- What is awcodes/jump-start and what problem does it solve?
- Jump Start is a custom Laravel starter kit that scaffolds new projects with opinionated defaults, so you spend less time wiring up boilerplate and more time building features. Instead of adding runtime functionality to your app, it gives you a clean foundation with a preconfigured quality toolchain and hardened CI. It is published under the awcodes vendor namespace and is aimed at developers who want a quick, consistent starting point for greenfield Laravel work.
- What PHP and Laravel versions does Jump Start v2 support?
- Version 2.0.0 requires PHP 8.4 and pulls in Pest 5 with PHPUnit 13 plus Pint 1.30 or newer. Laravel framework support is defined by the package's Composer constraints, so check those against the Laravel version you plan to use before scaffolding. There is no supported path for PHP 8.3 applications on v2, so projects still on 8.3 must upgrade their runtime first.
- How do I install awcodes/jump-start and get a project running?
- Install it the way you would any Laravel starter kit, typically by creating a new project from the package with Composer using the documented create-project or installer flow in the README. After scaffolding, run composer install and npm ci so the PHP and Node toolchains are both in place. Then execute the quality gates, usually starting with composer test, to confirm the project is healthy before you write any feature code.
- Is Jump Start a runtime dependency or just a starter template?
- Jump Start is a scaffold, not a runtime library, so production architecture coupling is low. In most setups you generate a project from it once and your deployed application never loads the package at runtime. If you also reuse its CI templates, treat that as tooling configuration rather than an application dependency, and keep runner images current with its PHP baseline.
- Do I need Node and npm to use Jump Start?
- Yes. Jump Start v2 uses a Node toolchain with prettier, prettier-plugin-blade, and prettier-plugin-tailwindcss to format Blade templates and sort Tailwind classes. Node and npm are dev-only dependencies, but they are mandatory for the formatting path, so npm ci must run before composer test. Teams that skip the Node install will see the Blade formatting and Tailwind class sorting steps fail.
- Which quality tools does Jump Start configure out of the box?
- Jump Start ships with an opinionated stack built around Pest 5 for testing, Pint 1.30 or newer for PHP and Blade formatting, PHPStan for static analysis, and Rector for automated refactoring. Prettier with the Blade and Tailwind plugins handles template formatting and class sorting. CI workflows tie these together with dependency caching and SHA-pinned actions so the gates behave consistently across environments.
- Can I use Jump Start v2 on an existing Laravel project running PHP 8.3?
- No. The v2 baseline is PHP 8.4 only, so an in-place upgrade on PHP 8.3 is not viable. The recommended path is to branch, raise the PHP runtime to 8.4 in both developer environments and CI, update Composer constraints, run composer update, run npm ci, then execute all quality gates. Pilot on a greenfield or low-risk project first and hold PHP 8.3 projects until the platform upgrade is funded and scheduled.
- How does Jump Start harden CI and supply chain security?
- Jump Start's CI uses SHA-pinned GitHub Actions and cached Composer and npm installs, which reduces drift and protects against tag-moving supply chain attacks. The v2 dependency refresh also cleared three high and two critical npm advisories, which is a material security improvement over earlier setups. Someone on the team still needs to own periodic SHA updates and cache configuration so the pins do not go stale.
- How much work is the Pest 5 and PHPUnit 13 migration in Jump Start?
- Pest 5 sits on top of PHPUnit 13, so existing Pest 4 conventions, plugins, and custom expectations should be validated rather than assumed compatible. Expect test migration effort alongside the PHP 8.4 runtime bump, and budget time for failures that only surface in CI. Running the full gate suite on a sandbox project first is the cheapest way to size the work before touching active repositories.
- Is Jump Start a good alternative to Laravel Breeze, Jetstream, or a plain starter kit?
- Jump Start is not an authentication or UI kit like Breeze or Jetstream; it focuses on project scaffolding, code quality tooling, and CI defaults. Choose it if you want Pest, Pint, PHPStan, Rector, and hardened workflows wired up from day one rather than assembling them yourself. If you need ready-made auth screens or a minimal skeleton, Laravel's own starter kits may fit better, and you can still layer Jump Start's quality configuration on top.