Laravel 12.x Best Practices

This skill outlines the recommended software engineering practices for developing applications with Laravel 12.x. It incorporates modern PHP 8.2+ features, the latest Laravel 12 enhancements (such as the new starter kits and UUIDv7 defaults), and industry-standard architecture patterns.

When to Use

• New or existing Laravel 12.x apps: Apply to greenfield or existing apps, with or without the official starter kits, including setups that still adopt Inertia 2.0 or UUIDv7 defaults.
• Architecture decisions: Apply when choosing between standard MVC and domain-driven structure for complex domains.
• Quality gates: Apply when establishing linting, static analysis, and refactoring automation (Pint, PHPStan, Rector).
• Eloquent & data access: Apply when designing models, resource transformations, and query strictness to avoid N+1 issues.
• Testing strategy: Apply when selecting Pest or PHPUnit and standardizing factories and JSON assertions.
• Security posture: Apply when enforcing FormRequest validation, policy authorization, and safe query practices.

1. Project Setup & Architecture

Starter Kits

For new projects, prefer using the official Laravel 12 starter kits which now feature improved defaults:

• Frontend: Use the React, Vue, or Livewire starter kits which now integrate Inertia 2.0, TypeScript, Shadcn/UI, and Tailwind CSS out of the box.
• Authentication: Consider the WorkOS AuthKit variant included in starter kits for robust social auth, passkeys, and SSO support if building SaaS or enterprise apps.