Getting Started

Treat it as a template, not a dependency. Despite the vendor/package name, a Laravel starter kit is scaffolding you copy once, not something you composer require into an existing app. Expect to install it with something along the lines of:

laravel new my-admin --using=lvntrdev/laravel-starter-kit
# or, more likely given the stack:
git clone https://github.com/lvntrdev/laravel-starter-kit my-admin
cd my-admin && composer install && npm install
cp .env.example .env && php artisan key:generate
php artisan migrate --seed && npm run dev

Read the README first, then walk the request path in this order — it tells you more than any docs:

routes/web.php (and any routes/auth.php / admin route file) — where the Inertia responses are wired.
app/Http/Middleware/HandleInertiaRequests.php — the shared props (auth user, flash messages, menu) that every Vue page receives. This is the single most important file for understanding the app's contract with the frontend.
resources/js/app.js (or app.ts) — Inertia + PrimeVue plugin registration, theme preset, and the page resolver glob.
resources/js/Layouts/ and resources/js/Pages/ — the shell (sidebar, topbar, breadcrumbs) and a representative CRUD page.
resources/css/app.css — Tailwind 4 configuration lives here as @theme / @source directives, not in a tailwind.config.js.

First use case: pick a small domain model — say Project with name, status, owner — and add a full admin CRUD screen end to end. You'll touch a migration, a model, a policy, a controller returning Inertia::render('Projects/Index', [...]), and two Vue pages (Index.vue, Form.vue). Doing this once surfaces every convention the kit expects: prop shape, flash-message handling, validation error display, and how navigation entries are registered.

Before writing feature code, verify the toolchain actually boots on your machine. Laravel 13, Inertia v3, PrimeVue 4 and Tailwind 4 are all recent majors; a stale Node or PHP version is the most common reason a fresh clone fails at npm run build.

Implementation Patterns

Controller → Inertia page, with typed props. Keep controllers thin and return exactly the props the page declares. A conventional index action:

public function index(Request $request)
{
    return Inertia::render('Projects/Index', [
        'projects' => ProjectResource::collection(
            Project::query()
                ->when($request->string('search'), fn ($q, $s) => $q->where('name', 'like', "%{$s}%"))
                ->latest()
                ->paginate(15)
                ->withQueryString()
        ),
        'filters' => $request->only('search'),
    ]);
}

withQueryString() matters — Inertia's client-side navigation preserves query state, and pagination links break without it.

Follow the kit's form convention rather than inventing one. Starter kits that ship PrimeVue usually pair useForm from @inertiajs/vue3 with PrimeVue inputs. The pattern worth standardizing on:

const form = useForm({ name: '', status: 'draft', owner_id: null })

const submit = () => form.post(route('projects.store'), {
  onSuccess: () => form.reset(),
})

Bind :invalid="!!form.errors.name" and render form.errors.name beneath the field. Because PrimeVue components are not native inputs, v-model on them is fine but you lose browser validation — rely on server-side rules plus FormRequest classes.

Register new screens in the navigation in one place. Menu definition is typically a shared prop or a static array in the layout. Add the entry there so the sidebar, breadcrumbs and permission checks stay in sync; don't hardcode links into individual pages.

Layer authorization at three levels. Policies for row-level access ($this->authorize('update', $project)), a can map passed as a prop or exposed via shared props for UI affordances (hide the delete button), and route middleware for coarse gates. Never let the Vue v-if be your only check — the Inertia endpoint is a plain HTTP route.

Expose capabilities, not raw users. When adding role/permission support, send auth.user.permissions as an array in HandleInertiaRequests and use a small useCan() composable. Sending the full User model with relations leaks columns and bloats every response.

Reuse the table/dialog wrappers. If the kit wraps DataTable or Dialog in resources/js/Components/, extend those rather than importing PrimeVue directly in pages. That keeps a single place to change density, empty states, and confirm-delete behaviour across the panel.

Use PrimeVue's preset for theming and Tailwind for layout. PrimeVue 4 ships a design-token preset (@primevue/themes); Tailwind 4 reads design tokens from @theme in CSS. Define brand colours once in the CSS @theme block, then reference the same values in the PrimeVue preset so buttons and utility classes don't drift apart.

Deploys: npm run build must run in CI. Inertia pages are Vite entries — there's no CDN fallback, and the manifest is required at runtime in production.

Gotchas and Tips

You own the code forever. There is no composer update path to pull upstream fixes. Record the commit you scaffolded from and keep a UPSTREAM.md noting it; when you want upstream changes, diff manually. With 11 stars and zero dependents, treat upstream as a one-time gift, not a maintained dependency.
Bleeding-edge majors compound. Laravel 13 + Inertia v3 + PrimeVue 4 + Tailwind 4 means four ecosystems where third-party tutorials, plugins and Stack Overflow answers are often for the previous major. When something breaks, read the changelog for that specific version rather than searching — and pin exact versions in package.json so a fresh npm install months later doesn't silently move you.
Tailwind 4 has no tailwind.config.js. Custom colours, fonts and breakpoints belong in @theme inside resources/css/app.css. Copying a Tailwind 3 config from a blog post will be silently ignored. Same for @source — content paths must be declared in CSS or classes in Vue files get purged.
PrimeVue 4 theme switching is not a Tailwind dark-mode toggle. PrimeVue tracks its own dark-mode selector; if the kit's theme switcher looks broken, check whether it's toggling the dark class Tailwind expects versus the selector in the PrimeVue config. Align both or you get half-dark UIs.
Inertia prop shape changes are breaking. Renaming a prop in a controller without updating the page yields an undefined render, not an error. Keep controllers and pages next to each other in review; type the props with a defineProps interface to catch this at build time.
Shared props run on every request. Anything in HandleInertiaRequests::share() that hits the database turns into an N+1 across the whole panel. Cache menu/permission lookups, and remember shared props also execute during partial reloads.
Debugging tools: Laravel Telescope for query and prop inspection, the Vue Devtools "Inertia" tab for prop diffs and page history, and php artisan route:list when a link 404s because the route name differs from route('...').
php artisan inertia:start-ssr is optional and fragile in early-stage kits. If SSR is configured but not running, the pages still render client-side; don't spend an afternoon debugging a blank page that's just a missing manifest.
Extension points worth using: publish/replace the layout rather than editing vendor-adjacent components, register new Inertia middleware for locale or impersonation, and add a Resources/js/Pages/{Domain} folder convention early so the panel doesn't collapse into a flat Pages/ directory at fifty screens.
Sanity-check the license and PHP/Node requirements before committing. MIT is permissive and safe, but an unmaintained starter kit means any security patching for the framework underneath is yours.

Laravel Starter Kit Laravel Package

Getting Started

Implementation Patterns

Gotchas and Tips