Laravel Best Practices

Best practices for Laravel, prioritized by impact. Each rule teaches what to do and why. For exact API syntax, verify with search-docs.

Consistency First

Before applying any rule, check what the application already does. Laravel offers multiple valid approaches — the best choice is the one the codebase already uses, even if another pattern would be theoretically better. Inconsistency is worse than a suboptimal pattern.

Check sibling files, related controllers, models, or tests for established patterns. If one exists, follow it — don't introduce a second way. These rules are defaults for when no pattern exists yet, not overrides.

Quick Reference

1. Database Performance → rules/db-performance.md