The PHP ecosystem keeps moving forward in its transition to container-based environments. The serversideup/php project, one of the most carefully designed Docker image families for PHP, has already added PHP 8.5 across all its official variants:

CLI
FPM
FPM + Apache
FPM + NGINX
FrankenPHP

With this update, development teams can start working with PHP 8.5’s new features —including the long-awaited pipe operator and the new URI extension— without dealing with manual builds or poorly maintained images.

A convenient bridge between PHP 8.5 and Docker

serversideup/php has become a reference base for PHP projects that want to run in containers without surprises. The images are available on Docker Hub and GitHub Packages, compatible with any orchestrator (Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, Nomad, Docker Compose…), and they default to Debian, with Alpine variants for those who prefer lighter images.

The philosophy is simple: provide a PHP image that’s ready for production where it’s easy to:

switch PHP versions by changing a single line in compose.yml,
choose the runtime mode (CLI, FPM, FPM + Apache/NGINX or FrankenPHP),
tune limits and extensions via environment variables, without touching php.ini.

Anyone who has followed the project’s official docs knows the flow: a simple docker compose up spins up a test app, and from there you can iterate by changing the version, server, or settings like upload_max_filesize or opcache.enable with minimal configuration changes.

Pipe operator and URI extension: what’s new inside the container

The upgrade to PHP 8.5 in these images comes with two features the community has been talking about a lot:

the pipe operator, which makes it easier to chain operations in a more readable way, and
the URI extension, designed to handle addresses and resources in a more structured manner.

By integrating PHP 8.5 directly into the serversideup/php image family, developers can start experimenting with these new capabilities in reproducible environments — locally, in staging, or in production — without rebuilding the whole stack.

Same ergonomics, more possibilities

The real value of this update isn’t just the version number, but the fact that all the tooling and ergonomics serversideup/php already offered now apply to PHP 8.5:

Switching variants with a single line: going from, say, 8.4-fpm-nginx to 8.5-frankenphp is as simple as updating the image in your compose.yml.
Declarative configuration: parameters like maximum upload size or OPCache status are controlled via environment variables (PHP_UPLOAD_MAX_FILE_SIZE, PHP_OPCACHE_ENABLE, etc.).
Same workflow as always: stop containers, update the image, run docker compose up again, and verify the changes in phpinfo() — that’s still the standard loop.

For teams working with CI pipelines or automated deployments, this makes it easy to test PHP 8.5 on feature branches or test environments without touching the underlying infrastructure.

FrankenPHP and NGINX up to date as well

PHP 8.5 support extends to all of the project’s usual flavours, including:

FPM + NGINX and FPM + Apache, the classic combinations for traditional PHP apps or frameworks like Symfony, Laravel, or WordPress.
FrankenPHP, the modern integrated PHP server that’s gaining traction in projects looking for more performance and simplicity in containers.

This way, developers can choose the server “flavour” that best fits their architecture without giving up the latest language features.

What this means for development teams

The arrival of PHP 8.5 in serversideup/php effectively means:

Less friction when adopting new PHP versions in containerised environments.
A clear path to testing new language features (like the pipe operator) in existing projects.
Easier environment consistency across development, staging, and production.

It’s up to each team to decide when to move to 8.5 in their critical environments, but the infrastructure to do so in a controlled way is already there: update the image, review extensions, and validate the app.

Meanwhile, serversideup/php reinforces its role as one of the most convenient routes to run modern PHP in production on Docker — now with PHP 8.5 front and center.