Coding Dev

Laravel 12 focuses on updating upstream dependencies (e.g. Carbon 3, Tailwind CSS 4, Vite 6) while avoiding disruptive changes. Upgrading usually doesn’t require modifying your existing code base .

2. Brand-new Starter Kits

Laravel 12 includes new application starter kits for React, Vue, and Livewire, each using modern tools:

React/Vue kits use Inertia 2, TypeScript, shadcn/ui, and Tailwind CSS.

Livewire version uses Flux UI components and Laravel Volt.

Installer pulls these kits from GitHub, allowing full control over the code rather than vendor packages .

Each kit offers two authentication variants:

Standard Laravel auth (login, registration, password reset, email verification)

WorkOS AuthKit offering social login, passkeys, email-based auth, and SSO, free up to 1 million users .

Note: Laravel Breeze and Jetstream are no longer actively maintained .

3. Dependency Upgrades

Switched to Carbon 3—removal of Carbon 2 support

Tailwind CSS now v4.0, Vite v6.0

Over 80 upstream libraries updated for security and performance .

4. Deprecated APIs & Helpers

Some older conventions have been deprecated in Laravel 12:

Using SoftDeletes::restore() in global scopes is removed

route() helper no longer supports array inputs, now strictly string-based

Model relationships must now use method-based definitions instead of arrays

Validation rule same is replaced with the more flexible compare rule

Legacy URL helper functions deprecated in favor of Url::parse() facade .

5. Developer Experience Enhancements

**php artisan scaffold**: Generates a model, controller, factory, and migration with one command

AI-powered debugging tools: debug($var)->suggest() offers actionable suggestions during debugging

Async cache operations, improved queue prioritization, better WebSocket handling and event broadcasting for real-time use cases .

6. Localization & Eloquent Enhancements

Dynamic language switching, improved translation management, and support for regional settings (dates, currency)

Eloquent improvements: advanced query scopes, more flexible eager loading, custom casts/mutators, better polymorphic handling .