Unlike the Symfony course's webapp skeleton, we're using the OFFICIAL api-platform/api-platform distribution here – an ALREADY fully pre-configured setup including Docker, a database, and Mercure.

Checking prerequisites

This distribution requires Docker AND Docker Compose (NO locally installed PHP needed, unlike the Symfony course) – EVERYTHING runs in containers:

docker --version
docker compose version

Creating the project

composer create-project api-platform/api-platform aufgaben-manager-api
cd aufgaben-manager-api

This command downloads the COMPLETE distribution – including a pre-configured compose.yaml that already CONTAINS several services: the PHP/Symfony container (with Caddy as the web server), PostgreSQL, AND a Mercure hub (chapters 67-72).

Starting the containers

docker compose up -d --wait

--wait waits until ALL containers are actually "healthy" before the command returns – useful for making sure the database is READY before running migrations in the next step.

docker compose ps

Shows ALL running containers with their status – expect at least a php container (with Caddy), a database container, and a mercure container.

Testing the first call

curl -k https://localhost/api

Caddy AUTOMATICALLY sets up a local, self-signed HTTPS certificate – EXACTLY like the Symfony CLI in the Symfony course, only THIS TIME entirely inside the Docker containers instead of installed locally.

Running bin/console inside the container

docker compose exec php bin/console about

EXACTLY the same bin/console command from the Symfony course – the difference: it now runs INSIDE the php container, docker compose exec php before it is Docker's typical way to run a command in a running container.

Installing Composer packages

docker compose exec php composer require --dev symfony/maker-bundle

EXACTLY the same principle – composer runs INSIDE the container, so the installed PHP extensions and PHP version are GUARANTEED to match the runtime environment, regardless of which PHP version (if any) is installed locally on your machine.