<laravel-boost-guidelines> === foundation rules ===

Laravel Boost Guidelines

The Laravel Boost guidelines are specifically curated by Laravel maintainers for this application. These guidelines should be followed closely to enhance the user's satisfaction building Laravel applications.

Foundational Context

This application is a Laravel application and its main Laravel ecosystems package & versions are below. You are an expert with them all. Ensure you abide by these specific packages & versions.

• php - 8.3.28
• laravel/framework (LARAVEL) - v12
• laravel/nightwatch (NIGHTWATCH) - v1
• laravel/prompts (PROMPTS) - v0
• laravel/sanctum (SANCTUM) - v4
• laravel/scout (SCOUT) - v10
• laravel/socialite (SOCIALITE) - v5
• larastan/larastan (LARASTAN) - v3
• laravel/mcp (MCP) - v0
• phpunit/phpunit (PHPUNIT) - v11
• vue (VUE) - v3
• eslint (ESLINT) - v9
• laravel-echo (ECHO) - v2
• tailwindcss (TAILWINDCSS) - v3

Conventions

• You must follow all existing code conventions used in this application. When creating or editing a file, check sibling files for the correct structure, approach, and naming.
• Use descriptive names for variables and methods. For example, isRegisteredForDiscounts, not discount().
• Check for existing components to reuse before writing a new one.

Verification Scripts

• Do not create verification scripts or tinker when tests cover that functionality and prove it works. Unit and feature tests are more important.

Application Structure & Architecture

• Stick to existing directory structure; don't create new base folders without approval.
• Do not change the application's dependencies without approval.

Frontend Bundling

• If the user doesn't see a frontend change reflected in the UI, it could mean they need to run vp build, vp dev, or composer run dev. Ask them.

Replies

• Be concise in your explanations - focus on what's important rather than explaining obvious details.

Documentation Files

• You must only create documentation files if explicitly requested by the user.

=== boost rules ===

Laravel Boost

• Laravel Boost is an MCP server that comes with powerful tools designed specifically for this application. Use them.

Artisan

• Use the list-artisan-commands tool when you need to call an Artisan command to double-check the available parameters.

URLs

• Whenever you share a project URL with the user, you should use the get-absolute-url tool to ensure you're using the correct scheme, domain/IP, and port.

Tinker / Debugging

• You should use the tinker tool when you need to execute PHP to debug code or query Eloquent models directly.
• Use the database-query tool when you only need to read from the database.

Reading Browser Logs With the browser-logs Tool

• You can read browser logs, errors, and exceptions using the browser-logs tool from Boost.
• Only recent browser logs will be useful - ignore old logs.

Searching Documentation (Critically Important)

• Boost comes with a powerful search-docs tool you should use before any other approaches when dealing with Laravel or Laravel ecosystem packages. This tool automatically passes a list of installed packages and their versions to the remote Boost API, so it returns only version-specific documentation for the user's circumstance. You should pass an array of packages to filter on if you know you need docs for particular packages.
• The search-docs tool is perfect for all Laravel-related packages, including Laravel, Inertia, Livewire, Filament, Tailwind, Pest, Nova, Nightwatch, etc.
• You must use this tool to search for Laravel ecosystem documentation before falling back to other approaches.
• Search the documentation before making code changes to ensure we are taking the correct approach.
• Use multiple, broad, simple, topic-based queries to start. For example: ['rate limiting', 'routing rate limiting', 'routing'].
• Do not add package names to queries; package information is already shared. For example, use test resource table, not filament 4 test resource table.

Available Search Syntax

• You can and should pass multiple queries at once. The most relevant results will be returned first.

1. Simple Word Searches with auto-stemming - query=authentication - finds 'authenticate' and 'auth'.
2. Multiple Words (AND Logic) - query=rate limit - finds knowledge containing both "rate" AND "limit".
3. Quoted Phrases (Exact Position) - query="infinite scroll" - words must be adjacent and in that order.
4. Mixed Queries - query=middleware "rate limit" - "middleware" AND exact phrase "rate limit".
5. Multiple Queries - queries=["authentication", "middleware"] - ANY of these terms.

=== php rules ===

PHP

• Always use curly braces for control structures, even if it has one line.

Constructors

• Use PHP 8 constructor property promotion in __construct().
  • <code-snippet>public function __construct(public GitHub $github) { }</code-snippet>
• Do not allow empty __construct() methods with zero parameters unless the constructor is private.

Type Declarations

• Always use explicit return type declarations for methods and functions.
• Use appropriate PHP type hints for method parameters.

<code-snippet name="Explicit Return Types and Method Params" lang="php"> protected function isAccessible(User $user, ?string $path = null): bool { ... } </code-snippet>

Comments

• Prefer PHPDoc blocks over inline comments. Never use comments within the code itself unless there is something very complex going on.

PHPDoc Blocks

• Add useful array shape type definitions for arrays when appropriate.

Enums

• Typically, keys in an Enum should be TitleCase. For example: FavoritePerson, BestLake, Monthly.

=== tests rules ===

Test Enforcement

• Every change must be programmatically tested. Write a new test or update an existing test, then run the affected tests to make sure they pass.
• Run the minimum number of tests needed to ensure code quality and speed. Use php artisan test --compact with a specific filename or filter.

=== laravel/core rules ===

Do Things the Laravel Way

• Use php artisan make: commands to create new files (i.e. migrations, controllers, models, etc.). You can list available Artisan commands using the list-artisan-commands tool.
• If you're creating a generic PHP class, use php artisan make:class.
• Pass --no-interaction to all Artisan commands to ensure they work without user input. You should also pass the correct --options to ensure correct behavior.

Database

• Always use proper Eloquent relationship methods with return type hints. Prefer relationship methods over raw queries or manual joins.
• Use Eloquent models and relationships before suggesting raw database queries.
• Avoid DB::; prefer Model::query(). Generate code that leverages Laravel's ORM capabilities rather than bypassing them.
• Generate code that prevents N+1 query problems by using eager loading.
• Use Laravel's query builder for very complex database operations.

Model Creation

• When creating new models, create useful factories and seeders for them too. Ask the user if they need any other things, using list-artisan-commands to check the available options to php artisan make:model.

APIs & Eloquent Resources

• For APIs, default to using Eloquent API Resources and API versioning unless existing API routes do not, then you should follow existing application convention.

Controllers & Validation

• Always create Form Request classes for validation rather than inline validation in controllers. Include both validation rules and custom error messages.
• Check sibling Form Requests to see if the application uses array or string based validation rules.

Queues

• Use queued jobs for time-consuming operations with the ShouldQueue interface.

Authentication & Authorization

• Use Laravel's built-in authentication and authorization features (gates, policies, Sanctum, etc.).

URL Generation

• When generating links to other pages, prefer named routes and the route() function.

Configuration

• Use environment variables only in configuration files - never use the env() function directly outside of config files. Always use config('app.name'), not env('APP_NAME').

Testing

• When creating models for tests, use the factories for the models. Check if the factory has custom states that can be used before manually setting up the model.
• Faker: Use methods such as $this->faker->word() or fake()->randomDigit(). Follow existing conventions whether to use $this->faker or fake().
• When creating tests, make use of php artisan make:test [options] {name} to create a feature test, and pass --unit to create a unit test. Most tests should be feature tests.

Vite Error

• If you receive an "Illuminate\Foundation\ViteException: Unable to locate file in Vite manifest" error, you can run vp build or ask the user to run vp dev or composer run dev.

=== laravel/v12 rules ===

Laravel 12

• Use the search-docs tool to get version-specific documentation.
• Since Laravel 11, Laravel has a new streamlined file structure which this project uses.

Laravel 12 Structure

• In Laravel 12, middleware are no longer registered in app/Http/Kernel.php.
• Middleware are configured declaratively in bootstrap/app.php using Application::configure()->withMiddleware().
• bootstrap/app.php is the file to register middleware, exceptions, and routing files.
• bootstrap/providers.php contains application specific service providers.
• The app\Console\Kernel.php file no longer exists; use bootstrap/app.php or routes/console.php for console configuration.
• Console commands in app/Console/Commands/ are automatically available and do not require manual registration.

Database

• When modifying a column, the migration must include all of the attributes that were previously defined on the column. Otherwise, they will be dropped and lost.
• Laravel 12 allows limiting eagerly loaded records natively, without external packages: $query->latest()->limit(10);.

Models

• Casts can and likely should be set in a casts() method on a model rather than the $casts property. Follow existing conventions from other models.

=== phpunit/core rules ===

PHPUnit

• This application uses PHPUnit for testing. All tests must be written as PHPUnit classes. Use php artisan make:test --phpunit {name} to create a new test.
• If you see a test using "Pest", convert it to PHPUnit.
• Every time a test has been updated, run that singular test.
• When the tests relating to your feature are passing, ask the user if they would like to also run the entire test suite to make sure everything is still passing.
• Tests should test all of the happy paths, failure paths, and weird paths.
• You must not remove any tests or test files from the tests directory without approval. These are not temporary or helper files; these are core to the application.

Running Tests

• Run the minimal number of tests, using an appropriate filter, before finalizing.
• To run all tests: php artisan test --compact.
• To run all tests in a file: php artisan test --compact tests/Feature/ExampleTest.php.
• To filter on a particular test name: php artisan test --compact --filter=testName (recommended after making a change to a related file).

=== tailwindcss/core rules ===

Tailwind CSS

• Use Tailwind CSS classes to style HTML; check and use existing Tailwind conventions within the project before writing your own.
• Offer to extract repeated patterns into components that match the project's conventions (i.e. Blade, JSX, Vue, etc.).
• Think through class placement, order, priority, and defaults. Remove redundant classes, add classes to parent or child carefully to limit repetition, and group elements logically.
• You can use the search-docs tool to get exact examples from the official documentation when needed.

Spacing

• When listing items, use gap utilities for spacing; don't use margins.

<code-snippet name="Valid Flex Gap Spacing Example" lang="html"> <div class="flex gap-8"> <div>Superior</div> <div>Michigan</div> <div>Erie</div> </div> </code-snippet>

Dark Mode

• If existing pages and components support dark mode, new pages and components must support dark mode in a similar way, typically using dark:.

=== tailwindcss/v3 rules ===

Tailwind CSS 3

• Always use Tailwind CSS v3; verify you're using only classes supported by this version.

</laravel-boost-guidelines>