Package Generator Laravel Package

Product Decisions This Supports

• Accelerate internal package development: Reduces boilerplate time for Laravel package creation by 60-80%, enabling faster iteration on reusable components (e.g., auth modules, payment integrations, or domain-specific utilities).
• Standardize package structure: Enforces consistent conventions (e.g., src/, config/, tests/) across teams, reducing onboarding friction for new developers.
• Customizable templates for brand/compliance: Allows product teams to embed company-specific headers, license notices, or documentation templates (e.g., "All packages must include a CHANGELOG.md").
• Roadmap for "package-as-a-product": Supports a strategy where internal tools (e.g., analytics, reporting) are modularized into reusable packages, reducing tech debt.
• Build vs. buy: Avoids reinventing scaffolding tools (e.g., Laravel Shift, custom scripts) when the package meets 80% of needs with extensibility for the remaining 20%.

When to Consider This Package

• Adopt if:
  • Your team builds 5+ Laravel packages/year (internal or open-source).
  • You need customizable stubs (e.g., adding proprietary test templates or CI/CD config snippets).
  • Your packages require conditional generation (e.g., skipping tests for production-only packages).
  • You’re using Laravel 8+ and want to avoid maintaining a custom scaffolding tool.
• Look elsewhere if:
  • You need advanced package publishing tools (e.g., GitHub Actions integration, Satis repo generation)—consider orchestra/package or spatie/package.
  • Your team lacks PHP/Laravel expertise to customize stubs (opt for a no-code solution like Laravel Forge’s package templates).
  • You require multi-language support (e.g., TypeScript, Go)—this is PHP-only.
  • The package’s maturity is a concern (0 stars, unvetted by large teams; mitigate with internal testing).

How to Pitch It (Stakeholders)

For Executives: "This tool cuts the time to create a new Laravel package from 2–3 hours to 15 minutes by automating boilerplate. For a team building 10+ packages/year, that’s 200+ hours saved annually—time we can reinvest in core features. It also ensures consistency across packages, reducing bugs from structural drift. We’ll start with internal tools (e.g., the payment processor package) and expand to open-source if needed."

For Engineering: *"This replaces our ad-hoc make:package scripts with a maintainable, customizable solution. Key benefits:

• Extensible: Swap stubs to match our coding standards (e.g., add phpstan.neon templates).
• Conditional logic: Generate test suites only for dev packages via --with-tests.
• Future-proof: Built on Laravel’s CLI system, so it plays well with existing artisan workflows. Tradeoff: Minimal upfront cost (10 mins to validate stubs) vs. long-term savings. Let’s pilot it on the next analytics package and measure dev time saved."*

For Developers: *"No more copying/pasting composer.json or ServiceProvider files—just run:

php artisan make:package acme Analytics --with-tests

Then tweak the stubs in stubs/ to match your team’s needs. Example: Add a {{AUTHOR_EMAIL}} placeholder to every file. Zero learning curve if you’re familiar with Laravel’s CLI."*