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 - 8.2.12
inertiajs/inertia-laravel (INERTIA) - v2
laravel/framework (LARAVEL) - v12
laravel/prompts (PROMPTS) - v0
laravel/telescope (TELESCOPE) - v5
tightenco/ziggy (ZIGGY) - v2
laravel/mcp (MCP) - v0
laravel/pint (PINT) - v1
laravel/sail (SAIL) - v1
phpunit/phpunit (PHPUNIT) - v11
@inertiajs/react (INERTIA) - v2
react (REACT) - v19
tailwindcss (TAILWINDCSS) - v4
eslint (ESLINT) - v9
prettier (PRETTIER) - 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, 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 npm run build, npm run 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. This tool automatically passes a list of installed packages and their versions to the remote Boost API, so it returns only version-specific documentation specific 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.
Simple Word Searches with auto-stemming - query=authentication - finds 'authenticate' and 'auth'
Multiple Words (AND Logic) - query=rate limit - finds knowledge containing both "rate" AND "limit"
Quoted Phrases (Exact Position) - query="infinite scroll" - Words must be adjacent and in that order
Prefer PHPDoc blocks over 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.
=== inertia-laravel/core rules ===
Inertia Core
Inertia.js components should be placed in the resources/js/Pages directory unless specified differently in the JS bundler (vite.config.js).
Use Inertia::render() for server-side routing instead of traditional Blade views.
Use search-docs for accurate guidance on all things Inertia.
// routes/web.php example
Route::get('/users', function () {
return Inertia::render('Users/Index', [
'users' => User::all()
]);
});
=== inertia-laravel/v2 rules ===
Inertia v2
Make use of all Inertia features from v1 & v2. Check the documentation before making any changes to ensure we are taking the correct approach.
Inertia v2 New Features
Polling
Prefetching
Deferred props
Infinite scrolling using merging props and WhenVisible
Lazy loading data on scroll
Deferred Props & Empty States
When using deferred props on the frontend, you should add a nice empty state with pulsing / animated skeleton.
Inertia Form General Guidance
Build forms using the useForm helper. Use the code examples and search-docs tool with a query of useForm helper for guidance.
=== 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 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 npm run build or ask the user to run npm run 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
No middleware files in app/Http/Middleware/.
bootstrap/app.php is the file to register middleware, exceptions, and routing files.
bootstrap/providers.php contains application specific service providers.
No app\Console\Kernel.php - use bootstrap/app.php or routes/console.php for console configuration.
Commands auto-register - files 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 11 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.
=== pint/core rules ===
Laravel Pint Code Formatter
You must run vendor/bin/pint --dirty before finalizing changes to ensure your code matches the project's expected style.
Do not run vendor/bin/pint --test, simply run vendor/bin/pint to fix any formatting issues.
=== phpunit/core rules ===
PHPUnit Core
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.
To run all tests in a file: php artisan test tests/Feature/ExampleTest.php.
To filter on a particular test name: php artisan test --filter=testName (recommended after making a change to a related file).
=== inertia-react/core rules ===
Inertia + React
Use router.visit() or <Link> for navigation instead of traditional links.
function submit(e) {
e.preventDefault()
post('/login')
}
return (
)
=== tailwindcss/core rules ===
Tailwind Core
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, 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.
Superior
Michigan
Erie
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/v4 rules ===
Tailwind 4
Always use Tailwind CSS v4 - do not use the deprecated utilities.
corePlugins is not supported in Tailwind v4.
In Tailwind v4, you import Tailwind using a regular CSS @import statement, not using the @tailwind directives used in v3: