Publish a Laravel application in a subdomain with LWS Panel

Procédure

On LWS Panel, the folder of a subdomain is fixed: /htdocs/app.exemple.com/ for app.exemple.com, and it cannot point to Laravel’s public/ folder. To publish the Laravel application you developed, put the whole project in this folder, add at its root the .htaccess file that sends visitors to public/, install the dependencies with Composer in the Terminal, then configure the .env file. This guide details these steps and how to investigate the cause of a 500 error.

Publish your application in the subdomain

1. Create the subdomain

   In your hosting dashboard, under “Domain management”, open “Subdomains”. In “Subdomain to add”, type only the part before the domain (for example app), then click “+ add”. The subdomain SSL certificate is generated in about 3 minutes: a “Time remaining” countdown is displayed.

   The “Directory” column shows the subdomain folder: app.exemple.com, that is /htdocs/app.exemple.com/. No field lets you choose another folder. Details for this screen are in the guide How do I create subdomains on LWS Panel?

   

2. Upload the Laravel project to the subdomain folder

   Upload the complete project (folders app, bootstrap, config, public, routes, storage, files artisan and composer.json…) directly into /htdocs/app.exemple.com/. Laravel’s index.php file must be located at /htdocs/app.exemple.com/public/index.php.

   With the File Manager (section “Files”), upload a .zip archive of the project using “Upload” (up to 1,125 MB per file), select it, then click “Extract”. For a very large number of files, FTP software is better. If your project is on Git, you can also clone it from the Terminal: see How to use GIT with the Web terminal on my LWS shared hosting?

3. Send visitors to the public/ folder

   Because the subdomain folder cannot point to public/, a .htaccess file placed at the root of /htdocs/app.exemple.com/ (next to the public folder, not inside it) redirects visitors to public/. Its content is provided in the guide Install Laravel on LWS shared hosting, section “How do I properly configure my Laravel site?”.

   In the File Manager, open the subdomain folder, click “+ File” and name it .htaccess. Then click its name to open it in the “Code Editor”, paste the content, and click “Save changes”.

   Do not modify the .htaccess file already in public/: it is included with Laravel and sends requests to index.php.

4. Choose the PHP version for the subdomain

   Under “Databases & PHP”, open “php Configuration”. In the “PHP installation and selection” tab, make sure the desired version is checked (for example “PHP 8.5 + Ioncube (recommended)”). In the “PHP configuration by site” tab, then choose this version on the line for your subdomain, and click “Save”.

   

   If a banner says “Warning: you have declared .htaccess file(s), which override the PHP version displayed in your customer area”, the PHP version for this folder comes from a line in the .htaccess file whose path is shown: this is the line you need to edit. More details in How do I configure PHP on my hosting?

5. Install dependencies with Composer

   Open “Software” then “Terminal”. The console starts in the ~/htdocs folder. Go to the subdomain folder, display the console’s PHP version, then install the project dependencies:

   ⌨ On the serverCopy

   cd app.exemple.com
   php -v
   composer install

   The version shown by php -v must be compatible with your Laravel version. Otherwise, change the Terminal PHP version by following How to change the PHP version in LWS Panel Web Terminal.

6. Configure the .env file

   The .env file is located at the project root (/htdocs/app.exemple.com/.env), not in public/. Open it in the File Manager and set at least these lines with your site’s values:

   📄 /htdocs/app.exemple.com/.envCopy

   APP_DEBUG=false
   APP_URL=https://app.exemple.com
   DB_CONNECTION=mysql
   DB_HOST=203.0.113.10
   DB_DATABASE=nom_de_la_base
   DB_USERNAME=utilisateur_de_la_base
   DB_PASSWORD=mot_de_passe_de_la_base

   Database values can be found under “Databases & PHP” then “MySql & Phpmyadmin”, on the database row: column “Database” for DB_DATABASE, “User” for DB_USERNAME and “Server IP” for DB_HOST (an IP address, not localhost). The password is not displayed: it was sent to you by email when the database was created. If you lost it, change it from the “⋮” menu then “Change password”.

   In the .env file of a fresh Laravel 13 project, the DB_CONNECTION line is sqlite and the other DB_ lines start with a #: remove those # characters and set mysql. For email sending, the MAIL_ lines are explained in the guide Install Laravel on LWS shared hosting.

   If the APP_KEY= line is empty, generate the application key in the Terminal, still in the subdomain folder. Do not regenerate it if it is already filled in.

   ⌨ On the serverCopy

   php artisan key:generate

   Then create the database tables, and cache the configuration:

   ⌨ On the serverCopy

   php artisan migrate
   php artisan config:cache

   After every change to the .env file, run php artisan config:cache again: once the configuration is cached, Laravel no longer rereads the .env file.

Check that everything works

Open https://app.exemple.com in your browser: the home page of your application appears, with the SSL certificate padlock. Browse a few pages and check that the styling and images display.

Also check that the project files cannot be read from the Internet: the address https://app.exemple.com/composer.json should display an error page from your application, not the file contents. If the contents are displayed, the .htaccess file from step 3 is missing or in the wrong place: fix it immediately.

My application displays a 500 error

Follow the steps in order and stop as soon as the error disappears.

Read the exact error in the LWS Panel logs

Under “Databases & PHP”, click “Apache PHP ModSecurity Logs”: the LWS Log Analyzer tool opens. Open the “PHP Errors” tab, choose your subdomain in the domain list and the period, then the “Fatal” filter. The “PHP FILE”, “LINE” and “MESSAGE” columns provide the cause, and the “✨ AI Diagnostic” button explains it in simple language.

Read Laravel’s log

Laravel writes its own errors in the project file storage/logs/laravel.log. Open it in the File Manager and look at the latest lines, at the time of the error. If there is nothing at that time, rely on the “PHP Errors” tab from the previous step.

Fix the most common causes

• Missing application key (empty APP_KEY= line): run php artisan key:generate in the Terminal, in the subdomain folder.
• storage and bootstrap/cache folders not writable: Laravel must be able to write to them. Check their permissions with the File Manager “Permissions” button.
• vendor folder missing: run composer install in the subdomain folder (step 5).
• PHP version too old for your Laravel version: change it (step 4).
• Error appeared just after adding or modifying the .htaccess file: restore the copy you kept, then compare your file with the one in the guide Install Laravel on LWS shared hosting.
• Database connection refused: compare DB_HOST, DB_DATABASE, DB_USERNAME and DB_PASSWORD with the database line in “MySql & Phpmyadmin”, then run php artisan config:cache again.

For other causes of 500 errors, see How to fix a 500 error on your site with LWS Panel.

Frequently asked questions

Related articles

• Install Laravel on LWS shared hosting in a few simple steps
• How do I create subdomains on LWS Panel?
• How do I create and use a .htaccess file with LWS Panel?
• How do I configure PHP on my hosting?
• How do I connect to the web Terminal with LWS Panel?
• How to connect to your LWS web hosting via SSH
• How to fix a 500 error on your site with LWS Panel
• How to deploy a Laravel application with ISPConfig

Useful links

• Official Laravel documentation: deployment
• Official Laravel documentation: configuration and .env file
• Official Laravel documentation: logs