Boilerplate ​

Good job finding this secret page! This magical documentation spells out how I personally approach creating a new Laravel application. Feel free to use it for your reference.

Essential ​

Install Laravel and set up version control ​

Run the following command to create a brand-new Laravel application.

composer create-project laravel/laravel appname

Go to the directory and initialize git.

cd appname
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit."

If you use Gitflow, create the develop branch.

git checkout -b develop

Install necessary composer packages ​

Install some nice composer packages that you may need. Make sure to follow their docs to set them up properly.

composer require laravel/telescope
composer require barryvdh/laravel-debugbar --dev
composer require barryvdh/laravel-ide-helper --dev
composer require venturecraft/revisionable
composer require lab404/laravel-impersonate

Install code quality tools ​

Install PHPCS (known formally as PHP_CodeSniffer).

composer require squizlabs/php_codesniffer --dev

Create a new file phpcs.xml in the root directory with the following content.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ruleset name="PSR12">
    <description>The PSR12 coding standard</description>

    <rule ref="PSR12"/>

    <exclude-pattern>vendor</exclude-pattern>
    <exclude-pattern>node_modules/</exclude-pattern>
    <exclude-pattern>database/</exclude-pattern>
    <exclude-pattern>resources</exclude-pattern>
    <exclude-pattern>storage/</exclude-pattern>
    <exclude-pattern>app/Console/Kernel.php</exclude-pattern>

    <arg name="colors"/>
    <arg name="parallel" value="75"/>
    <arg value="np"/>
</ruleset>

When you want to use PHPCS to check code quality, run the following command.

composer exec phpcs app

Install Larastan.

composer require nunomaduro/larastan --dev

Create a new file phpstan.neon in the root directory with the following content.

includes:
    - ./vendor/nunomaduro/larastan/extension.neon

parameters:

    paths:
        - app

    # The level 9 is the highest level
    level: 5

    checkMissingIterableValueType: false

When you want to use Larastan to check code quality, run the following command.

composer exec phpstan analyze app

Install PHPMD.

composer require phpmd/phpmd --dev

Create a new file phpmd.xml in the root directory with the following content.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ruleset name="My first PHPMD rule set"
         xmlns="http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset/1.0.0"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset/1.0.0 http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset_xml_schema.xsd"
         xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="http://pmd.sf.net/ruleset_xml_schema.xsd">
    <description>Leo's standard phpmd.xml for Laravel</description>

    <rule ref="rulesets/cleancode.xml">
        <exclude name="StaticAccess"/>
        <exclude name="ElseExpression"/>
    </rule>

    <rule ref="rulesets/codesize.xml"/>
    <rule ref="rulesets/controversial.xml"/>

    <rule ref="rulesets/design.xml">
        <exclude name="CouplingBetweenObjects"/>
    </rule>
    <rule ref="rulesets/design.xml/CouplingBetweenObjects">
        <properties>
            <property name="maximum" value="20"/>
        </properties>
    </rule>

    <rule ref="rulesets/naming.xml">
        <exclude name="ShortVariable"/>
        <exclude name="LongVariable"/>
    </rule>
    <rule ref="rulesets/naming.xml/ShortVariable">
        <properties>
            <property name="minimum" value="3"/>
            <property name="exceptions" value="i,j,e,f,id,db"/>
        </properties>
    </rule>

    <rule ref="rulesets/unusedcode.xml">
        <exclude name="UnusedFormalParameter"/>
    </rule>
</ruleset>

When you want to use PHPMD to check code quality, run the following command.

composer exec phpmd app text phpmd.xml

Set up admin users ​

If your application uses admin users, edit the migration create_users_table.php and add a boolean is_admin field to designate admin users.

$table->boolean('is_admin')->default(false);

In the User model, add the boolean cast for the is_admin attribute.

protected $casts = [
    'is_admin' => 'boolean',
];

Add the CheckAdmin middleware.

php artisan make:middleware CheckAdmin

public function handle($request, Closure $next)
{
    // Is there's no authenticated admin user, redirect to home
    if (! $request->user() || ! $request->user()->is_admin) {
        return redirect()->route('home');
    }

    return $next($request);
}

To restrict certain routes for admins, set the CheckAdmin middleware to them.

Route::prefix('/admin')->middleware(CheckAdmin::class)->group(function () {
    Route::get('/', [AdminController::class, 'dashboard')->name('admin.dashboard');
});

Set up database and environment ​

Create your development database and edit the .env file.

APP_NAME="App Name"
APP_URL=http://url.local
LOG_CHANNEL=single # for simple logging
DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=mysql
DB_DATABASE=app
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=root

Run migration and laravel-ide-helper (if you've installed it) to test database connection.

php artisan migrate
php artisan ide-helper:models -WR

Commit your changes so far.

git add .
git commit "Install composer packages and set up admin users."

Frontend ​

Scaffold UI and authentication: ​

Run the following commands.

composer require laravel/ui
php artisan ui bootstrap --auth
npm install
npm run dev

Ignore the built assets and the NPM lock file in .gitignore:

/public/css
/public/js
/public/mix-manifest.json
package-lock.json

Commit your changes.

git add .
git commit "Scaffold UI and authentication."

Install Bootstrap and nice frontend packages ​

npm install bootstrap -D
npm install @fortawesome/fontawesome-free -D

To use FontAwesome, create the /resources/sass/vendors.scss file and add the following.

@import '@fortawesome/fontawesome-free/scss/fontawesome';
@import '@fortawesome/fontawesome-free/scss/regular';
@import '@fortawesome/fontawesome-free/scss/solid';
@import '@fortawesome/fontawesome-free/scss/brands';

Set up Vite ​

Edit the vite.config.js like below:

import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
import vue from '@vitejs/plugin-vue'
import laravel from 'laravel-vite-plugin'
const path = require('path')

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [
    vue(),
    laravel({
      input: [
        'resources/sass/app.scss',
        'resources/sass/public.scss',
        'resources/js/app.js'
      ],
      refresh: true,
    }),
  ],
  resolve: {
    alias: {
      '~bootstrap': path.resolve(__dirname, 'node_modules/bootstrap'),
    }
  },
})

In resources/sass/app.scss, edit as follows to standardize theming:

// Fonts
@import url("https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Roboto:400,500,700");

// Variables
@import 'variables';

// Vendors
@import 'vendors';

// Essence and Bootstrap
@import '../essence/scss/variables';
@import '~bootstrap/scss/bootstrap';
@import '../essence/scss/essence';

If you use Essence, add /resources/essence to your .gitignore file.

Run Vite to test your configuration.

npm run dev

Commit your changes.

git add .
git commit "Install Bootstrap, FontAwesome, and set up asset building."

Update templates to use Blade Components ​

Move views/layouts to views/components/layouts.

In app.blade.php, update the title tag and replace @yield('content') with slot.

<title>{{ $title ?? 'Home' }} | {{ config('app.name') }}</title>

<main class="py-4">
    {{ $slot }}
</main>

Update the view files under views/auth to use the new app component.

<x-layouts.app title="Login">
    <div class="container">
        ...
    </div>
</x-layouts.app>>

Commit your changes.

git add .
git commit "Update views."

Use strict mode ​

In AppServiceProvider.php, add:

Model::shouldBeStrict(! $this->app->isProduction());
Model::unguard();