Laravel 12 has landed, bringing exciting new features, performance improvements, and breaking changes. If you’re maintaining a Laravel 10 or older application and planning to upgrade, this guide will help you transition smoothly without breaking your existing codebase.
🧭 Why Upgrade to Laravel 12?
Laravel 12 introduces several improvements:
- PHP 8.2+ requirement
- Native typed enums in route model binding
- Improved Eloquent performance
- Slimmed-down default application skeleton
- Updated job batching and queue handling
- Security updates and deprecations removed
Let’s walk through how to upgrade your Laravel application to version 12.
✅ Step 1: Check Your Current Laravel Version
First, confirm your existing Laravel version:
If you’re on Laravel 10 or 11, the upgrade process is more straightforward. If you’re still on Laravel 9 or earlier, you’ll need to gradually upgrade to Laravel 10 first due to breaking changes in intermediate versions.
🧱 Step 2: Review Laravel 12 Upgrade Guide
Always start by reviewing the official Laravel Upgrade Guide for any version-specific notes and breaking changes. Pay special attention to:
- Removed functionality
- Changed method signatures
- Package compatibility
🛠 Step 3: Update composer.json
You should update the following dependencies in your application’s composer.json file:
📦 Step 4: Run composer update
After modifying your composer.json, run:
Make sure there are no dependency conflicts. If any packages are not compatible with Laravel 12, check for updated versions or alternatives.
🔍 Step 5: Check for Deprecated or Removed Features
Review the changelog or run a deprecation scan using tools like:
Static analyzers like phpstan or larastan
Common breaking changes:
- Middleware behavior changes
- Changed method names (e.g., Carbon::now() usage)
- Blade directives updates
- Event dispatching logic
🧪 Step 6: Run Tests
If your project has test coverage (you do have tests, right? 😉), now’s the time to run them:
Or use PHPUnit:
Make sure to fix any failed tests caused by API changes or deprecated features.
🌐 Step 7: Update Frontend Dependencies (Optional)
If you’re using Laravel Mix or Vite, update the relevant packages in package.json. Also update Node, npm, and any front-end frameworks you rely on:
🔄 Step 8: Test the App Thoroughly
Manually test your app and ensure all major workflows work as expected:
- Authentication
- CRUD operations
- Jobs, queues, events
- API responses
- Scheduled tasks
🚀 Final Thoughts
Upgrading to Laravel 12 ensures your application remains secure, maintainable, and up-to-date with modern PHP practices. Although upgrades can be intimidating, following the official docs and breaking changes will help you avoid surprises.
If you’re dealing with a legacy app, consider using tools like Laravel Shift to automate some upgrade steps.
💬 What’s Your Experience?
Have you already upgraded to Laravel 12? What challenges did you face? Share your experience in the comments — and don’t forget to give this post a 👏 if it helped!
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