How does circleci-demo-php-laravel prepare APP_KEY without creating .env file?

[kanonji]

https://github.com/CircleCI-Public/circleci-demo-php-laravel

I am currently setting up CI for my Laravel project.
I refer the demo repository above to know how to make it but I can not understand why demo’s jobs success on Circle CI.

php artisan clear-compiled

The compiled services file has been removed.

php artisan optimize

Generating optimized class loader
The compiled services file has been removed.

https://circleci.com/gh/CircleCI-Public/circleci-demo-php-laravel/46

They run php artisan clear-compiled and php artisan optimize on composer install -n --prefer-dist part.
These commands require APP_KEY on .env file but I don’t think there is .env file.
Their .circleci/config.yml ( https://github.com/CircleCI-Public/circleci-demo-php-laravel/blob/circleci-2.0/.circleci/config.yml ) does not prepare .env file on my understanding.

"post-create-project-cmd": [
  "php -r \"copy('.env.example', '.env');\"",
  "php artisan key:generate"
]

ttps://github.com/CircleCI-Public/circleci-demo-php-laravel/blob/circleci-2.0/composer.json#L38-L41

There is "php -r \"copy('.env.example', '.env');\"", on compose.json but that is post-create-project-cmd.
Circle CI job checkouts the source code but not creates the project.
So I think this does not affect that jobs succeed.

How does circleci-demo-php-laravel prepare APP_KEY without creating .env file or does it create .env file?

[levlaz]

Notice how the demo project has an .env.testing file checked into the root of the repo with the APP_KEY already generated. This is the best practice per the laravel docs. You should do something similar in your own project.