Getting Started with Laravel 11: What's New and How to Upgrade

Laravel 11 is the most opinionated framework release in years. The team stripped the default application skeleton down to its essentials, removed almost all boilerplate service providers, consolidated middleware registration, and added a default SQLite database so you can run php artisan serve and have a working app in under a minute.

1. Requirements

• PHP 8.2 minimum (PHP 8.3 recommended — it ships with typed class constants and the new json_validate() function).
• Composer 2.x
• Laravel Installer 5.x — composer global require laravel/installer

2. The New Slim Application Skeleton

• app/Http/Kernel.php is gone — middleware is now registered in bootstrap/app.php.
• app/Providers/AuthServiceProvider.php, BroadcastServiceProvider.php, EventServiceProvider.php, and RouteServiceProvider.php are all removed.
• app/Console/Kernel.php is gone — scheduled tasks are now registered directly in routes/console.php.
• app/Exceptions/Handler.php is gone — exception handling is configured in bootstrap/app.php.
• config/ files are trimmed — many config files no longer exist in a fresh install.

laravel new my-app
cd my-app
php artisan serve

3. bootstrap/app.php — The New Configuration Hub

<?php
use Illuminate\Foundation\Application;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Configuration\Exceptions;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Configuration\Middleware;

return Application::configure(basePath: dirname(__DIR__))
    ->withRouting(
        web: __DIR__.'/../routes/web.php',
        api: __DIR__.'/../routes/api.php',
        commands: __DIR__.'/../routes/console.php',
        health: '/up',
    )
    ->withMiddleware(function (Middleware $middleware) {
        $middleware->append(\App\Http\Middleware\EnsureTokenIsValid::class);
        $middleware->validateCsrfTokens(except: ['stripe/*', 'webhooks/*']);
    })
    ->withExceptions(function (Exceptions $exceptions) {
        $exceptions->render(function (\App\Exceptions\PaymentException $e, Request $request) {
            return response()->json(['error' => $e->getMessage()], 402);
        });
    })
    ->create();

4. Scheduled Tasks in routes/console.php

<?php
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schedule;

Schedule::command('emails:send')->hourly();
Schedule::call(function () {
    \App\Models\Report::generate();
})->daily()->at('00:00');

5. SQLite as the Default Database

# Run migrations immediately on a fresh project — no database setup needed
php artisan migrate

6. Per-Second Rate Limiting

RateLimiter::for('api', function (Request $request) {
    return [
        Limit::perSecond(10),
        Limit::perMinute(500)->by($request->user()?->id ?: $request->ip()),
    ];
});

7. Built-in Health Check Endpoint

Pass health: '/up' in withRouting() and Laravel automatically registers a GET /up route that returns a 200 response. Ready for AWS ALB, Kubernetes liveness probes, or UptimeRobot.

8. New Artisan Commands

php artisan make:enum OrderStatus
php artisan make:interface PaymentGateway
php artisan make:trait HasUuid
php artisan make:class Services/PaymentService

9. Step-by-Step Upgrade from Laravel 10

• Step 1 — Update composer.json: bump laravel/framework to ^11.0 and minimum PHP to ^8.2.
• Step 2 — Run composer update to pull the new framework version.
• Step 3 — Publish the new bootstrap/app.php and move your Kernel.php middleware registrations into withMiddleware().
• Step 4 — Move your Console Kernel scheduled tasks to routes/console.php using Schedule::command().
• Step 5 — Move custom exception handling to the withExceptions() block.
• Step 6 — Delete the now-unused Kernel files and old service providers.
• Step 7 — Run php artisan config:clear && cache:clear and test your routes, middleware, and scheduled commands.

composer update laravel/framework --with-all-dependencies
php artisan config:clear && php artisan cache:clear
php artisan view:clear && php artisan route:clear
php artisan migrate --force
php artisan test

10. Laravel Reverb — First-Party WebSocket Server

php artisan install:broadcasting
php artisan reverb:start