How to Deploy Laravel 11/12 on AWS EC2 using GitHub Actions (CI/CD) from a Private Repository

 Introduction

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) have become the backbone of modern web development. They automate deployment pipelines, improve reliability, and reduce human errors.

If you’re running a Laravel 11 or Laravel 12 project and want to deploy it to AWS EC2 — using GitHub Actions CI/CD — this step-by-step guide will help you build a fully automated deployment pipeline directly from a private GitHub repository to your AWS server.

You’ll learn how to automatically deploy every code update to production using GitHub Secrets, SSH keys, and AWS EC2 configuration.

What You’ll Learn

Set up EC2 instance for Laravel
Configure GitHub Actions for CI/CD
Use SSH keys securely with a private repository
Automate Laravel deployment via GitHub pipeline
Manage MySQL, .env, and permissions
Test and verify your deployment

Step 1: Set Up Your AWS EC2 Instance

If you don’t already have one, follow these steps to create your AWS server:

1. Log in to AWS Console
2. Navigate to EC2 → Launch Instance
3. Choose Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
4. Instance type: t2.micro (for testing) or t3.medium (for production)
5. Add storage: 20–30 GB SSD
6. Add security group:
   • Allow 22 (SSH), 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS)
7. Launch instance and download your key pair (.pem file)

Connect to the instance:

ssh -i /path/to/key.pem ubuntu@your-ec2-public-ip

Step 2: Install Laravel Dependencies on EC2

Update the system and install required packages:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install nginx git unzip curl -y

Install PHP 8.2 (Laravel 11/12 requires PHP 8.2+):

sudo apt install php8.2 php8.2-fpm php8.2-mbstring php8.2-xml php8.2-curl php8.2-zip php8.2-mysql php8.2-bcmath php8.2-cli -y

Install Composer globally:

curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

Step 3: Set Up MySQL Database

Install and secure MySQL:

sudo apt install mysql-server -y
sudo mysql_secure_installation

Create a database and user for Laravel:

sudo mysql -u root -p

CREATE DATABASE laravel_ci_cd;
CREATE USER 'laravel_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongPassword123';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON laravel_ci_cd.* TO 'laravel_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Step 4: Prepare SSH Key for GitHub CI/CD Access

On your local machine or EC2 server:

Generate SSH key for GitHub:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your-email@example.com"

When prompted for file path, you can use:

/home/ubuntu/.ssh/github_ci

Display the public key:

cat ~/.ssh/github_ci.pub

Copy it, then go to your GitHub repository → Settings → Deploy Keys → Add deploy key
Name: EC2 Deploy Key
Paste the key
Check Allow write access

Step 5: Add Secrets to GitHub Repository

Go to your repository → Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions → New repository secret

Add the following secrets:

⚠️ Make sure your private key is pasted correctly — no line breaks missing.

 Step 6: Configure Nginx for Laravel

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/laravel.conf

Add this configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name _;
    root /var/www/laravel-ci-cd/public;
    index index.php index.html;

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

    location ~ \.php$ {
        include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $realpath_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }

    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }
}

Enable and restart:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/laravel.conf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Step 7: Create GitHub Action Workflow

In your GitHub repository, create the file:

.github/workflows/deploy.yml

Paste this workflow:

name: Deploy Laravel to AWS EC2

on:
  push:
    branches: [ "main" ]

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
        with:
          ssh-key: ${{ secrets.EC2_SSH_KEY }}

      - name: Deploy to EC2
        uses: appleboy/ssh-action@v0.1.10
        with:
          host: ${{ secrets.EC2_HOST }}
          username: ${{ secrets.EC2_USER }}
          key: ${{ secrets.EC2_SSH_KEY }}
          script: |
            cd ${{ secrets.PROJECT_PATH }}
            git pull origin main
            composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
            php artisan migrate --force
            php artisan config:cache
            php artisan route:cache
            php artisan view:cache
            sudo systemctl restart nginx

Step 8: Prepare EC2 Project Folder

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/laravel-ci-cd
cd /var/www/laravel-ci-cd
sudo git init
sudo chown -R ubuntu:www-data /var/www/laravel-ci-cd

Clone once manually to link your repo:

git clone git@github.com:yourusername/your-private-repo.git .

Set permissions:

sudo chmod -R 775 storage bootstrap/cache

Step 9: First CI/CD Run

Now push a commit to your main branch.

git add .
git commit -m "CI/CD test deployment"
git push origin main

GitHub Actions will trigger automatically.
Visit your repository → Actions tab → you’ll see “Deploy Laravel to AWS EC2” running.

After success, visit:

http://your-ec2-public-ip

You should see your Laravel app live 

 Step 10: Secure with SSL (Let’s Encrypt)

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y
sudo certbot --nginx -d your-domain.com
sudo systemctl enable certbot.timer

 Step 11: Optional — Add Staging and Production Environments

You can modify your workflow to include staging and production branches:

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - staging
      - production

Use different EC2 hosts for each environment by defining:

• EC2_HOST_STAGING
• EC2_HOST_PRODUCTION

Troubleshooting Common Issues

🏁 Final Thoughts

With this CI/CD setup, every time you push to your main branch, GitHub Actions automatically deploys your Laravel 11/12 application to AWS EC2, runs migrations, clears caches, and restarts Nginx — all without manual intervention.

This modern workflow ensures faster delivery, better reliability, and zero downtime deployment for your Laravel applications.