Local + Staging + Production GitHub Actions

Deployment Guide

KaiVox runs on three environments: local development (Laragon on Windows), staging (kaivox-test.omajestic.com), and production (kaivoxai.com). GitHub Actions automates staging and production deploys.

Local Development Setup

Requirements

Requirement	Version	Notes
PHP	8.2	Use `D:\xampp\php82\php.exe` — NOT the system PHP (which may be 7.4)
MySQL	8.x	Database: `kaivox_ai`, user: `root`, pass: `root`
Composer	2.x	For PHP dependencies
Node.js	18+	For Vite asset compilation
Laragon	Any	Provides local domain `http://kaivox-ai.test/`

Always use D:\xampp\php82\php.exe artisan for artisan commands. If your system PATH has an older PHP, plain php artisan will fail with PHP version errors.

First-Time Local Setup

Clone the repo and install dependencies
```
composer install
npm install
```

Copy and configure .env

copy .env.example .env
# Then edit .env — set DB credentials, OPENAI_API_KEY, etc.

Generate app key

D:\xampp\php82\php.exe artisan key:generate

Run migrations and seeders

D:\xampp\php82\php.exe artisan migrate
D:\xampp\php82\php.exe artisan db:seed

Link storage and build assets

D:\xampp\php82\php.exe artisan storage:link
npm run build

Run the queue worker (for emails/jobs)

D:\xampp\php82\php.exe artisan queue:work

Staging Deploy (kaivox-test.omajestic.com)

Pushing to the test branch triggers GitHub Actions which deploys to the Hostinger staging server.

GitHub Actions workflow files are already built at .github/workflows/deploy-staging.yml and deploy-production.yml. Only the Hostinger SSH configuration and GitHub Secrets need to be added once.

One-Time Staging Setup

Create GitHub repository Create a private repo at GitHub. Push local code:

git remote add origin https://github.com/your-user/kaivox-ai.git
git push -u origin main
git checkout -b test
git push origin test

Add GitHub Secrets In GitHub repo → Settings → Secrets → Actions, add:

Secret Name	Value
`STAGING_SSH_KEY`	Private SSH key for Hostinger
`STAGING_HOST`	`kaivox-test.omajestic.com` or server IP
`STAGING_USER`	Hostinger SSH username
`STAGING_PATH`	`/home/u123456789/public_html`

Set up staging server (SSH in once)

ssh user@kaivox-test.omajestic.com

# Verify PHP 8.2 is set in Hostinger control panel
php -v

# Create MySQL database in Hostinger control panel
# Note the DB name, user, password

# Upload .env with staging values (real DB creds, test payment keys, etc.)
# Then run first deploy manually:
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
php artisan key:generate
php artisan migrate --force
php artisan config:cache
php artisan storage:link

Set up Laravel scheduler on Hostinger In Hostinger cron jobs, add:

* * * * * php /path/to/public_html/artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

CI/CD Flow

You push to 'test' branch
        ↓
GitHub Actions: deploy-staging.yml runs
        ↓
SSH into Hostinger → git pull → composer install → php artisan migrate --force
        ↓
App live at kaivox-test.omajestic.com

You push to 'main' branch
        ↓
GitHub Actions: deploy-production.yml runs
        ↓
SSH into production server → git pull → composer install → php artisan migrate --force
        ↓
App live at kaivoxai.com

Production Deploy (kaivoxai.com)

Same pattern as staging. Add production secrets (PROD_SSH_KEY, PROD_HOST, PROD_USER, PROD_PATH) to GitHub Secrets. Pushing to main triggers the production workflow.

Never push directly to main in a hurry. Test on staging first. The staging and production databases are separate — a migration error on production could be hard to reverse.

Artisan Commands to Run on Every Deploy

# Required after every code deploy:
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
php artisan migrate --force
php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache

# Required only when new storage files are expected:
php artisan storage:link

# Required only when seeding fresh data:
php artisan db:seed --class=SuperAdminSeeder

# Phone number billing (runs daily via scheduler — no manual trigger needed):
php artisan phone-numbers:bill

Environment-Specific .env Values

Key	Local	Staging	Production
`APP_ENV`	`local`	`staging`	`production`
`APP_DEBUG`	`true`	`false`	`false`
`APP_URL`	`http://kaivox-ai.test`	`https://kaivox-test.omajestic.com`	`https://kaivoxai.com`
`STRIPE_KEY`	`pk_test_...`	`pk_test_...`	`pk_live_...`
`MAIL_MAILER`	`log`	`smtp`	`smtp`
`QUEUE_CONNECTION`	`database`	`database`	`database`

Post-Deploy Verification Checklist

Visit the app URL — homepage loads
Log in as Super Admin at /super-admin/login
Register a test tenant and complete onboarding
Make a test voice call (Vobiz webhook pointing to deployed URL)
Book a test appointment — verify it appears in the calendar
Send a test SMS (check Twilio delivery)
Top up wallet with a Stripe test card (4242 4242 4242 4242)
Verify emails send (check Hostinger SMTP — no port blocking on server)
Check /p/{slug} public profile loads correctly