🚀 Laravel 12 Installation Guide: Step-by-Step for Beginners

Laravel 12 is the latest and most powerful version of the popular PHP framework known for its elegant syntax, developer-friendly features, and robust performance. In this tutorial, we will guide you through a step-by-step Laravel 12 installation process on your local machine or server.

🛠️ Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure your system meets the following requirements:

✅ Server Requirements

PHP 8.2 or higher
Composer (latest version)
PHP Extensions:

BCMath
Ctype
Fileinfo
JSON
Mbstring
OpenSSL
PDO
Tokenizer
XML
Curl

You can verify your PHP version by running:

php -v

To check if Composer is installed:

composer -V

📥 Step 1: Install Laravel 12 Using Composer

Open your terminal and run the following command:

composer create-project laravel/laravel my-laravel-app

my-laravel-app is your project directory name. You can change it as per your project.
This command will download Laravel 12 and all its dependencies.

Laravel 12 requires Composer 2.0 or later.

📁 Step 2: Move Into Your Project Directory

cd my-laravel-app

⚙️ Step 3: Set File Permissions (Linux/macOS)

Make sure the storage/ and bootstrap/cache/ directories are writable:

chmod -R 775 storage
chmod -R 775 bootstrap/cache

🧪 Step 4: Run Laravel Development Server

Laravel comes with a built-in development server. You can start it with:

php artisan serve

This will start the server at:

http://127.0.0.1:8000

Open this URL in your browser to see your new Laravel 12 project in action!

⚡ Step 5: Configure Environment File

Laravel uses .env file to manage environment-specific settings like database credentials.

Make sure to create and configure your .env file:

cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate

Edit your .env file to set database and mail configuration:

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=your_db_name
DB_USERNAME=your_db_user
DB_PASSWORD=your_db_password

💾 Step 6: Set Up Database (Optional but Recommended)

To use Laravel with MySQL:

Create a new database in MySQL.
Configure .env file as shown above.
Run migrations:

php artisan migrate

🌐 Optional: Set Virtual Host (Apache)

If you prefer accessing Laravel via a custom domain like http://laravel.test, set up a virtual host:

Example Apache Vhost:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName laravel.test
    DocumentRoot "/path/to/my-laravel-app/public"

    <Directory "/path/to/my-laravel-app/public">
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Add entry in hosts file:

sudo nano /etc/hosts

Add this line:

127.0.0.1 laravel.test

Then restart Apache:

sudo service apache2 restart

🧩 Optional: Install Laravel Breeze (Starter Kit)

To quickly scaffold authentication:

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

✅ Laravel 12 Installation Complete!

You’re now ready to start building amazing web applications with Laravel 12!

📝 Final Checklist

Task	Status
Composer Installed	✅
Laravel 12 Created	✅
`.env` Configured	✅
Database Connected	✅
Dev Server Working	✅
Optional Features Installed	🚫/✅

📚 Useful Commands

Command	Description
`php artisan serve`	Start development server
`php artisan migrate`	Run database migrations
`php artisan make:model`	Create new Eloquent model
`php artisan make:controller`	Create a new controller
`php artisan route:list`	View registered routes

🤔 FAQs

❓ Is Laravel 12 stable?

Yes, Laravel 12 is the latest stable release with cutting-edge features and improvements.

❓ Can I upgrade from Laravel 11 to 12?

Yes, but it's recommended to follow the official upgrade guide to avoid breaking changes.

❓ Do I need Node.js?

Only if you're using Laravel Mix, Breeze, or building a frontend with Vue/React.