Laravel Boost Development Assistant

Expert assistant for Laravel development following Laravel Boost guidelines, optimized for Laravel 12 applications with Inertia.js, Sail, and modern ecosystem packages.

Core Principles

Follow these foundational rules when working on Laravel applications:

Technology Stack Awareness

Work with these specific versions:

PHP 8.3.29

Laravel 12 with streamlined structure (no Kernel files)

Inertia.js v2 (Laravel + Vue3)

Laravel Sail v1 (Docker development environment)

Pest v3 / PHPUnit v11 for testing

Vue 3 with Tailwind CSS v4

Laravel Wayfinder v0 for type-safe routing

Code Quality Standards

1. **Follow existing conventions** - Check sibling files for structure, naming, and approach before creating new files

2. **Use descriptive names** - Variables and methods should clearly indicate purpose (e.g., `isRegisteredForDiscounts` not `discount()`)

3. **Reuse components** - Check for existing components before writing new ones

4. **Always use curly braces** for control structures, even single-line blocks

5. **No inline comments** - Prefer PHPDoc blocks; only comment very complex logic

PHP Best Practices

**Constructor Property Promotion:**

```php

public function __construct(public GitHub $github) { }

```

**Explicit Type Declarations:**

```php

protected function isAccessible(User $user, ?string $path = null): bool

{

// Implementation

}

```

**Enums:** Use TitleCase keys (e.g., `FavoritePerson`, `BestLake`, `Monthly`)

Laravel Sail (Critical)

**All commands MUST run through Sail** - this project uses Docker containers:

```bash

Start services

vendor/bin/sail up -d

Stop services

vendor/bin/sail stop

Open in browser

vendor/bin/sail open

Artisan commands

vendor/bin/sail artisan migrate

Composer

vendor/bin/sail composer install

Node/NPM

vendor/bin/sail npm run dev

PHP scripts

vendor/bin/sail php [script]

Tests

vendor/bin/sail artisan test

```

Laravel 12 Structure

**Key differences from older versions:**

No `app/Http/Middleware/` files - middleware registered in `bootstrap/app.php`

No `app/Console/Kernel.php` - use `bootstrap/app.php` or `routes/console.php`

Commands in `app/Console/Commands/` auto-register

Service providers in `bootstrap/providers.php`

**Database migrations:** When modifying columns, include ALL previous attributes or they'll be dropped

**Model casts:** Prefer `casts()` method over `$casts` property - check existing models for convention

The Laravel Way

File Generation

Use Artisan `make:` commands with `--no-interaction` flag:

```bash

vendor/bin/sail artisan make:model Post --no-interaction

vendor/bin/sail artisan make:controller PostController --no-interaction

vendor/bin/sail artisan make:migration create_posts_table --no-interaction

vendor/bin/sail artisan make:class Services/PostService --no-interaction

```

Database & Eloquent

**Always use Eloquent relationships** with return type hints

**Prefer `Model::query()`** over `DB::`

**Eager load to prevent N+1** queries

Use query builder only for very complex operations

Validation

**Always create Form Request classes** - never inline validation in controllers:

```bash

vendor/bin/sail artisan make:request StorePostRequest --no-interaction

```

Include validation rules AND custom error messages. Check sibling Form Requests for array vs. string rule convention.

Configuration

**Never use `env()` outside config files**

Always use `config('app.name')` not `env('APP_NAME')`

URL Generation

Prefer named routes: `route('posts.show', $post)` over manual URL construction

APIs

Default to Eloquent API Resources with versioning unless existing routes follow different convention

Inertia.js v2

Place components in `resources/js/Pages/` (check `vite.config.js` for custom paths)

**Server-side routing:**

```php

// routes/web.php

Route::get('/users', function () {

return Inertia::render('Users/Index', [

'users' => User::all()

]);

});

```

**V2 Features to leverage:**

Polling

Prefetching

Deferred props with skeleton loading states

Infinite scrolling with `WhenVisible`

Lazy loading on scroll

**Forms:** Use `useForm` helper - search docs with `useForm helper` query for examples

Laravel Wayfinder

Type-safe routing between Laravel backend and TypeScript frontend.

**Key patterns:**

```typescript

// Import controller methods (tree-shakable)

import { show, store } from '@/actions/App/Http/Controllers/PostController'

// Get route object

show(1) // { url: "/posts/1", method: "get" }

// Get URL only

show.url(1) // "/posts/1"

// Specific HTTP methods

show.get(1)

show.post(1)

// Query parameters

show(1, { query: { page: 2 } }) // "/posts/1?page=2"

// Merge with current query string

show(1, { mergeQuery: { page: 2, sort: null } })

// HTML form attributes

store.form() // { action: "/posts", method: "post" }

```

**After route changes:** Run `vendor/bin/sail artisan wayfinder:generate` if Vite plugin isn't installed

Testing (Mandatory)

**Every change must have tests.** Write new tests or update existing ones, then run them:

```bash

Run specific test file

vendor/bin/sail artisan test tests/Feature/PostTest.php

Run with filter

vendor/bin/sail artisan test --filter=test_user_can_create_post

```

**Most tests should be feature tests** - use `--unit` flag only for unit tests

**Use model factories** - check for custom states before manual setup

**Faker:** Follow existing convention for `$this->faker` vs `fake()`

Run minimum tests needed for speed and focus

Frontend Bundling

If UI changes don't appear, the user may need to run:

```bash

vendor/bin/sail npm run build

or

vendor/bin/sail npm run dev

or

vendor/bin/sail composer run dev

```

Ask if changes aren't reflected.

Common Errors

**Vite manifest error:** Run `vendor/bin/sail npm run build` or ask user to run `vendor/bin/sail npm run dev`

Communication Style

**Be concise** - focus on what's important, skip obvious explanations

**No verification scripts** when tests already cover functionality

**Only create documentation files when explicitly requested**

Stick to existing directory structure - get approval before creating new base folders

Get approval before changing dependencies

Laravel Boost Tools (If Available)

When Laravel Boost MCP server is available, use these tools:

`list-artisan-commands` - Check available Artisan parameters before running commands

`get-absolute-url` - Get correct scheme/domain/port for project URLs

`tinker` - Execute PHP for debugging or querying Eloquent models

`database-query` - Read-only database queries

`browser-logs` - Read browser errors and exceptions (recent logs only)

`search-docs` - **Critical:** Search version-specific Laravel ecosystem documentation before coding

Documentation Search

**Always search docs before implementing features:**

```

Use multiple broad topic queries:

✓ ['rate limiting', 'routing rate limiting', 'routing']

✗ Don't include package names - they're auto-detected

Syntax:

Simple: 'authentication' (auto-stems to 'authenticate', 'auth')

Multiple words (AND): 'rate limit'

Exact phrases: '"infinite scroll"'

Mixed: 'middleware "rate limit"'

Multiple queries: ["authentication", "middleware"]

```

Pass package filter array if you know specific packages needed. The tool returns only version-specific docs for installed packages.

Laravel Boost Development Assistant

Laravel Boost Development Assistant

Core Principles

Technology Stack Awareness

Code Quality Standards

PHP Best Practices

Laravel Sail (Critical)

Start services

Stop services

Open in browser

Artisan commands

Composer

Node/NPM

PHP scripts

Tests

Laravel 12 Structure

The Laravel Way

File Generation

Database & Eloquent

Validation

Configuration

URL Generation

APIs

Inertia.js v2

Laravel Wayfinder

Testing (Mandatory)

Run specific test file

Run with filter

Frontend Bundling

or

or

Common Errors

Communication Style

Laravel Boost Tools (If Available)

Documentation Search

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