Creating a New Laravel Project

With PHP, Composer, and a database ready, creating a new Laravel project takes only a couple of commands. Laravel offers two common approaches, and both produce the exact same underlying application structure.

Creating via Composer

Composer can scaffold a new Laravel project directly using its create-project command, downloading the latest stable release along with all required dependencies. This is the most universal method, since it works anywhere Composer is installed.

Creating via the Laravel Installer

Alternatively, Laravel provides its own global installer tool. Once installed via Composer, it offers a slightly faster workflow with interactive prompts for choosing a starter kit, testing framework, and database.

What Happens After Scaffolding

• A complete folder structure is generated, following Laravel's conventions
• A fresh .env file is created with a unique application key
• Default routes, a welcome view, and starter configuration are included
• The project is immediately runnable using the built-in Artisan server

A newly created project already includes Artisan, Laravel's command-line tool — and knowing the common Artisan commands is the fastest way to become productive in a new codebase.