Weave Code
Scout Apm Laravel Laravel Package
scoutapp/scout-apm-laravel
Scout APM for Laravel provides easy performance monitoring for your applications, automatically tracking slow queries, memory usage, and exceptions. Get insights into bottlenecks with detailed transaction traces and alerts to keep your app fast.
ScoutAPM PHP Agent for the Laravel Framework
Frequently asked questions about Scout Apm Laravel
- What is Scout APM for Laravel and what does it actually track?
- Scout APM for Laravel (scoutapp/scout-apm-laravel) is the Laravel integration for the Scout APM PHP agent. It instruments your application to automatically capture slow database queries, memory usage, throughput, and exceptions. Each request or job is recorded as a transaction trace so you can see exactly where time is spent in a bottleneck. It is an observability dependency rather than a framework component, so it sits alongside your app with low architectural coupling.
- How do I install scoutapp/scout-apm-laravel in a Laravel application?
- Install it with Composer as a normal dependency, then provide your Scout APM key and environment configuration through your .env file. Because the package is a Laravel service-provider-based integration, registration is typically automatic through package discovery. After installing, run your test suite and confirm traces appear in the Scout dashboard before rolling to production. Keep the lock file committed so the resolved agent version is reproducible across environments.
- Does Scout APM support Laravel 11?
- Yes. Release 2.5.0 widened Composer compatibility to include Laravel 11, which removes a previous adoption blocker for teams standardizing on newer Laravel versions. That said, the release notes are compatibility-focused, so verify that Laravel 11 execution paths such as new bootstrap patterns, Octane, queues, and console commands produce accurate traces in a non-production environment. Do not assume full runtime coverage purely from the widened Composer constraint.
- What PHP and Laravel version constraints does scoutapp/scout-apm-laravel require?
- The exact constraints are defined in the package's composer.json and should be checked against your application before upgrading. Release 2.5.0 specifically extends Laravel compatibility to version 11, but the full support matrix, including minimum PHP versions and any agent version requirements, is best confirmed from the vendor documentation. If Composer reports a conflict, run composer why-not scoutapp/scout-apm-laravel to see which transitive dependency is blocking resolution.
- Will Scout APM slow down my Laravel application in production?
- Any APM instrumentation adds some runtime overhead plus an external telemetry dependency, so it is not free. The practical impact depends on sampling configuration, agent resource usage, and how much of your workload is instrumented. Validate throughput and latency in a staging or canary environment at realistic load before promoting. If overhead is a concern, tune sampling rather than removing observability entirely.
- Does Scout APM instrument queue workers, console commands, and Laravel Octane?
- Queue workers and console commands run outside the normal HTTP request lifecycle, so they need separate validation rather than assuming request tracing covers them. For Laravel 11 and Octane specifically, the release notes do not confirm runtime coverage, so test those execution paths explicitly in staging. Confirm that background job traces and scheduled task instrumentation appear correctly in the dashboard. Silent gaps in worker or console tracing are one of the main risks after a framework upgrade.
- What happens if the Scout APM agent cannot reach the service or the network is down?
- Scout APM sends telemetry to an external service, so an unreachable endpoint means lost traces rather than application failures. The package is designed as a monitoring sidecar, but you should still confirm behavior for your version and configuration instead of assuming graceful degradation. Always keep traditional logging and a second monitoring source in place as a fallback. If telemetry loss would blind your incident response, test the offline scenario before relying on Scout alone.
- How do I configure Scout APM in a Laravel application?
- Configuration is environment-based, typically using a Scout key, a monitoring flag, and the application name set through your .env file. That keeps credentials out of source control and lets you disable instrumentation in local or CI environments. Most Laravel teams need only minimal configuration beyond the key, with tuning limited to sampling and agent options. Store the key as a secret in each environment and rotate it like any other credential.
- Is upgrading to scoutapp/scout-apm-laravel 2.5.0 a breaking change?
- No. Version 2.5.0 is a minor feature release whose only notable change is extending Composer compatibility to Laravel 11. There are no reported breaking changes, issue fixes, or required migrations. Upgrade by updating the constraint to ^2.5, refreshing the lock file, and running your test suite. The main residual risk is dependency resolution or instrumentation gaps after a framework upgrade, not an API change.
- How does Scout APM compare to alternatives, and is the package actively maintained?
- Scout APM competes with hosted and open-source options such as Laravel Telescope for local debugging, New Relic, Datadog, and Sentry for broader observability. Scout's differentiator is lightweight transaction tracing focused on slow queries and bottlenecks rather than full log aggregation. The Laravel package is vendor-maintained and receives targeted compatibility releases, though recent changes have come through small community pull requests. For production-critical monitoring, check the documented support policy and release cadence before standardizing on it.
Weaver
How can I help you explore Laravel packages today?