Fila Starter Laravel Package

Getting Started

raugadh/fila-starter is a starter kit rather than a runtime library — you consume it once to scaffold an application (Filament-based admin panel + auth), then own the generated code.

1. Confirm your platform first. v4.1.0 bumps the package to Laravel 13, which carries a higher PHP floor (8.3+) and a fresh dependency set. Check composer.json in the tagged release for the exact illuminate/* and php constraints before touching an existing app — this is the single most important gate on upgrading.
2. Install into a throwaway directory first. If the kit ships a skeleton, use composer create-project raugadh/fila-starter:^4.1 my-app; if it's a package, composer require raugadh/fila-starter:^4.1 in a scratch Laravel 13 app. Compare what it writes before committing to your real repo.
3. Publish and inspect everything. Run the package's publish command (vendor:publish --provider=... or the documented tag) and read the published config/, migrations, and panel provider. Anything you can publish is code you can own and version.
4. First use case: boot the panel (/admin or whatever the provider registers), create a user via the provided seeder/command, log in, and generate one Filament resource against a real table. That single loop — authenticate, list, create, edit — exercises 90% of what the kit gives you.

Where to look first, in order: the release diff (v4.0.1...v4.1.0), the package's composer.json, the service provider's register()/boot(), any published config file, and the README's upgrade notes. If the diff is genuinely only a Laravel 13 + dependency bump as the notes suggest, there is nothing new to learn — the work is all compatibility verification.

Implementation Patterns

Treat it as a template, not a dependency. The highest-leverage pattern with starter kits: run the scaffold into a repo you own, then delete the require line. You get the boilerplate without carrying an upgrade obligation for every Laravel major. Reserve composer require for when you actually want the package's runtime services (providers, commands, panel registration) shared across multiple apps.

Fork-and-pin for multi-app shops. If you stand up several admin panels from this kit, keep a private fork pinned by tag. v4.1.0 is a cheap upgrade to test in isolation; a fork lets you cherry-pick the Laravel 13 bump without adopting any future opinionated changes in one go.

Upgrade matrix. Because v4.1.0 is a platform bump, structure the work as a matrix: app on Laravel 12 + kit 4.0.1 → stay put. App ready for Laravel 13 → kit 4.1.0. Anything in between runs both kits in separate branches and diffs the generated output. Do not attempt a partial bump.

CI-first verification. Add a matrix job (php: 8.3, 8.4 × laravel: ^13.0) that runs composer update --prefer-lowest, migrations against SQLite and your production driver, and a smoke test that hits the panel route. Starter kits break silently on minor Laravel changes far more often than on their own majors.

Override, don't patch. Customize panel behaviour through the published config and by extending the generated Resources/Pages in app/, never by editing vendor/. Keep a short UPGRADING.md in your repo listing every file the kit generated, so the next platform bump is a checklist rather than an archaeology exercise.

Integration tip — Filament version coupling. Whatever Filament major the kit targets, pin it explicitly in your composer.json ("filament/filament": "^X.0") so a transitive resolve can't drift your admin UI underneath you when Laravel 13 point releases land.

Gotchas and Tips

• v4.1.0 has no migration guide. The notes are a PR merge, a Laravel 13 bump, and "dependencies updated" — that is the whole changelog. Read the actual diff before upgrading; dependency sweeps routinely pull in transitive majors (Flysystem, Symfony components, Carbon) that a one-line summary hides.
• Ecosystem lag is the real risk, not the kit. Laravel 13 is new; third-party packages you rely on may not have shipped compatible releases. Run composer why-not laravel/framework ^13.0 across your dependency tree before adopting — it names the exact blocker package faster than any other method.
• Pin the kit's minor. "raugadh/fila-starter": "4.1.*" rather than ^4.1 if you want to review the next dependency sweep deliberately; ^4.1 will silently absorb it.
• PHP floor in CI. Bumping Laravel 13 locally while CI still images PHP 8.2 produces failures that look like kit bugs. Update platform.php in composer.json and the CI image in the same commit.
• Debugging scaffold output: if routes 404 after install, check the panel provider is registered in bootstrap/providers.php (Laravel 11+ style) and that php artisan filament:upgrade / asset publish ran. Starter kits frequently assume a publish step that a require alone doesn't trigger.
• Migrations on existing data. A starter kit's migrations are written for a greenfield DB. On an existing app, review each one for destructive column changes before running; never migrate:fresh outside a scratch environment.
• Extension points: the published config file and the panel provider's fluent chain (->path(), ->login(), ->colors(), ->discoverResources()) are the supported customization surfaces. Anything you reach for outside those — subclassing internals, overriding vendor views — is where upgrades hurt.
• If you're not ready for Laravel 13, do nothing. Staying on 4.0.1 is a supported position; nothing in these notes suggests a security fix. There is no reason to force the jump mid-sprint.