October CMS

intermediate

Laravel-based CMS with a clean, simple interface.

Overview

October CMS is a modern content management system built on the Laravel PHP framework, created by Alexey Bobkov and Samuel Georges in 2014. It emphasizes simplicity and developer-friendly features, offering a clean administrative interface combined with powerful customization capabilities through its unique component-based architecture. Unlike traditional CMSs that rely heavily on themes and plugins, October CMS uses a flexible approach with pages, partials, layouts, and reusable components that can be mixed and matched to create dynamic websites. This Docker stack pairs October CMS with MySQL 8.0, leveraging Laravel's Eloquent ORM for database interactions and MySQL's InnoDB storage engine for ACID-compliant transactions. The setup takes advantage of October's built-in caching mechanisms and MySQL's query cache to deliver optimal performance for content-heavy websites. The aspendigital/octobercms image provides a pre-configured Apache environment with PHP extensions required for October's marketplace integration and file management features. Developers and agencies building custom websites, corporate portals, or content-driven applications will find this combination particularly valuable. The Laravel foundation provides familiar MVC patterns and Artisan CLI tools, while October's Twig templating engine offers designers flexibility without requiring deep PHP knowledge. This stack is ideal for teams transitioning from WordPress who need more developer control, or Laravel developers who want CMS functionality without building it from scratch.

Key Features

Twig templating engine with Blade template inheritance for flexible theme development
Component-based architecture allowing drag-and-drop page building with reusable elements
Laravel Eloquent ORM integration with MySQL InnoDB for complex relational data modeling
October Marketplace integration for one-click plugin and theme installation
Built-in media manager with image resizing and CDN support through Laravel filesystem
Ajax framework for dynamic content loading without page refreshes
Schema Builder for database migrations through October's version management system
Multi-site management capabilities with shared plugins and themes across installations

Common Use Cases

1Corporate websites requiring custom content types and workflow approval processes
2E-commerce sites using October's Shopaholic plugin with complex product catalogs
3Portfolio and agency websites needing flexible page layouts and media galleries
4Multi-lingual websites leveraging October's RainLab.Translate plugin with MySQL collation
5Educational platforms requiring user registration, course management, and progress tracking
6News and magazine websites with article categorization, tagging, and author management
7Event management platforms with calendar integration, registration forms, and payment processing

Prerequisites

Docker and Docker Compose installed with at least 2GB available RAM for MySQL operations
Port 80 available on the host system for October CMS web interface access
Basic understanding of Laravel MVC patterns and Twig templating syntax
Familiarity with MySQL database administration for backup and optimization tasks
Environment file (.env) configured with secure database passwords and root credentials
Understanding of October CMS component lifecycle and plugin architecture

For development & testing. Review security settings, change default credentials, and test thoroughly before production use. See Terms

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  october: 
3    image: aspendigital/octobercms:latest
4    container_name: october
5    restart: unless-stopped
6    environment: 
7      DB_TYPE: mysql
8      DB_HOST: mysql
9      DB_DATABASE: october
10      DB_USERNAME: october
11      DB_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
12    volumes: 
13      - october_data:/var/www/html
14    ports: 
15      - "80:80"
16    depends_on: 
17      - mysql
18    networks: 
19      - october-network
20
21  mysql: 
22    image: mysql:8.0
23    container_name: october-mysql
24    environment: 
25      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: ${ROOT_PASSWORD}
26      MYSQL_DATABASE: october
27      MYSQL_USER: october
28      MYSQL_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
29    volumes: 
30      - mysql_data:/var/lib/mysql
31    networks: 
32      - october-network
33
34volumes: 
35  october_data: 
36  mysql_data: 
37
38networks: 
39  october-network: 
40    driver: bridge

.env Template

.env

1DB_PASSWORD=changeme
2ROOT_PASSWORD=changeme

Usage Notes

1Docs: https://docs.octobercms.com/
2Access at http://localhost, backend at /backend
3Built on Laravel: Eloquent ORM, Blade + Twig templates
4Marketplace for plugins and themes
5Components: reusable page building blocks
6Free and paid licenses available

Individual Services(2 services)

Copy individual services to mix and match with your existing compose files.

october

october:
  image: aspendigital/octobercms:latest
  container_name: october
  restart: unless-stopped
  environment:
    DB_TYPE: mysql
    DB_HOST: mysql
    DB_DATABASE: october
    DB_USERNAME: october
    DB_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
  volumes:
    - october_data:/var/www/html
  ports:
    - "80:80"
  depends_on:
    - mysql
  networks:
    - october-network

mysql

mysql:
  image: mysql:8.0
  container_name: october-mysql
  environment:
    MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: ${ROOT_PASSWORD}
    MYSQL_DATABASE: october
    MYSQL_USER: october
    MYSQL_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
  volumes:
    - mysql_data:/var/lib/mysql
  networks:
    - october-network

Quick Start

terminal

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  october:
5    image: aspendigital/octobercms:latest
6    container_name: october
7    restart: unless-stopped
8    environment:
9      DB_TYPE: mysql
10      DB_HOST: mysql
11      DB_DATABASE: october
12      DB_USERNAME: october
13      DB_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
14    volumes:
15      - october_data:/var/www/html
16    ports:
17      - "80:80"
18    depends_on:
19      - mysql
20    networks:
21      - october-network
22
23  mysql:
24    image: mysql:8.0
25    container_name: october-mysql
26    environment:
27      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: ${ROOT_PASSWORD}
28      MYSQL_DATABASE: october
29      MYSQL_USER: october
30      MYSQL_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
31    volumes:
32      - mysql_data:/var/lib/mysql
33    networks:
34      - october-network
35
36volumes:
37  october_data:
38  mysql_data:
39
40networks:
41  october-network:
42    driver: bridge
43EOF
44
45# 2. Create the .env file
46cat > .env << 'EOF'
47DB_PASSWORD=changeme
48ROOT_PASSWORD=changeme
49EOF
50
51# 3. Start the services
52docker compose up -d
53
54# 4. View logs
55docker compose logs -f

One-Liner

Run this command to download and set up the recipe in one step:

terminal

1curl -fsSL https://docker.recipes/api/recipes/october-cms/run | bash

Troubleshooting

October shows 'Database connection failed': Verify mysql container is running and DB_HOST matches service name in docker-compose
Backend admin panel returns 404 errors: Check .htaccess configuration and ensure Apache mod_rewrite is enabled in the container
Plugin installation fails with permission errors: Verify october_data volume permissions and container user has write access to /var/www/html
MySQL container exits with 'cannot allocate memory': Increase Docker Desktop memory limit to at least 2GB or add MySQL memory configuration
October marketplace shows SSL errors: Update ca-certificates in container or configure October to use local plugin installation method
File uploads fail or media manager not working: Check PHP upload limits and ensure storage/app directory has proper write permissions

Community Notes

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