envoy=~1.0"

Make sure to place the ~/.composer/vendor/bin directory in your PATH so the envoy executable is found when you run the envoy command in your terminal.

Next, create an Envoy.blade.php file in the root of your project. Here's an example to get you started:

@servers(['web' => '192.168.1.1'])

@task('foo', ['on' => 'web'])
	ls -la
@endtask

As you can see, an array of @servers is defined at the top of the file. You can reference these servers in the on option of your task declarations. Within your @task declarations you should place the Bash code that will be run on your server when the task is executed.

The init command may be used to easily create a stub Envoy file:

envoy init user@192.168.1.1

Running Tasks

To run a task, use the run command of your Envoy installation:

envoy run foo

If needed, you may pass variables into the Envoy file using command line switches:

envoy run deploy --branch=master

You may use the options via the Blade syntax you are used to:

@servers(['web' => '192.168.1.1'])

@task('deploy', ['on' => 'web'])
	cd site
	git pull origin {{ $branch }}
	php artisan migrate
@endtask

Bootstrapping

You may use the @setup directive to declare variables and do general PHP work inside the Envoy file:

@setup
	$now = new DateTime();

	$environment = isset($env) ? $env : "testing";
@endsetup

You may also use @include to include any PHP files:

@include('vendor/autoload.php');

Confirming Tasks Before Running

If you would like to be prompted for confirmation before running a given task on your servers, you may use the confirm directive:

@task('deploy', ['on' => 'web', 'confirm' => true])
	cd site
	git pull origin {{ $branch }}
	php artisan migrate
@endtask

Multiple Servers

You may easily run a task across multiple servers. Simply list the servers in the task declaration:

@servers(['web-1' => '192.168.1.1', 'web-2' => '192.168.1.2'])

@task('deploy', ['on' => ['web-1', 'web-2']])
	cd site
	git pull origin {{ $branch }}
	php artisan migrate
@endtask

By default, the task will be executed on each server serially. Meaning, the task will finish running on the first server before proceeding to execute on the next server.

Parallel Execution

If you would like to run a task across multiple servers in parallel, simply add the parallel option to your task declaration:

@servers(['web-1' => '192.168.1.1', 'web-2' => '192.168.1.2'])

@task('deploy', ['on' => ['web-1', 'web-2'], 'parallel' => true])
	cd site
	git pull origin {{ $branch }}
	php artisan migrate
@endtask

Task Macros

Macros allow you to define a set of tasks to be run in sequence using a single command. For instance:

@servers(['web' => '192.168.1.1'])

@macro('deploy')
	foo
	bar
@endmacro

@task('foo')
	echo "HELLO"
@endtask

@task('bar')
	echo "WORLD"
@endtask

The deploy macro can now be run via a single, simple command:

envoy run deploy

Notifications

HipChat

After running a task, you may send a notification to your team's HipChat room using the simple @hipchat directive:

@servers(['web' => '192.168.1.1'])

@task('foo', ['on' => 'web'])
	ls -la
@endtask

@after
	@hipchat('token', 'room', 'Envoy')
@endafter

You can also specify a custom message to the hipchat room. Any variables declared in @setup or included with @include will be available for use in the message:

@after
	@hipchat('token', 'room', 'Envoy', "$task ran on [$environment]")
@endafter

This is an amazingly simple way to keep your team notified of the tasks being run on the server.

Slack

The following syntax may be used to send a notification to Slack:

@after
	@slack('hook', 'channel', 'message')
@endafter

You may retrieve your webhook URL by creating an Incoming WebHooks integration on Slack's website. The hook argument should be the entire webhook URL provided by the Incoming Webhooks Slack Integration. For example:

https://hooks.slack.com/services/ZZZZZZZZZ/YYYYYYYYY/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

You may provide one of the following for the channel argument:

• To send the notification to a channel: #channel
• To send the notification to a user: @user

If no channel argument is provided the default channel will be used.

Note: Slack notifications will only be sent if all tasks complete successfully.

Updating Envoy

To update Envoy, simply use Composer:

composer global update