- What is Laravel Splade and how does it work with Blade?
- Splade is a package from Protonemedia that adds Inertia-style SPA navigation and reactive Vue 3 components to ordinary Laravel Blade templates. You keep writing server-rendered Blade views, and Splade intercepts navigation, forms, modals and tables on the client so pages swap without full reloads. No separate API or JSON layer is needed because your existing controllers and routes still return Blade views. It is aimed at monolith CRUD dashboards and admin tooling rather than API-first products.
- How do I install Laravel Splade in an existing Laravel project?
- Install it with Composer, then run the splade:install Artisan command, which publishes the config and front-end assets and wires up the required middleware. You wrap your existing root Blade layout with Splade directives, point Vite at the Vue entry file, and run a Node build. From there you can convert individual views to Splade components incrementally instead of rewriting the whole application.
- Is protonemedia/laravel-splade still maintained?
- The repository is archived, which means no new releases, security patches, or Laravel compatibility work from upstream. Adopting it means you effectively own the dependency: upgrades, bug fixes and documentation become your team's responsibility. The MIT license lets you fork it under an internal namespace, but budget real engineering time for that fork. Check whether an active community fork exists before you commit.
- Which Laravel, PHP, Vue and Vite versions does Laravel Splade support?
- Because the repository is archived there is no maintained compatibility matrix you can rely on; the constraints in its composer.json reflect the last release, not your target versions. Run a formal audit against your Laravel and PHP versions, your Node and Vite toolchain, and the Vue 3 version your build uses. Pin the exact package version and prove the combination in CI rather than assuming it works.
- Should I use Laravel Splade instead of Inertia.js or Livewire?
- Splade sits between the two: it gives you Inertia-like SPA navigation and Vue components while you keep writing Blade, with no API or JSX pages to maintain. Livewire is the safer pick for an actively supported server-driven stack, and Inertia is better if you want a real front-end framework and a shared front-end platform standard. Given the archival, treat Splade as an accelerator or reference architecture for a Blade codebase, not a long-term strategic default.
- Can I migrate an existing Blade app to Splade incrementally?
- Yes, and this is one of Splade's stronger points: you change the root layout and middleware once, then convert screens one at a time, leaving unconverted routes as normal Blade pages. Keep route-level feature flags and a plain Blade fallback so a screen can be rolled back without a deploy. Avoid a big-bang rewrite, and measure delivery velocity, bundle size and defect rate against your current approach. A time-boxed proof of concept on one low-risk internal module is the recommended first step.
- Does Laravel Splade need a separate API or a Node build?
- No API is required, since controllers keep returning Blade views and Splade handles partial reloads and client-side transitions itself. You do still need a Node and Vite build step for the Vue 3 assets Splade ships, which is the main operational addition compared with stock Blade. Plan for that build in CI and pin your Node dependencies.
- What are the production risks of building on an archived package like Splade?
- The main risks are Laravel upgrade breakage, stale Vite and Vue integration, unpatched security issues, and undocumented edge cases discovered late in the product lifecycle. Because upstream maintenance is effectively zero, you need a named internal maintainer, dependency scanning and a documented upgrade plan before expanding usage. Pin the version, vendor or fork it under an internal namespace, and define an exit path back to Inertia, Livewire or plain Blade.
- Does Splade support SSR, SEO and accessibility requirements?
- Splade is server-driven in the sense that Blade renders the initial HTML, which is usually sufficient for SEO on content pages. Its client-side navigation and Vue components mean you must verify metadata handling, loading states and focus management for screen-reader users yourself. If your product has hard SSR, SEO or accessibility requirements, prototype those flows early or choose a stack with first-class support.
- How do I test a Laravel Splade application?
- Because controllers still return Blade views, standard PHPUnit or Pest feature tests cover most server-side behavior including validation, authorization and redirects. Add browser tests with Dusk, Playwright or Cypress for SPA navigation, modals and client-side form submission, since those happen in the browser. Run the Vite build in CI as well, and pin package versions so upgrades are deliberate rather than accidental.