Light Bootstrap Laravel Package

Getting Started

Minimal steps (fresh app):

composer require laravel-frontend-presets/light-bootstrap-dashboard:^1.0.6
php artisan ui light-bootstrap --auth   # Laravel 8/9/10 via laravel/presets
# older installs: php artisan preset light-bootstrap
npm install && npm run dev
php artisan migrate
php artisan serve

v1.0.6 is a compatibility release, not a feature release — the changelog line is literally "Update to Laravel 10.x branch fix". In practice that means the composer.json constraint was widened/fixed so the package installs on Laravel 10; treat everything else (stubs, asset pipeline, Bootstrap version) as unchanged until you've diffed vendor/laravel-frontend-presets/light-bootstrap-dashboard/src/ against the previous tag. Pin ^1.0.6 explicitly if you're on Laravel 10 — older tags will either fail to resolve or silently install a stale scaffold.

Still verify which command mechanism your installed tag ships before running anything: the modern build registers ui light-bootstrap through laravel/presets, while old tags assume php artisan preset light-bootstrap (Laravel 5.5–6). The wrong one silently does nothing.

The --auth flag is still the whole point: it scaffolds login, register, forgot/reset password, home, plus layouts/master and layouts/partials/* using the Light Bootstrap Dashboard markup, and wires the auth middleware onto /home.

Where to look first:

1. routes/web.php — confirm /home is behind auth and RouteServiceProvider::HOME points there. On Laravel 10, HOME lives in app/Providers/RouteServiceProvider.php exactly as before, but skeleton apps may have already customized it.
2. resources/views/layouts/master.blade.php — the shell (@yield('content'), @stack('styles'), @stack('scripts'), sidebar/navbar includes, asset calls). This is where you learn whether v1.0.6 migrated to Vite or still calls mix() — the release note gives you no answer.
3. resources/views/layouts/partials/sidebar.blade.php — this is your navigation; every real project customizes it first.
4. resources/views/home.blade.php — the demo dashboard (stat cards + Chartist widgets). This is the file you delete/replace.
5. resources/assets/js/light-bootstrap-dashboard.js and (if present) webpack.mix.js — how jQuery, Chartist, bootstrap-notify, and perfect-scrollbar get bundled. If vite.config.js is there instead, the package did more than a constraint bump.

First use case: log in, land on /home, then replace home.blade.php with one real KPI card row and one real chart fed from a controller. That exercises the layout, the asset pipeline, and the @push('scripts') hook all at once — the three things that break most often.

Implementation Patterns

Extend the master layout, don't copy it:

@extends('layouts.master')

@section('title', 'Orders')

@push('styles')
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ asset('css/orders.css') }}">
@endpush

@section('content')
  <div class="row">
    <div class="col-md-4">
      <div class="card card-stats">
        <div class="card-body">
          <div class="row">
            <div class="col-5"><div class="icon-big text-center icon-warning"><i class="nc-icon nc-bag-16"></i></div></div>
            <div class="col-7">
              <div class="numbers"><p class="card-category">Orders</p><p class="card-title">{{ number_format($orderCount) }}</p></div>
            </div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
@endsection

@push('scripts')
  <script>new Chartist.Line('#ordersChart', { labels: @json($labels), series: [@json($series)] });</script>
@endpush

Stick to the theme's vocabulary — .card, .card-stats, .card-category, .card-title, .numbers, .icon-big — instead of hand-rolled markup, otherwise spacing and typography drift immediately.

Sidebar as a config-driven partial. The shipped sidebar is hardcoded demo links. Convert it once:

@foreach (config('nav.items') as $item)
  <li class="{{ request()->routeIs($item['route'].'*') ? 'active' : '' }}">
    <a href="{{ route($item['route']) }}">
      <p><i class="{{ $item['icon'] }}"></i> {{ $item['label'] }}</p>
    </a>
  </li>
@endforeach

request()->routeIs() keeps active state correct across nested resource routes; a plain == on Route::currentRouteName() breaks on orders.show.

Flash notifications via the bundled plugin — wrap it once in a partial included from the master layout:

@if (session('status'))
  @push('scripts')
    <script>$.notify({ message: "{{ session('status') }}" }, { type: 'success', placement: { from: 'top', align: 'right' } });</script>
  @endpush
@endif

Two layouts, two purposes. Auth screens use the standalone centered layout the preset installs; authenticated pages use layouts.master (which expects .wrapper > .sidebar + .main-panel). If you build a second dashboard (admin vs. user, or a separate guard), duplicate the master into layouts/admin.blade.php with its own sidebar rather than adding conditionals inside one file.

Charts belong in @push('scripts'), not in @section('content'). Content renders before the vendor bundle in the master layout's footer, so inline chart init in the content block throws Chartist is not defined.

Customization layer. Add resources/assets/sass/_overrides.scss (or resources/css/_overrides.scss if v1.0.6 went Vite) and import it after the theme import; never edit the vendored theme SCSS, since re-running the preset overwrites it.

Routes/register toggle. For internal panels, Auth::routes(['register' => false]) — but you must then strip the "Create account" links from the shipped auth/login.blade.php, or you get a RouteNotFoundException on render.

Gotchas and Tips

• v1.0.6 is a one-line release note; verify before trusting it. "Update to Laravel 10.x branch fix" may mean nothing more than a composer.json constraint change. Before assuming Laravel 10 support is complete, check: does php artisan ui light-bootstrap --auth register? Do the stubs still reference Mix (mix('js/app.js')) while your Laravel 10 app expects Vite? Do the auth controllers use $request->validate() style or the old Validator::make()? Diff the tag against v1.0.5 in vendor/ — five minutes buys certainty.
• The preset overwrites, it does not merge. It replaces resources/views/{auth,layouts,home,welcome}, resources/assets/*, the Mix/Vite config, and package.json scripts. Commit before running, and only run it on a fresh app.
• Laravel Mix, not Vite — probably still. The 2023 build predates Vite, and a "Laravel 10 branch fix" rarely rewrites the whole asset pipeline. On Laravel 9/10 you may still have to migrate by hand: move resources/assets/js → resources/js, resources/assets/sass → resources/css, declare both in vite.config.js, and replace every {{ mix(...) }}/asset() reference in layouts/master.blade.php with @vite([...]). Budget an hour; this remains the single biggest friction point.
• The theme hard-requires a global jQuery $. In resources/js/app.js: window.$ = window.jQuery = require('jquery'); require('bootstrap'); require('chartist'); require('bootstrap-notify'); and import the theme JS last. Loading it as an ES module or with type="module" breaks $.notify, perfect-scrollbar init, and the sidebar toggle without any console error you'd recognize.
• Sidebar/mobile behaviour is tied to the .wrapper DOM. If you simplify the layout and drop .wrapper, .sidebar, .main-panel, the collapse animation and scrollbar silently stop working — the JS queries those selectors directly.
• Vendored asset paths are hardcoded ({{ asset('assets/css/...') }} or similar, depending on the tag). Once you move to hashed build output, grep the layout for asset( and fix every one; a stale path gives an unstyled page with a 404 in the network tab only.
• Fonts/icons ship as static files (Nucleo, Font Awesome, Linearicons) under public/. If .gitignore excludes built public assets on your CI deploy, icons render as empty boxes. Either commit them or copy them in a build step.
• npm run dev failures are almost always node-sass. Laravel 10 needs PHP 8.1+, and its typical toolchain (Node 18/20) has no prebuilt node-sass binary. Swap to sass (dart-sass) in package.json and update the sass() options in your Mix/Vite config; also ensure cross-env is present or NODE_ENV=development never gets set on Windows.
• Package health is still a real risk. Tiny star count, zero dependents, two sparse releases across 2023→now, and no stated Laravel 11 support. Treat it as a one-shot scaffold, not a dependency — after running the preset you own the code. Pin ^1.0.6, and consider moving it to require-dev or removing it entirely after scaffolding and committing the generated files.
• No tests ship with the preset, but it changes routing. Add one feature test asserting a guest hitting /home is redirected to /login and an authenticated user gets 200 — that catches the RouteServiceProvider::HOME misconfiguration that bites during Laravel 10 upgrades especially.
• Prune the demo payload before production. The theme ships demo images, extra chart data, and unused plugin bundles; deleting them from public/ and trimming app.js imports is usually a multi-megabyte win.
• Extension point: if you find yourself re-running the preset on every new project, fork it and edit the stubs/ directory (replace the home.blade.php stub with your own dashboard skeleton, strip demo links from the sidebar stub, and — if you've done the Vite migration — commit the Vite config into the fork). That's far cheaper than re-doing the same cleanup each time, and it insulates you from the next sparse release.