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Installation and routing

Create a project, learn the Artisan commands you will actually run, and define routes that stay readable.

Installation and the Artisan workflow

Laravel is a Composer package, so a project is a directory with a manifest and an artisan console at its root. PHP 8.2 or newer is required by current releases.

# create a project with Composer
composer create-project laravel/laravel example-app
cd example-app

php artisan serve          # http://127.0.0.1:8000
php artisan about          # versions, drivers and environment summary
php artisan route:list     # every registered route and its action
php artisan migrate        # apply pending database migrations
php artisan tinker         # REPL with the framework booted
CommandPurpose
php artisan serveRun the local development server
php artisan route:listShow routes with URI, name, action and middleware
php artisan make:model Post -mcrModel plus migration, controller and resource routes
php artisan migrateApply pending migrations
php artisan db:seedRun database seeders
php artisan optimize:clearClear config, route, view and application caches
php artisan testRun the Pest or PHPUnit suite
💡
Laravel caches configuration and routes. When an edit to .env or a config file appears to have no effect, run php artisan optimize:clear — that one command explains most cases of the framework seeming to ignore you.

Routing

<?php
// routes/web.php
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;
use App\Http\Controllers\PostController;

Route::get('/', fn () => view('welcome'));

Route::middleware(['auth'])->group(function () {
    Route::resource('posts', PostController::class);

    Route::get('/dashboard', [PostController::class, 'index'])
        ->name('dashboard');
});

// parameters and constraints
Route::get('/users/{user}', [UserController::class, 'show'])
    ->whereNumber('user');
  • Routes live in routes/web.php (session, cookies, CSRF protection) or routes/api.php (stateless, prefixed with /api).
  • Route::resource registers the seven RESTful actions and their names in one declaration.
  • Name routes and generate URLs with route('posts.show', $post) so a path change touches one file instead of every template.
  • Route model binding resolves {post} to a Post instance by primary key, and returns 404 automatically when no row matches.
  • Group middleware, prefixes and domains rather than repeating the same chain on every route.

FAQ

web.php or api.php?
Web routes get the session, cookies and CSRF protection and render views. API routes are stateless and rate-limited by default, which is what a JSON client wants.
Why do I get a 419 page expired error?
The CSRF token is missing or stale on a state-changing request. Include @csrf in the Blade form, or send the X-XSRF-TOKEN header from JavaScript.

Controllers, Blade views and Eloquent models Migrations and validation

Last refreshed 2026-09-18.