proc_open() fork fails in Laravel controller - laravel

Question

I get an error saying: proc_open(): fork failed - Cannot allocate memory in a Laravel controller. The generate function is called with axios (Vuejs SAP).
This is what my controller looks like
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Http\UploadedFile;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Storage;
use GifCreator\AnimGif;
use simpleimage\SimpleImage;
use Symfony\Component\Process\Process;
use Symfony\Component\Process\Exception\ProcessFailedException;
class GifController extends Controller
{
//
public function generate(Request $request)
{
if(!$request->ajax()) return;
$cmd = 'ls';
$process = new Process($cmd);
$process->run();
// executes after the command finishes
if (!$process->isSuccessful()) {
throw new ProcessFailedException($process);
}
echo $process->getOutput();
}
}
free -m on server:
| | total | used | free | shared | buff/cache | available |
| ----- | ------ | ----- | ---- | ------ | ---------- | --------- |
| Mem: | 2000 | 243 | 577 | 20 | 1178 | 1541 |
| Swap: | 4095 | 0 | 4095 | | | |
EDIT:
As Hilmi pointed out I've now tried adding a swap space, and now the command runs successfully sometimes – about half of the time.
Is there a way to retry the Process if it fails?