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As your app goes through the build and deploy process, you might want to run custom commands. These might include compiling the app, setting the configuration for services based on variables, and rebuilding search indexes. Do these tasks using one of three hooks. The following example goes through each of these hooks for a multi-app project
  • Next.js acts as the frontend container, client
  • Drupal serves data as the backend container, api
Configuration for both applications resides in a single .upsun/config.yaml configuration file. Be sure to notice the source.root property for each.

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Build dependencies

The Next.js app uses Yarn for dependencies, which need to be installed. Installing dependencies requires writing to disk and doesn’t need any relationships with other services. This makes it perfect for a build hook. In this case, the app has two sets of dependencies:
  • For the main app
  • For a script to test connections between the apps
Create your build hook to install them all:
  1. Create a build hook in your app configuration:
    .upsun/config.yaml
    applications:
  client:
    source:
      root: client
    hooks:
      build: |
        set -e
    The hook has two parts so far:
    • The | means the lines that follow can contain a series of commands. They aren’t interpreted as new YAML properties.
    • Adding set -e means that the hook fails if any of the commands in it fails. Without this setting, the hook fails only if its final command fails. If a build hook fails for any reason, the build is aborted and the deploy doesn’t happen. Note that this only works for build hooks. If other hooks fail, the deploy still happens.
  2. Install your top-level dependencies inside this build hook:
    .upsun/config.yaml
    applications:
  client:
    source:
      root: client
    hooks:
      build: |
        set -e
        yarn --frozen-lockfile
    This installs all the dependencies for the main app.

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Configure Drush and Drupal

The example uses Drush to handle routine tasks. For its configuration, Drush needs the URL of the site. That means the configuration can’t be done in the build hook. During the build hook, the site isn’t yet deployed and so there is no URL to use in the configuration. (The PLATFORM_ROUTES variable isn’t available.) Add the configuration during the deploy hook. This way you can access the URL before the site accepts requests (unlike in the post_deploy hook). The script also prepares your environment to handle requests, such as by rebuilding the cache and updating the database. Because these steps should be done before the site accepts request, they should be in the deploy hook. All of this configuration and preparation can be handled in a bash script.
  1. Copy the preparation script from the Upsun Fixed template into a file called hooks.deploy.sh in a api/platformsh-scripts directory. Note that hooks are executed using the dash shell, not the bash shell used by SSH logins.
  2. Copy the Drush configuration script from the template into a drush/platformsh_generate_drush_yml.php file.
  3. Set a mount. Unlike in the build hook, in the deploy hook the system is generally read-only. So create a mount where you can write the Drush configuration:
    .upsun/config.yaml
    applications:
  api:
    source:
      root: api

    mounts:
      /.drush:
        source: storage
        source_path: 'drush'
  4. Add a deploy hook that runs the preparation script:
    .upsun/config.yaml
    applications:
  api:
    source:
      root: api

    mounts:
      /.drush:
        source: storage
        source_path: 'drush'

    hooks:
      deploy: !include
        type: string
        path: platformsh-scripts/hooks.deploy.sh
    This !include syntax tells the hook to process the script as if it were included in the YAML file directly. This helps with longer and more complicated scripts.

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Get data from Drupal to Next.js

This Next.js app generates a static site. Often, you would generate the site for Next.js in a build hook. In this case, you first need to get data from Drupal to Next.js. This means you need to wait until Drupal is accepting requests and there is a relationship between the two apps. So the post_deploy hook is the perfect place to build your Next.js site. You can also redeploy the site every time content changes in Drupal. On redeploys, only the post_deploy hook runs, meaning the Drupal build is reused and Next.js is built again. So you don’t have to rebuild Drupal but you still get fresh content.
  1. Set a relationship for Next.js with Drupal. This allows the Next.js app to make requests and receive data from the Drupal app.
    .upsun/config.yaml
    applications:
  client:
    source:
      root: client

    relationships:
      api:
        service: 'api'
        endpoint: 'http'
  2. Set mounts. Like the deploy hook, the post_deploy hook has a read-only file system. Create mounts for your Next.js files:
    .upsun/config.yaml
    applications:
  client:
    source:
      root: client

    mounts:
      /.cache:
        source: tmp
        source_path: 'cache'
      /.next:
        source: storage
        source_path: 'next'
      /.pm2:
        source: storage
        source_path: 'pm2'
      deploy:
        source: storage
        service: files
        source_path: deploy
  3. Add a post_deploy hook that first tests the connection between the apps:
    .upsun/config.yaml
    applications:
  client:
    source:
      root: client
    hooks:
      post_deploy: |
        . deploy/platformsh.environment
        cd platformsh-scripts/test && yarn debug
    Note that you could add set -e here, but even if the job fails, the build/deployment itself can still be counted as successful.
  4. Then build the Next.js site:
    .upsun/config.yaml
    applications:
  client:
    source:
      root: client
    hooks:
      post_deploy: |
        . deploy/platformsh.environment
        cd platformsh-scripts/test && yarn debug
        cd $PLATFORM_APP_DIR && yarn build
    The $PLATFORM_APP_DIR variable represents the app root and can always get you back there.

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Final hooks

Last modified on March 10, 2026