- How do I install nunomaduro/laravel-starter-kit?
- You do not install it as a dependency. It is a project skeleton, so you consume it by scaffolding a new application with laravel new, composer create-project, or by cloning the repository as a template. Once scaffolded, the generated code is yours and the starter kit is no longer part of your dependency graph.
- Can I require nunomaduro/laravel-starter-kit in an existing Laravel application?
- No. The package has zero dependents because it is a golden-path baseline rather than a library, and there is nothing to require at runtime. For a brownfield app you would cherry-pick individual files such as phpstan.neon, rector.php, pint.json, the Pest bootstrap, and the CI workflows into your project one at a time. There is no upgrade path or changelog contract, so future improvements only reach you through a manual diff.
- Which PHP and Laravel versions does laravel-starter-kit require?
- The current baseline targets PHP 8.5 and Laravel 13, with the Laravel floor pinned at ^13.33.0 as of v1.9.0. The toolchain is equally current: Larastan v3, Rector v2, Pint v1, Pest v5 on PHPUnit 13, Tailwind v4, and Laravel Boost v2 with a floor of ^2.10.0. This is a bleeding-edge matrix, so check that your hosting, container base images, and CI runners support it before committing.
- What is preconfigured in the laravel-starter-kit skeleton?
- It ships a clean Laravel application with Pest for testing, Laravel Pint for code style, PHPStan via Larastan at maximum strictness, Rector v2 for automated refactoring, and GitHub Actions workflows already wired up. Tailwind v4 is included for the frontend, and Laravel Boost v2 provides MCP tooling for AI-assisted workflows. The point is to skip the usual day-one setup churn and start on domain code immediately.
- Does laravel-starter-kit include GitHub Actions CI out of the box?
- Yes. The repository ships a GitHub Actions pipeline and the v1.9.0 release notes describe CI behaviour and updated action pins, including checkout@v7, cache@v6, and upload-artifact@v7. What is less clear from the outside is whether the workflow acts as a required gate on pull requests or simply runs on push. Verify the branch protection rules in your own fork if enforcement matters to your team.
- Does launcher-starter-kit ship AI agent guidance like AGENTS.md or Cursor rules?
- Yes, and this is its main differentiator: the skeleton includes AGENTS.md and .cursor/rules files alongside the code style configuration, so machine-readable conventions travel with the repository. That means coding agents get the same instructions as human contributors instead of inferring them. Be aware the two shipped rule files currently disagree on details such as PHPUnit v13 versus v12 and npm versus bun, and v1.9.0 did not reconcile them.
- Will max-level Larastan and PHPStan slow my team down?
- It can. Maximum strictness on a real domain model produces substantial initial noise, and teams without static-analysis maturity often stall or disable the analysis entirely, which throws away the kit's main value. Plan for an onboarding period where you either fix or baseline the initial findings. If you cannot commit to that, lower the level deliberately rather than silently turning PHPStan off.
- How do I upgrade a project scaffolded with laravel-starter-kit?
- There is no composer update path, so upgrades are manual diffs against the upstream repository. The v1.9.0 release is a good example: Rector and PHPStan caches moved from system /tmp into a project-relative tmp/ directory, which matters for containerized runners with ephemeral filesystems, but you only get that fix by porting it by hand. Watch the release notes and treat each one as a small migration task rather than an automatic bump.
- Is laravel-starter-kit safe to use in production?
- The skeleton itself is a starting point, but it pulls in laravel/mcp v0 and laravel/prompts v0, which carry no backward-compatibility guarantee and are load-bearing for the Boost and agent workflow. Combined with the bleeding-edge PHP, Laravel, Pest, and PHPUnit versions, the largest adoption blocker is runtime lag on managed platforms such as Forge, Vapor, and Cloud. Pin your floors deliberately and test the toolchain in CI before rolling it out to a team.
- How does laravel-starter-kit compare to the default Laravel skeleton, and is it maintained?
- The official laravel/laravel skeleton is deliberately bare, while this kit is opinionated and adds Pest, Pint, PHPStan, Rector, Tailwind, CI, and agent rules in one shot. Alternatives include Laravel Breeze or Jetstream if you want authentication scaffolding, or building your own internal baseline from the default skeleton. Maintenance looks healthy, with an active release cadence and v1.9.0 as a maintenance release, though roughly 883 stars and zero dependents means strong interest but thin evidence of large-scale production use.