Configuration Caching Analyzer

Analyzer ID	Category	Severity	Time To Fix
config-caching	⚡ Performance	High	5 minutes

What This Checks

Verifies that Laravel's configuration caching is properly configured for each environment - cached in production for performance, and uncached in development for flexibility.

Why It Matters

• Performance Impact: Configuration caching improves bootstrap time by up to 50% on every request in production
• Development Flexibility: Cached config in development prevents config changes from taking effect until cache is cleared
• Production Critical: Without config caching, Laravel loads and parses dozens of configuration files on every single request

Every Laravel request loads configuration from multiple files (config/app.php, config/database.php, etc.). Caching combines all configs into a single optimized file (bootstrap/cache/config.php), dramatically reducing I/O operations and parse time.

How to Fix

Quick Fix (2 minutes)

Scenario 1: Production without cache (Performance Issue)

# Enable config caching in production
php artisan config:cache

Scenario 2: Development with cache (Flexibility Issue)

# Clear config cache in development
php artisan config:clear

Proper Fix (5 minutes)

Implement environment-aware configuration caching in your deployment workflow:

Best Practice Deployment Script:

#!/bin/bash
# deploy.sh

# Determine environment
ENVIRONMENT=${APP_ENV:-production}

if [ "$ENVIRONMENT" = "production" ] || [ "$ENVIRONMENT" = "staging" ]; then
    echo "Caching configuration for ${ENVIRONMENT}..."

    # Cache all Laravel optimizations
    php artisan config:cache
    php artisan route:cache
    php artisan view:cache
    php artisan event:cache

    # Verify cache was created
    if [ ! -f bootstrap/cache/config.php ]; then
        echo "ERROR: Config cache failed to generate!"
        exit 1
    fi

    echo "Configuration cached successfully"
else
    echo "Clearing caches for ${ENVIRONMENT}..."
    php artisan config:clear
    php artisan route:clear
    php artisan view:clear
    php artisan event:clear

    echo "Caches cleared for development"
fi

GitHub Actions CI/CD Example:

# .github/workflows/deploy.yml
name: Deploy to Production

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Setup PHP
        uses: shivammathur/setup-php@v2
        with:
          php-version: '8.1'

      - name: Install Dependencies
        run: composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

      - name: Cache Laravel Configuration
        run: |
          php artisan config:cache
          php artisan route:cache
          php artisan view:cache

      - name: Deploy to Server
        run: |
          rsync -avz --exclude='.git' . user@server:/var/www/app/

Laravel Forge / Envoyer Integration:

# In your deployment script
cd /home/forge/your-site.com

# Pull latest code
git pull origin main

# Install dependencies
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader --classmap-authoritative

# Run migrations (if needed)
php artisan migrate --force

# Cache everything for production
php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache

# Reload PHP-FPM
sudo -S service php8.1-fpm reload

Makefile for Consistent Commands:

# Makefile
.PHONY: production-optimize development-clear

production-optimize:
	@echo "Optimizing for production..."
	php artisan config:cache
	php artisan route:cache
	php artisan view:cache
	php artisan event:cache
	composer dump-autoload --classmap-authoritative
	@echo "Production optimization complete!"

development-clear:
	@echo "Clearing caches for development..."
	php artisan config:clear
	php artisan route:clear
	php artisan view:clear
	php artisan event:clear
	php artisan cache:clear
	@echo "Development caches cleared!"

# Usage:
# make production-optimize   # On production deployment
# make development-clear     # On local development

ShieldCI Configuration

This analyzer is automatically skipped in CI environments ($runInCI = false).

Why skip in CI?

• CI environments often use different caching strategies than production
• CI pipelines may run with uncached config for test flexibility
• Prevents false failures when CI environments legitimately skip config caching

When to run this analyzer:

• ✅ Local development: Ensures you haven't accidentally cached config locally
• ✅ Staging/Production servers: Validates config caching is properly enabled
• ❌ CI/CD pipelines: Skipped automatically (deployment-specific check)

References

• Laravel Configuration Caching Documentation
• Laravel Deployment Best Practices
• Understanding Laravel's Bootstrap Process

Related Analyzers

• Composer Autoloader Optimization Analyzer - Ensures Composer autoloader is optimized for production performance
• Route Caching Analyzer - Ensures route caching is properly configured
• View Caching Analyzer - Ensures Blade views are properly compiled