How Do I Start a New Laravel Project?

This guide explains step by step how to start a Laravel project, including installing PHP, Composer, and creating the app on Linux, macOS and Windows.

If you want to start a Laravel project, you need a few essential tools installed: PHP, Composer and a local web server. Below are the detailed steps for Windows, Linux and macOS.

1. Checking and installing PHP

Laravel requires PHP 8 or higher.

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install php php-cli php-mbstring php-xml php-bcmath php-curl php-zip unzip curl
php -v

macOS (using Homebrew)

brew update
brew install php
php -v

Windows

Download official PHP.
Add PHP to the PATH environment variable.
Check in Command Prompt: php -v

2. Installing Composer

Composer is the PHP package manager used by Laravel.

Linux/macOS

curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer
composer -V

Windows

Download Composer-Setup.exe and follow the instructions.
Check in Command Prompt: composer -V

3. Installing the Laravel Installer

You can use either the Laravel Installer or Composer's Create-Project.

Global Laravel Installer

composer global require laravel/installer
# Make sure ~/.composer/vendor/bin (Linux/macOS) or %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Composer\vendor\bin (Windows) is in PATH
laravel -V

4. Creating a new project

Using the Laravel Installer

laravel new project-name

Using Composer Create-Project

composer create-project laravel/laravel project-name

This creates a project-name folder with the full Laravel structure.

5. Starting the local server

In the project directory:

cd project-name
php artisan serve

Then open http://127.0.0.1:8000 in your browser.

6. Additional configuration

Check the .env file for the database settings.
Make sure you have the required PHP extensions installed.
You can use Laravel Valet (macOS) or Laravel Homestead for more complex environments.

You now have a working Laravel project and can start building your application.