Development of web applications and services on Laravel

Introduction

Laravel is one of the most popular and powerful PHP frameworks designed for fast, secure and scalable web application development. With its expressive syntax, built-in tools, and wide ecosystem, Laravel has become the choice of thousands of developers and companies around the world.

This article is a detailed guide to developing web applications and services on Laravel, from architecture design to deployment and support.

Why Laravel?

Advantages of the framework:

• Clean and expressive syntax
  
  

• Powerful routing system
  
  

• ORM Eloquent
  
  

• Migrations and sidings
  
  

• Modular architecture
  
  

• Integration with the frontend
  
  

• Safety
  
  

• Ecosystem
  
  

The stages of developing web applications on Laravel

1. Architecture planning and design

Before writing the code, it is important:

• Define the project objectives

• Design business logic and user scenarios

• Draw up technical requirements (terms of reference)

• Choose an architectural style (monolith, microservice, REST API, etc.)

• Prepare the database structure

An example of architectural solutions:

• REST API with JWT authorization and SPA on the frontend

• Multi-level Role System (RBAC)

• Separate services for payment, analytics, and notifications

2. Initialization of the project

composer create-project laravel/laravel my-project

.env

• Connecting to the database

• Mail Server

• The application key

• Queues, cache, logging

3. Data modeling using Eloquent ORM

An example of a model and migration:

php artisan make:model Post -m

// database/migrations/xxxx_xx_xx_create_posts_table.php Schema::create('posts', function (Blueprint $table) { $table->id(); $table->string('title'); $table->text('content'); $table->timestamps(); });

php artisan migrate

Working with the model:

Post::create(['title'=> 'New article', 'content'=> 'Text...']);

4. Creating a REST API

Route::apiResource('posts', PostController::class);

The controller:

php artisan make:controller PostController --api

Validation, authorization, and JSON return:

public function store(Request $request) { $validated=$request->validate([ 'title'=> 'required|max:255', 'content'=> 'required', ]); $post=Post::create($validated); return response()->json($post, 201); }

5. Authentication and authorization

Laravel offers:

• Laravel Breeze

• Jetstream

• Sanctuary

• Passport

The Sanctum example:

composer require laravel/sanctuary php artisan vendor: publish provid provider="Laravel\Sanctum \ SanctumServiceProvider" php artist migrate

api.php

Route::middleware('auth:sanctum')->get('/user', function (Request $request) { return $request->user(); });

6. Queues, events, notifications

For asynchronous tasks:

php artisan queue:work

Example of a message sending queue:

php artisan make:job SendWelcomeEmail

dispatch(new SendWelcomeEmail($user));

7. Testing

Laravel has built-in PHPUnit and HTTP testing.:

public function test_post_creation() { $response=$this->postJson('/api/posts', [ 'title'=> 'Test', 'content'=> 'Text', ]); $response->assertStatus(201); }

8. Deployment

• Laravel Forge — deployment automation

• Docker / Laravel Sail for local development

• CI/CD (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI)

• php artisan optimize

• Caching configuration and routes

Laravel as a Backend service

Laravel is great for:

• Microservice architecture

• Backend for Frontend

• GraphQL API

• Integration with mobile applications

• Webhook and API aggregators

Common mistakes and tips

Laravel as a platform for SaaS and B2B

Laravel is suitable not only for MVP, but also for:

• CRM systems

• SaaS platforms

• Internal B2B tools

• ERP subsystems

• eCommerce platforms

Laravel Spark, Cashier, Jetstream, Horizon, Nova greatly simplify the launch of SaaS.

Conclusion

Laravel is not just a framework, but a full—fledged ecosystem for developing web services of any complexity. It brings together the best of the PHP world, is inspired by modern practices, and provides tools that allow you to focus on business logic rather than on "wheels."

If you are looking for a reliable, flexible and scalable development platform, Laravel is one of the best choices.

Are you interested in Laravel for your own project or do you want to speed up the launch of SaaS?