Helm - Docker Web Dev Preset

Create a new project repository from this template via the GitHub CLI

gh repo create my-new-project --template jeremy-step/helm-web-dev --clone [--private]

cd my-new-project

Copy the .helm/.env.example file and rename it to .helm/.env.

cp "./.helm/.env.example" "./.helm/.env"

Or just download the preset

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jeremy-step/get-helm-web-dev/main/download.sh | bash -s my-new-project

cd my-new-project

This automatically creates the .helm/.env file for you.

Commands

helm is a simple shell script located in the .helm/bin directory to make executing basic Docker CLI commands easier:

Command	Description
helm up [<container>] [-d] [--build]	Start / Build container(s).
helm stop [<container>]	Stop container(s).
helm restart [<container>]	Restart container(s).
helm down [<container>] [-v]	Remove container(s).
helm sh [--user root] [options] <container>	Access container shell. The default user is: "root". The default user for the "application" container is: "application".
helm composer [args]	Use composer.
helm c [args]	Alias for: "helm composer [args]"
helm pnpm [args]	Use pnpm (if installed).
helm pm [args]	Alias for: "helm pnpm [args]"

For example:

• helm up ... executes docker compose --env-file=./.helm/.env up ...
• helm sh <container> executes docker exec -it <container> sh

TIP: Executing the helm shell script

Instead of writing ./.helm/bin/app ... or ../.helm/bin/app ..., you can create a global alias / function that executes the script for the current project.

Export the following function in your ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_aliases file:

function helm()
{
    dir="$PWD"

    while [ "$dir" != "/" ]; do
        if [ -f "$dir/.helm/bin/helm" ]; then
            bin="$dir/.helm/bin/helm"
            marker=$(sed -n '3p' "$bin")

            if [ "$marker" != "# [[ Docker shell helper script for the https://github.com/jeremy-step/helm-web-dev template ]]" ]; then
                printf "Incompatible helm binary found at %s.\n" "$bin"

                return
            fi

            eval "$bin ${@}"

            return
        fi

        dir=$(dirname "$dir")
    done

    printf "No project found - could not locate .helm/bin/helm in the current or any parent directory.\n"
}

export -f helm

Now, if you execute the helm ... command, it will automatically find the correct .helm/bin/helm shell script for the current project.

Containers

• web-server (Apache 2.4 Alpine)
• application (PHP 8.5 FPM Alpine, Node.js 24.14 - Optional)
• mail (Mailpit v1.29)
• database (MariaDB 12.2)
• cache (Redis 8.6 Alpine)
• adminer (Adminer 5.4)