How to put a PHP site online
Normally, to show a PHP site to the world, you have to rent hosting or a VPS, install and configure a web server, hook up the right version of PHP, manually pull in dependencies with Composer, write a connection string for your database and issue an SSL certificate for a secure connection. For a simple site or a pet project, that is an evening of fiddling instead of a result.
Netrun takes all that routine off your hands: you upload your code, and the platform figures out on its own that it is PHP, builds the project, installs the dependencies and gives you a public link with a secure connection. Here is how to put a PHP site online in a few minutes.
Prepare your project
Make sure there is an index.php in the root of your project — this is the entry point where your site begins. Plain PHP works, and so does a framework project like Laravel or Symfony as long as its structure is standard. You do not need to include the dependencies folder (vendor) — the platform builds it for you.
Describe your dependencies
If your site uses third-party libraries, keep a composer.json file in the project with the list of dependencies. Netrun will see it and install everything itself during the build — you do not need to run composer install by hand.
Upload your code
Pack the project into a ZIP archive and drag it into Netrun, or connect a GitHub repository, including a private one. The platform detects on its own that this is PHP and starts the build — you will not have to pick the language or version by hand.
Set your secrets
A database login and password, a connection string, API keys — anything you should not keep in your code, Netrun asks for during setup and passes into the project through environment variables (values that live next to the app rather than inside its files). In your code, read them from the environment instead of writing them straight into files.
Do not hardcode the port
If your site starts its own web server, have it listen on the port from an environment variable — Netrun will supply the right number for you. Do not write a specific port into your code, otherwise the site may fail to open.
Check the deployment
Follow the status and build logs right in your dashboard — they update in real time. Once everything builds, you get a public link with a secure connection. If something goes down later, Netrun restarts the project on its own.
That is it: your PHP site lives on the internet without renting a server, configuring a web server by hand or wrestling with certificates. The Free plan gives you one project, and when it is idle the site sleeps, then answers the first request a bit more slowly while it wakes up. If you need it always on with no delay, the paid plan is a good fit, and you can buy extra slots for additional sites. Try Netrun.