Getting Started with Laravel 11 — A Comprehensive Guide

April 15, 2026 · 8 min read

Laravel 11 PHP Eloquent Blade Composer

Introduction

Laravel 11 marks a significant evolution in the PHP ecosystem. Released with a simplified directory structure, a streamlined bootstrap process, and the removal of several legacy abstractions, it is the most refined version of Laravel to date. Whether you're a seasoned PHP developer or entirely new to the framework, this guide will walk you through everything you need to build your first Laravel 11 application.

What's New in Laravel 11

Laravel 11 introduces several quality-of-life improvements. The Http/Kernel and Console/Kernel classes have been removed — middleware and scheduled tasks are now configured directly via bootstrap/app.php. The directory structure is flatter, with fewer generated files and a cleaner routes/ directory. API routes are now optional and installed via a single Artisan command. The framework also ships with a lighter default skeleton, making new projects faster to scaffold.

Installation via Composer

Before installing Laravel 11, ensure your server meets the minimum requirements: PHP 8.2 or higher, and the usual PHP extensions (BCMath, Ctype, JSON, Mbstring, OpenSSL, PDO, Tokenizer, XML). Install Laravel globally via Composer:

composer create-project laravel/laravel my-app

This command scaffolds a fresh Laravel 11 project with the new simplified structure. Navigate into the project directory and start the development server:

cd my-app
php artisan serve

Your application will be available at http://localhost:8000.

Routing, Controllers, and Views

Routes are defined in routes/web.php. In Laravel 11, the default route file returns a welcome view. Here's a basic example of defining a route that points to a controller:

use App\Http\Controllers\PageController;

Route::get('/about', [PageController::class, 'about']);

Generate the controller using Artisan:

php artisan make:controller PageController

Blade Templating Basics

Blade is Laravel's powerful templating engine. It supports layout inheritance, components, and includes. Create a layout file in resources/views/layouts/app.blade.php:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>@yield('title')</title>
</head>
<body>
    @yield('content')
</body>
</html>

Then extend this layout in your page views:

@extends('layouts.app')

@section('title', 'About Us')

@section('content')
    <h1>About Us</h1>
    <p>Welcome to our Laravel 11 application.</p>
@endsection

Eloquent ORM Overview

Eloquent is Laravel's Active Record implementation. Each database table has a corresponding Model that interacts with that table. Create a model with a migration:

php artisan make:model Post -m

Define your schema in the generated migration file, then run migrations:

php artisan migrate

Eloquent makes it easy to define relationships — one-to-many, belongs-to, many-to-many — and query your data with a fluent, expressive syntax.

Artisan CLI Basics

Artisan is the command-line interface for Laravel. Beyond make commands, you'll frequently use php artisan serve, php artisan migrate, php artisan tinker (an interactive REPL), and php artisan cache:clear. Run php artisan list to see all available commands.

Authentication with Laravel Breeze

Laravel Breeze provides minimal, simple authentication scaffolding. Install it with:

composer require laravel/breeze --dev
php artisan breeze:install
php artisan migrate
npm install && npm run dev

Breeze scaffolds login, registration, password reset, and email verification — all with Blade views and Tailwind CSS styling.

Conclusion

Laravel 11 is an excellent choice for modern PHP development. Its clean API, rich ecosystem (Forge, Vapor, Nova, Cashier), and strong community support make it suitable for projects of any scale. Start with a simple blog or CRUD application, and gradually explore advanced features like queues, broadcasting, and Livewire. The official Laravel documentation is comprehensive and well-maintained — keep it bookmarked.

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