# Laravel — The PHP Framework for Web Artisans

> Laravel is an expressive, elegant PHP web framework. Provides routing, Eloquent ORM, Blade templates, queues, events, broadcasting, and a rich ecosystem (Forge, Vapor, Nova, Livewire). The most popular PHP framework by a wide margin.

## Install

Save the content below to `.claude/skills/` or append to your `CLAUDE.md`:

## Quick Use

```bash
composer create-project laravel/laravel my-app
cd my-app
php artisan serve
# Visit http://localhost:8000
```

```bash
php artisan make:model Asset -mcr
# Creates: Model, Migration, Controller (resource)
```

```php
// database/migrations/xxxx_create_assets_table.php
public function up(): void
{
    Schema::create("assets", function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->id();
        $table->string("repo")->unique();
        $table->integer("stars")->default(0);
        $table->text("description")->nullable();
        $table->timestamps();
    });
}
```

```php
// app/Models/Asset.php
class Asset extends Model
{
    protected $fillable = ["repo", "stars", "description"];
}
```

```php
// routes/api.php
Route::get("/assets", function () {
    return Asset::orderByDesc("stars")->limit(10)->get();
});
```

```bash
php artisan migrate
php artisan tinker
> Asset::create(["repo" => "react", "stars" => 230000]);
```

## Intro

Laravel is the most popular PHP framework, created by Taylor Otwell in 2011. Its philosophy: web development should be an enjoyable, creative experience. Laravel provides an expressive, elegant syntax with a comprehensive ecosystem: Eloquent ORM, Blade templates, queues, events, broadcasting, Forge (server management), Vapor (serverless), and Livewire (reactive UI without JS).

- **Repo**: https://github.com/laravel/laravel
- **Stars**: 84K+
- **Language**: PHP
- **License**: MIT

## What Laravel Does

- **Routing** — expressive route definitions
- **Eloquent ORM** — ActiveRecord pattern, relationships, scopes
- **Blade templates** — lightweight, compiled template engine
- **Artisan CLI** — code generation, migrations, tinker REPL
- **Queues** — Redis, SQS, database queue drivers
- **Events and broadcasting** — event-driven + WebSocket (Reverb)
- **Auth** — sessions, API tokens (Sanctum), OAuth (Passport)
- **Livewire** — reactive frontend components in PHP
- **Testing** — PHPUnit + Pest integration
- **Inertia.js** — SPA without building an API

## Architecture

MVC: Models (Eloquent), Views (Blade), Controllers. Service container provides IoC/DI. Facades wrap services for static-like syntax. Middleware pipeline for request/response processing. SOLID principles and PSR standards throughout.

## Self-Hosting

```bash
# Production on Linux + Nginx
composer install --optimize-autoloader --no-dev
php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache
```

Or use Laravel Forge (automated server provisioning) or Vapor (serverless on AWS Lambda).

## Key Features

- Eloquent ORM
- Blade templates
- Artisan CLI
- Queue system
- Broadcasting (Reverb WebSocket)
- Sanctum API auth
- Livewire for reactive UI
- Inertia.js for modern SPAs
- Pest testing framework
- Laravel Forge and Vapor ecosystem

## Comparison

| Framework | Language | Style | Ecosystem |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laravel | PHP | Elegant, batteries | Largest PHP |
| Symfony | PHP | Components, enterprise | Large |
| Django | Python | Batteries-included | Large |
| Rails | Ruby | Convention > config | Large |
| NestJS | TypeScript | Angular-inspired | Large |
| Spring Boot | Java | Enterprise | Largest Java |

## FAQ

**Q: Laravel vs Symfony?**
A: Laravel is more opinionated, faster to develop with, and has great DX; Symfony is more modular, enterprise-grade, with reusable components (in fact, Laravel uses many Symfony components under the hood).

**Q: Livewire replaces React?**
A: For moderately interactive apps, yes. Livewire lets you write reactive UIs in PHP, skipping the frontend/backend split. For very complex interactions, React/Vue + Inertia is still recommended.

**Q: Performance concerns?**
A: With PHP 8.3 + OPcache + route/config cache + Octane (Swoole/FrankenPHP), performance rivals Node.js.

## Sources

- Docs: https://laravel.com/docs
- GitHub: https://github.com/laravel/laravel
- License: MIT

---
Source: https://tokrepo.com/en/workflows/laravel-php-framework-web-artisans-cc164e67
Author: Script Depot