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Lesson 3 of 50 – Creating Your First Laravel Project
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Creating Your First Laravel Project

In this lesson, you will create a Laravel application, explore its main files and folders, start the development server, and build your first working page.

1. Check Your Development Environment

Before creating a Laravel project, make sure PHP and Composer are installed correctly.

Check PHP:

php -v

Check Composer:

composer --version

Check the available PHP extensions:

php -m

If any command fails, verify your installation and PATH settings. Also confirm that your PHP version satisfies the requirements of the Laravel release you intend to install.

You can use Command Prompt or PowerShell on Windows, or a terminal on Linux and macOS.

2. Create a Laravel Project

Open your terminal in the directory where you want to store your application.

Run the following command:

composer create-project laravel/laravel student-app

This command creates a new Laravel project in a folder named student-app and installs its dependencies.

Move into the project folder:

cd student-app

Open the project in Visual Studio Code:

code .

The code . command requires the VS Code command-line tool to be available in your PATH.

Composer normally installs the latest compatible Laravel release when no version constraint is specified. Installation time depends on your internet connection and computer.

3. Understand the Project Structure

Laravel automatically creates the main directories and configuration files for your application. 

student-app/
|
|-- app/
|   |-- Http/
|   |   |-- Controllers/
|   |-- Models/
|
|-- bootstrap/
|-- config/
|-- database/
|-- public/
|-- resources/
|   |-- views/
|
|-- routes/
|   |-- web.php
|   |-- console.php
|
|-- storage/
|-- tests/
|-- vendor/
|
|-- .env
|-- artisan
|-- composer.json
|-- composer.lock

Important directories:

  • app/ — application classes and business logic.
  • app/Http/Controllers/ — HTTP controllers.
  • app/Models/ — Eloquent models.
  • resources/views/ — Blade view templates.
  • routes/web.php — web route definitions.
  • database/ — migrations, seeders, and factories.
  • public/ — public entry point and public assets.
  • vendor/ — Composer dependencies.

Keep database passwords and application secrets in your protected environment configuration. Do not commit your real .env file to a public repository.

4. Run Your First Laravel Application

Open the terminal inside your project directory and run: 

php artisan serve

Laravel will display a local development URL, commonly: 

http://127.0.0.1:8000

Open the URL displayed in your terminal. You should see the Laravel welcome page if the project was installed successfully.

What is Artisan?

Artisan is Laravel's command-line interface. It provides commands for running the development server, creating controllers, managing routes, running migrations, and performing other development tasks.

Check the Laravel version:

php artisan --version

Stop the development server with Ctrl + C in the terminal.

5. Create Your First Route

A route connects a URL and HTTP method to the code that handles the request.

Open routes/web.php and add this route while keeping any existing routes you need. 

<?php

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;

Route::get('/hello', function () {
    return 'Hello from my first Laravel project!';
});

Save the file and start the development server if it is not already running.

Open this URL:

http://127.0.0.1:8000/hello

Expected output:

Hello from my first Laravel project!

The Route::get() method registers a route for GET requests. Laravel matches the requested URL and runs the associated callback.

6. Create Your First Blade View

Blade is Laravel's templating engine. It helps you create reusable HTML pages.

Create a file named resources/views/welcome-student.blade.php. 

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
    <title>My First Laravel Page</title>
</head>
<body>

    <h1>Welcome to Laravel</h1>

    <p>This is my first Laravel view.</p>

</body>
</html>

Now update routes/web.php to return the view: 

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;

Route::get('/student', function () {
    return view('welcome-student');
});

Visit http://127.0.0.1:8000/student to display the page.

The view helper uses the view name without the .blade.php extension and directory path.

7. Pass Data to a Blade View

You can pass data from a route or controller to a view.

Update the route in routes/web.php:

Route::get('/student-profile', function () {
    $name = 'Rahul';
    $course = 'Laravel Development';

    return view('student-profile', [
        'name' => $name,
        'course' => $course
    ]);
});

Create resources/views/student-profile.blade.php. 

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Student Profile</title>
</head>
<body>

    <h1>Student Profile</h1>

    <p>Name: {{ $name }}</p>

    <p>Course: {{ $course }}</p>

</body>
</html>

Open http://127.0.0.1:8000/student-profile. Laravel passes the values to the Blade view, and Blade's double-brace syntax escapes output by default.

8. Useful Commands for Your First Project

Learn these commonly used commands:

Command Purpose
php artisan --version Display Laravel version.
php artisan list List available Artisan commands.
php artisan route:list Display registered routes.
php artisan make:controller StudentController Create a controller.
php artisan make:model Student Create an Eloquent model.
php artisan make:migration create_students_table Create a migration file.
php artisan serve Start the local development server.

Some commands create files, while others inspect or run parts of the application. Use php artisan list to discover commands available in your installed Laravel version.

9. Practical Assignment

Complete the following tasks to practise creating a Laravel application.

  1. Create a Laravel project named student-app.
  2. Open the project in Visual Studio Code.
  3. Start the development server.
  4. Create a /hello route.
  5. Create a Blade view named welcome-student.blade.php.
  6. Create a /student-profile route.
  7. Pass a student name and course to the view.
  8. Display the values using Blade syntax.
  9. Run php artisan route:list and find your routes.

Challenge:

Create a page that displays your institute name, student name, course name, and current learning topic. Use a Blade view to display the information.

In the next lesson, you will explore the Laravel folder structure in more detail.

🧠 Quick Quiz

1. Which command creates a new Laravel project using Composer?



2. Which file commonly contains Laravel web routes?



3. Where are Blade view files normally stored?



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