Create a static site bundle from a Laravel app

$ php artisan export
Starting export...
Files were saved to disk `export`

Build your blog or site with Laravel like with the tools you're used to having and export it to be hosted statically.

Laravel Export will scan your app and create an HTML page from every URL it crawls. The entire public directory also gets added to the bundle so your assets are in place too.

A few example use cases for this package:

Build your own blog or site in Laravel with all the tools you're used to using. Export a static version and just upload it anywhere for hosting, no need for managing a full-blown server anymore.
Use something like Nova, Wink, or any other admin panel to manage your site locally or on a remote server, then publish it to a service like Netlify. This gives you all benefits of a static site (speed, simple hosting, scalability) while still having a dynamic backend of some sort.

Installation

You can install the package via composer:

composer require spatie/laravel-export

After the package is installed, you can optionally publish the config file.

php artisan vendor:publish ...

Configuration

Laravel Export doesn't require configuration to get started, but there are a few things you can tweak to your needs.

Here's what the default config file looks like:

return [

    /*
    * If set, the site will be exported to this disk. Disks can be configured
    * in `config/filesystems.php`.
    *
    * If empty, your site will be exported to a `dist` folder.
    */
    'disk' => null,

    /*
    * The entry points of your app. The export crawler will start to build
    * pages from these URL's.
    */
    'entries' => [
        env('APP_URL'),
    ],

    /*
    * Files that should be included in the build.
    */
    'include' => [
        ['source' => 'public', 'target' => ''],
    ],

    /*
    * Patterns that should be excluded from the build.
    */
    'exclude' => [
        '/\.php$/',
    ],

    /*
    * Shell commands that should be run before the export will be created.
    */
    'before' => [
        // '/usr/local/bin/yarn production',
    ],

    /*
    * Shell commands that should be run after the export was created.
    */
    'after' => [
        // '/usr/local/bin/netlify deploy --prod',
    ],

];

Custom disks

🚨 Warning! Right now, you MUST specify your own disk in the config, the default dist folder behaviour isn't supported yet.

By default, Laravel Export will save the static bundle in a dist folder in your application root. If you want to store the site in a different folder, configure a new disk in config/filesystem.php.

// config/filesystem.php

return [
    'disks' => [
        // ...

        'export' => [
            'driver' => 'local',
            'root' => base_path('out'),
        ],
    ],
];

// config/export.php

return [
    'disk' => 'export',
];

This means you can also use other filesystem drivers, so you could export your site straight to something like S3.

Determining the export contents

Determining what will be exported happens through three configurable values: entries, include and exclude.

entries is an array of URL's that will be recursively crawled and exported to HTML. By default, the root URL of your app will be crawled which will include all pages if everything's linked properly. Adding entries can be useful for totally unrelated pages that need to be added to the export, like your site's RSS feed.

return [
    'entries' => [
        env('APP_URL'),
        env('APP_URL') . '/rss.xml',
    ],
];

include allows you to specify files and folders relative to the application root that should be added to the export. By default, we'll include the entire public folder.

return [
    'include' => [
        ['source' => 'public', 'target' => ''],
    ],
];

exclude will check all source paths of included files, and exclude them if they match a pattern from in exclude. By default, all PHP files will be excluded, mainly to stop index.php from appearing in your export.

return [
    'exclude' => [
        '/\.php$/',
    ],
];

Hooks

before and after hooks allow you to do things before or after an export. Hooks can contain any shell command.

The default configuration doesn't have any hooks configured, but shows two examples.

With this before hook, we'll use Yarn to build our assets before every export:

return [
    'before' => [
        '/usr/local/bin/yarn production',
    ],
];

With this after hook, we'll deploy the static bundle to Netlify with their CLI tool after the export.

return [
    'after' => [
        '/usr/local/bin/netlify deploy --prod',
    ],
];

If you want to run an export without hooks, use the --skip-before and/or --skip-after flags.

php artisan export --skip-before --skip-after

Usage

To build a bundle, run the export command:

php artisan export

Testing

composer test

Changelog

Please see CHANGELOG for more information on what has changed recently.

Contributing

Please see CONTRIBUTING for details.

Security

If you discover any security related issues, please email freek@spatie.be instead of using the issue tracker.

Postcardware

You're free to use this package, but if it makes it to your production environment we highly appreciate you sending us a postcard from your hometown, mentioning which of our package(s) you are using.

Our address is: Spatie, Samberstraat 69D, 2060 Antwerp, Belgium.

We publish all received postcards on our company website.

Credits

Support us

Spatie is a webdesign agency based in Antwerp, Belgium. You'll find an overview of all our open source projects on our website.

Does your business depend on our contributions? Reach out and support us on Patreon. All pledges will be dedicated to allocating workforce on maintenance and new awesome stuff.

License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.

mgkprod/laravel-export