In this tutorial How to Install Laravel 11. Laravel is one of the most popular PHP frameworks, known for its elegant syntax and robust features for building web applications. Laravel 11 is the latest version, and this guide will walk you through its installation process. You Can Learn How to Add Watermark on Image Laravel 11

Prerequisites

Before you can install Laravel 11, make sure your system meets the following requirements:

1. PHP 8.2 or higher
   Laravel 11 requires PHP 8.2+ to run efficiently.
2. Composer
   Composer is the dependency manager for PHP that Laravel uses. You need to install Composer before proceeding. You can download it from the Composer website.
3. Web Server
   You can use Apache, Nginx, or any other web server. If you’re using XAMPP or LAMP, ensure it’s properly configured.
4. Database
   Laravel supports databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and SQL Server. Ensure you have one of these installed.

Step-by-Step Installation Guide

1. Step 1: Install ComposerIf you haven’t installed Composer, download and install it by following these steps:
   • On Windows, download the Composer-Setup.exe and run the installation wizard.
   • On Linux/macOS, run the following command in your terminal:

curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

Step 2: Install Laravel via Composer

Once Composer is installed, open your terminal and run the following command to create a new Laravel 11 project:

composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel:^11.0 your-project-name

Replace your-project-name with your desired project folder name. This will download Laravel 11 and install all its dependencies.

Step 3: Set Up Environment Variables

After installing Laravel, you need to configure the .env file located in the project’s root directory. This file holds the environment-specific settings such as database credentials and application keys.

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=your_database_name
DB_USERNAME=your_username
DB_PASSWORD=your_password

Replace your_database_name, your_username, and your_password with your actual database details.

Step 4: Generate the Application Key

Laravel requires an application key to be set for encryption purposes. Run the following command to generate it:

php artisan key:generate

This command will update the APP_KEY variable in the .env file with a new, randomly generated key.

Step 5: Set Permissions (For Linux/Unix Users)

You may need to set write permissions for the storage and bootstrap/cache directories:

sudo chmod -R 775 storage
sudo chmod -R 775 bootstrap/cache

Step 6: Start the Development Server

Laravel includes a built-in development server for testing. Run the following command to start it:

php artisan serve

By default, the application will be accessible at http://127.0.0.1:8000.

Step 7: Access the Application

Open your web browser and go to http://127.0.0.1:8000 or the address shown in your terminal. You should see the default Laravel 11 welcome page.

Optional Steps

1. Configure Virtual Host (For Local Development)If you want to set up a custom domain like myapp.test for local development, you need to configure your web server (e.g., Apache or Nginx) and add an entry to your /etc/hosts file (Linux/macOS) or C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts (Windows).
2. Install Frontend DependenciesLaravel 11 uses Vite as the frontend asset bundler. To install frontend dependencies like Vue.js or React.js, navigate to your project root and run:

npm install 

You can then run npm run dev to compile your assets for development.

Conclusion

You now have Laravel 11 installed and running on your system. From here, you can begin building your application by leveraging Laravel’s powerful features such as Eloquent ORM, Blade templating engine, and more. Happy coding!