What Is Laravel and Why Use It

Laravel is a free, open-source PHP web application framework created by Taylor Otwell and first released in 2011. It follows the Model-View-Controller architectural pattern and is designed to make common web development tasks — such as routing, authentication, caching, and database interaction — simpler and more expressive. Laravel's elegant syntax allows developers to build robust applications without sacrificing clarity or maintainability. The framework ships with a rich ecosystem of first-party packages. Laravel Breeze and Laravel Jetstream handle authentication scaffolding, Laravel Horizon monitors Redis queues, Laravel Telescope provides application debugging, and Laravel Sail offers a Docker-based development environment. This ecosystem means most common requirements have well-supported, idiomatic solutions. Laravel's popularity stems from its developer-friendly tooling, comprehensive documentation, and the Artisan command-line interface that automates repetitive tasks like generating controllers, models, and migrations. Whether you are building a simple REST API or a complex multi-tenant SaaS platform, Laravel provides the structure and tools to do so productively.

Example

# Install Laravel via Composer globally
composer global require laravel/installer

# Create a new Laravel project
laravel new my-app

# OR create via Composer directly
composer create-project laravel/laravel my-app

# Move into the project directory
cd my-app

# Start the built-in development server
php artisan serve
# => Application running on http://127.0.0.1:8000

# List all available Artisan commands
php artisan list

# Display the current Laravel version
php artisan --version

# Generate a new application key (required for encryption)
php artisan key:generate

# Inspect the current environment configuration
php artisan env

# Clear all framework caches
php artisan optimize:clear

HTML

Full Editor

Related Resources

Laravel Reference

Complete tag & property list

Laravel How-To Guides

Step-by-step practical guides

Laravel Exercises

Practice what you've learned