Laravel News 2024 Recap

I've hand-picked some of the biggest stories at Laravel News in 2024. This year was massive, with our new Laravel Creator Spotlight series and huge announcements from Laravel like Laravel Cloud, Inertia.js 2.0, an official Laravel VS Code extension, and more!

Let's take a look at the highlights of each month in 2024:

#January: Laravel Scout Adds Typesense

In January, we Dove into the Streamlined Directory Structure in Laravel 11. Part of the Laravel 11 release was slimming down folders and files that were not necessary on a fresh installation of Laravel. Instead, folders and files were created as needed when you generated an event listener, console command, etc.

Runners up:

• Laravel Scout Adds Typesense, A Lightening-fast Open-source Search
• My Sublime Text Setup in 2024 for Web Development

#February: Laravel Reverb

In February, we saw the launch of Laravel Reverb, a new first-party WebSocket server for Laravel applications that brings real-time communication between client and server.

Runners up:

• Herd 1.4.0 is now out with a pro version and Windows in the works
• Six Essential Plugins for Visual Studio Code

#March: Laravel 11

Laravel 11 was released on March 12, 2024, as the next major release of Laravel.

Laravel 11 included some excellent additions to the framework, including:

• Streamlined Directory Structure: Simplified application structure by removing unnecessary files and directories.
• Model Casts as Methods: Allows dynamic and flexible casting logic by defining casts as methods instead of properties.
• New Dumpable Trait: Provides dd and dump methods directly within classes for easier debugging.
• New /up Health Route: A built-in health check endpoint that triggers a DiagnosingHealthEvent.
• APP_KEY Rotation: Supports graceful rotation of the APP_KEY without breaking existing encrypted data.
• Slimmed Default Migrations: Consolidated and simplified migrations, reducing files and removing date prefixes.
• Eager Load Limit: Limits the number of eager-loaded relationships to improve query performance.
• PHP 8.2 Minimum Requirement: Laravel 11 now requires PHP 8.2 or higher.
• New Welcome Page: An updated default welcome page for new Laravel applications.
• And more...

Runners up:

• The Evolution of the Laravel Welcome Page
• Laravel Herd releases v1.5.0 with new services. No more Docker, DBNGIN, or even homebrew!

#April: PHP 8.4 Property Hooks Passes RFC Vote

In April the upcoming PHP 8.4 release got hot with Property Hooks Becoming a Reality in PHP 8.4. Property hooks provide two hooks to override the default set and get behavior of a property.

class User implements Named
{
    private bool $isModified = false;
 
    public function __construct(
        private string $first,
        private string $last
    ) {}
 
    public string $fullName {
        // Override the "read" action with arbitrary logic.
        get => $this->first . " " . $this->last;
 
        // Override the "write" action with arbitrary logic.
        set {
            [$this->first, $this->last] = explode(' ', $value, 2);
            $this->isModified = true;
        }
    }
}

Runners up:

• Event sourcing in Laravel with the Verbs package
• Creating Your Own PHP Helpers in a Laravel Project
• PhpStorm 2024.1 Is Released With an Integrated Terminal, Local AI Code Completion, and More

#May: Statamic 5

Statamic 5 was released in May 2024, which focuses on performance improvements, developer experience, and continued modernization of the code base.

• Laravel 11 support
• Dropped support for Laravel 9 and PHP 8.0. * Sites can be managed in the control panel.
• Approved sites may use offline license validation.
• Laravel Reverb support
• Ability to fake SQL queries for the Stache.
• Ability to install first-party addons using install:eloquent-driver, install:ssg, and install:collaboration commands.
• And more...

Runners up:

• FrankenPHP Support in Laravel Octane is Out of Beta
• Statamic 5 is released!

#June: The Ultimate Guide to Laravel Validation

In June, Ashley Allen wrote The Ultimate Guide to Laravel Validation, which walks through everything you need to know to get started with and be productive with Validation in Laravel applications.

• Purpose of Validation: Ensures data meets specific criteria to enhance security and data integrity.
• Validation Methods: Laravel supports manual validation with the Validator facade and form request validation for cleaner controllers.
• Built-in Validation Rules: These include common rules like required, unique, max, and regex for various scenarios.
• Custom Validation Rules: Allows developers to create unique rules for specific application needs.
• Testing Validation Logic: Testing validation rules ensure reliability and prevent issues with invalid data.
• Client-Side vs. Server-Side: Server-side validation is crucial for security, as client-side checks can be bypassed.

Runners up:

• Behind the Code: A Discussion with Backend Experts including Taylor Otwell
• Running a Single Test, Skipping Tests, and Other Tips and Tricks

#July: Laravel Creator Spotlight

Eric Barnes started the Laravel Creator Spotlight podcast and YouTube series, featuring interviews with creators making cool things in Laravel. The first Creator Spotlight interview was on July 28, featuring Matt Stenson, creator of the Laravel Advanced String Package.

Runners up:

• A guide to Laravel's model events
• API Versioning in Laravel 11

#August: Laracon US 2024

Laracon US 2024 had a host of exciting announcements coming to Laravel. Highlights from Taylor Otwell's Laracon US Keynote 2024 summarizes some of the key announcements:

• Official Laravel VS Code Extension
• Laravel 11 open-source updates
  • Model chaperone
  • Concurrency facade
  • Defer helper
  • Container attributes
• Laravel Inertia v2.0
• Laravel Cloud

Runners up:

• Everything We Know about Pest 3
• The Laracon US 2024 Keynote by Taylor Otwell is Now Available

#September: Pest 3 Released

We caught our first glimpse of Pest 3 during Laracon US, and then Pest 3 was released soon after in September. Pest 3 brought the ambitious mutation testing feature, architecture presets, and more:

• Mutation Testing: An innovative new technique that introduces small changes to your code to see if your tests catch them.
• Arch Presets: A set of predefined rules for testing your application's architecture.
• New Configuration API: A new configuration API that is more intuitive and easier to use.
• More Architectural Testing Improvements: New expectations, @pest-arch-ignore-line, and more.
• And Much More...: Constants in Type Coverage, static analysis improvements, and more.

Runners up:

• Laravel raises a $57 million Series A from Accel
• Creator Spotlight with Ben Holmen: Building Connections and Friendships through Pair Programming with Strangers

#October: Laravel Prism

In October, TJ Miller released the initial version of Laravel Prism and AI package for Laravel. Prism provides a seamless interface for AI providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Ollama, with a clean, expressive syntax.

Runners up:

• Split Log Levels Between Stdout and Stderr With Laravel
• Always Render API Exceptions as JSON in Laravel

#November: PHP 8.4

In November, PHP 8.4 was released with Property Hooks, Class Instantiation without extra parenthesis, and more. PHP 8 just gets better and better with each annual release, and this year was no exception:

• Array Find Functions: New functions like array_find(), array_find_key(), array_any(), and array_all() make searching and evaluating arrays more efficient.
• Property Hooks: Streamlined getter and setter logic through property hooks simplifies managing property access in classes.
• Improved Instantiation: Classes can now be instantiated without parentheses when directly accessing methods or properties, enhancing readability.
• New DateTimeImmutable Feature: A createFromTimestamp() method allows easier creation of immutable date objects.
• And more...

My favorite PHP 8.4 feature is class instantiation without extra parenthesis:

// Before
(new Request())->withMethod('GET')->withUri('/hello-world');
 
// PHP 8.4
new Request()->withMethod('GET')->withUri('/hello-world');

Runners up:

• Laravel Nightwatch
• PHPStan 2.0 is Here

#December: Laravel VS Code and Inertia.js 2.0

Announced in August at Laracon US 2024, we saw the release of Laravel VS Code Extension Public Beta in December! It is free to download as a public beta, including auto-complete, navigation links, hover information, and more:

• Intelligent Auto-completion: Offers context-aware suggestions for app bindings, configuration settings, environment variables, routes, middleware, translations, validations, and views, streamlining code writing.
• Direct Navigation Links: Enables quick access to definitions of bindings, configurations, environment variables, routes, middleware, translations, and views, facilitating efficient code navigation.
• Real-time Diagnostics and Warnings: Identifies missing bindings, assets, configurations, environment variables, routes, middleware, translations, and views, providing immediate feedback to prevent errors.
• Hover Information: Displays detailed information when hovering over various elements, aiding in understanding code context without leaving the editor.
• Blade Syntax Highlighting: Enhances readability of Blade templates through improved syntax highlighting, making it easier to work with Laravel's templating engine.

Also in December, Inertia 2.0 was released, with asynchronous requests, deferred props, prefetching, polling, and more.

Runners up:

• Working With URIs in Laravel
• HydePHP is a Laravel-powered Static Site Generator
• Get Xdebug Working With Docker and PHP 8.4 in One Minute

#Looking Forward to Laravel in 2025

Laravel News has published a ton of Laravel content this year to help you stay up to date with the latest news in the Laravel community. We have a lot of exciting content planned for Laravel News in 2025! Join the Laravel Newsletter, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow along on social media to stay up to date on everything Laravel.

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Lastly, thank you, the Laravel News readers, watchers, and listeners! We appreciate your support!