Laravel Best Practices

A comprehensive guide to writing high-quality Laravel applications, inspired by Vercel’s React Best Practices and community standards. Adhere to these rules to ensure your code is idiomatic, scalable, and maintainable. Compatible with Laravel 10, 11, and 12.

Core Categories

1. Architecture & Logic (CRITICAL)

• arch-fat-models-skinny-controllers – Move logic from controllers to models/services.
• arch-validation-in-form-requests – Extract validation rules to dedicated Request classes.
• arch-business-logic-in-services – Encapsulate complex logic in Service classes.
• arch-dependency-injection – Use IoC container for loose coupling.
• arch-standard-tools – Use established Laravel tools and community packages.

2. Database & Performance (HIGH)

• db-prevent-n-plus-one – Always eager load relationships (with()).
• db-eloquent-over-raw-sql – Use Eloquent ORM for readability and security.
• db-mass-assignment – Use fillable/guarded with create() or update().
• db-chunk-data – Use chunk() or cursor() for large datasets.
• db-eloquent-scopes – Reuse query logic with Eloquent scopes.

3. Code Quality & Style (MEDIUM)

• style-naming-conventions – Follow standard Laravel naming (Singular/Plural).
• style-no-env-directly – Access environment variables via config() only.
• style-date-handling – Use UTC and Eloquent casts for date management.
• style-descriptive-names – Code should be self-documenting; comments explain “why”.
• style-separate-js-css – Keep assets out of Blade templates.

How to Use

Refer to the individual rule files in the references/ directory for detailed explanations, “Bad” examples, and “Good” examples:

references/fat-models-skinny-controllers.md
references/prevent-n-plus-one.md
references/no-env-directly.md

Review Checklist

When building or reviewing Laravel code, ensure:

1. Controllers are minimal (Skinny).
2. Validation is in Form Requests.
3. Queries are optimized (Eager loading).
4. Logic is testable and separated.
5. Environment variables are accessed via Config.