# Hosting for code crafters

Source: https://www.fortrabbit.com/workflows/code-crafting
Created: 2026-07-24
Reviewed: 2026-07-24

> Hosting for hand-written PHP — plain Git deployment, Composer builds, SSH access and real logs, with no proprietary layer between the code and the runtime.


**Some code is still typed on purpose.** A developer opens an editor and builds the application line by line. fortrabbit is AI-ready but not AI-all-over-the-place.

## Built by hand, like the app it runs

The platform is made the same way the code on it is: by people, with care. The dashboard is roughly 80% hand-written — designed screen by screen, not assembled from a template and left to drift. Automation handles the tedious parts of hosting: deploys, backups, TLS certificates, the housekeeping of running a server. It works in the background to serve the person at the keyboard, never to make the decisions for them.

That balance is deliberate. The machine does the repetitive work; the developer keeps the judgment.

## Real people answer

Support is staffed by the developers who run the platform, not a queue of scripted replies. A question about a failing deploy or an odd Composer error reaches someone who can read the same logs and knows the stack underneath. No tiered escalation, no bot to get past first.

## Read the runtime, don't guess it

Craft depends on feedback, and the fastest feedback is the real thing. Every environment is reachable over SSH with key authentication, so the running application is inspected directly instead of through a layer of abstraction. Logs from PHP, Apache, and background jobs stream live, and the failing line is read where it happens — not summarized, not sampled, not a day late.

## Standard stack, standard tools

Underneath is an ordinary LAMP stack — Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP — reached over SSH and deployed with Git and Composer. Nothing proprietary sits between the code and the runtime, so the habits a developer already has carry over unchanged. Where something is specific to fortrabbit, the [platform documentation](/platform) covers it in depth: setup per framework, the reasoning behind the defaults, and the edge cases most hosts leave to guesswork.

## Why fortrabbit?

Because hand-crafted code should meet infrastructure that was also built with care, by people who have run PHP in production since before it was fashionable. And when the workflow shifts — [an agent brought in to do the typing](/workflows/agentic-engineering), or a first project [vibe-coded](/workflows/vibe-coding) end to end — the platform is already ready for that too. Same host, same push, no migration.

## FAQ

### Is there a proprietary framework to learn?

**No** — The application is a standard PHP project. Deployment runs Composer and the build commands declared in the repository; there is no vendor SDK, no lock-in wrapper, and nothing to import. Moving the code elsewhere means pointing another host at the same Git repository.

### Can the runtime be inspected directly?

**Yes, over SSH** — Every environment is reachable over SSH and SFTP with key authentication. Logs from PHP, Apache, and jobs can be tailed live, so a failing request is read at the source rather than guessed at from a dashboard summary.

### How much of the build can be controlled?

**All of it** — Build commands run on every deploy — Composer install, asset compilation, migrations, cache warming. They are declared per environment and versioned with the code, so the build that runs in production is the one in the repository.

### Does hand-written code deploy differently?

**No** — Every environment maps to a Git branch; pushing it runs Composer through the fortrabbit GitHub app and swaps the release. Hand-written or agent-written, the commit ships the same way — what differs is who authored it.

### What does it cost to run?

**Pro-rated by the day** — Every app starts on a seven-day free trial, no card required. After that, only the booked components are billed — PHP, storage, traffic, and MySQL when needed — pro-rated by the day and post-paid, so a plan change or a deleted environment settles the same day rather than the next month.

### Which PHP software is supported?

**Anything Composer-based** — Laravel, Symfony, Craft CMS, Statamic, and plain PHP all run the same way: a Composer project deployed with git push. There is no curated list to fit into — if it builds with Composer and speaks PHP, it belongs here.

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- [SSH and SFTP](/features/ssh-sftp)
- [Build commands](/features/build-commands)
- [GitHub integration](/features/github-integration)
- [Platform reference](/platform)