Performance & Optimization
Optimize PHP apps with OPcache, caching layers, query tuning, and production deployment practices.
OPcache and Caching
OPcache stores compiled bytecode in memory—ensure opcache.enable=1 in production. Deploy scripts should reload PHP-FPM after releases.
Application caches (Redis, Memcached) store expensive query results and HTML fragments. Set TTLs and cache bust keys on writes.
HTTP caches and CDNs offload static assets; use cache-control headers appropriately.
- Warm caches after deploy before shifting traffic
- Monitor cache hit rates
- Avoid caching user-specific HTML globally
Database and Profiling
Explain slow queries; add composite indexes matching filter and sort columns. Paginate large result sets.
Blackfire, Xdebug profiling, and Laravel Telescope identify bottlenecks in development—not production users.
Horizontal scale PHP-FPM workers behind load balancers; session stickiness or centralized sessions required.
- Queue heavy work instead of blocking requests
- Use lazy loading consciously in ORMs
- Benchmark before micro-optimizing PHP loops