Daily Laravel Tips Archive | Mastering Laravel

No one likes a passing test when the actual logic is wrong. Here's how to make sure your view assertions are actually testing what you think they are.

2023-09-14

Local history in PHPStorm

If you already have git, why would you use the local history feature in PHPStorm?

2023-09-13

Be careful when using assertViewHas with null

Laravel's assertViewHas method doesn't work for null values. Here's how to test for them.

2023-09-12

When to pull in top-level dependencies

If Laravel already requires a package, is there ever a reason to install it into your project directly?

2023-09-11

Use GitHub issue templates to save time

Having a template not only makes issue creation easier, but also more consistent.

2023-09-08

What if every Composer package had a fee?

An interesting thought experiment that might influence how many packages you pull into your project.

2023-09-07

How to override PHPStorm file types

PHPStorm allows you to override the file type, giving you different syntax highlighting and auto-complete prompts.

2023-09-06

When might you render a Blade template inline?

This isn't a feature I reach for frequently, but it's good to know it exists. Here is one use case where we found it quite handy.

2023-09-05

How to make a bug fix way more valuable

Fixing bugs is important, but by taking just a little more time you can make your app much more resilient

2023-09-04

Don't explicitly install dependencies if you don't need to

Pay attention to the dependencies Laravel or other packages are already bringing in. You may be pinning them to an older version without realizing it.

2023-09-01

Take time to make things better

Look for opportunities to make things just a little bit nicer than you found them.

2023-08-31

Tools should work for you, not boss you around

Ever have a day where you're "fixing the squiggles" in your editor and feel like the code got worse? Let's talk about how to avoid that.

2023-08-30

Try not to make things worse

You know those parts of a codebase that feel "not great"? Be mindful to not further entrench those bad decisions.

2023-08-29

Are fast queries always good?

I mean, yeah! Right? Well, there's more to the story...

2023-08-28

Clean up dead git branch references automatically

When you merge a branch in GitHub, the reference to it is still in your local repo. How can you clean those up automatically?

2023-08-25

A scenario using events and observers together

Sometimes it's useful to pair events and observers together. Let's look at one real-world example.

2023-08-24

When should you use events and observers?

Laravel events and observers seem to do very similar things. So when would you use one over the other?

2023-08-23

How do you know if something is slow in production?

The tools we used for finding slow code in development are not suitable for production. So how can we find slow code there?

2023-08-22

Something slow? It's probably the database.

The absolute number one cause of slow code is the database. Laravel makes fixing some of the common issues very easy.

2023-08-21

How do you know something is slow?

The first step in making your app faster is knowing what is slow. How do you figure that out?

2023-08-18

What if you need a value that's random AND unique?

Sometimes we need random data that is ALSO unique. How can you generate that in Laravel?

2023-08-17

Harness that post-conference excitement

New features! New packages! New techniques! How can we harness that excitement when we get back to work a conference?

2023-08-16

Learn to love code review

Code review feedback might make us feel defensive, but if you approach it with the right attitude it can become something you value.

2023-08-15

Find out what's slow BEFORE you deploy to prod

The earlier you find an issue, the better! How can we improve our chances of finding slow code before it reaches production?

2023-08-14

Sometimes Eloquent can make a query slower

Eloquent improves developer efficiency, but in some cases it can make a query less efficient. Let's look at one example and how to fix it.

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Daily Tips Archive

Always use a branch

Not all test assertions treat enums the same

An unhelpful error message with enums and assertJson

January, 2025

Stripping down a new command

More effective use of documentation

Thinking about a problem from a different angle

Thinking about uniqueness in factories

Examining test layering in multi-tenant requests

Mocking policy logic in a test

When would you use recycle?

An even better way to handle conditional notifications

Changing the default browser in PHPStorm

Reusing language keys within a file

Don't just write the API spec, validate it too

Stick with dashes in HTTP headers

How you return early matters inside listeners

Ordering by a relationship in Eloquent

When to step out of Eloquent's comfort zone

Letting the code sit a while before refactoring

Treat feature access as data, not code

Using events and listeners to handle conditional notifications

How would you handle an event with dynamic listeners?

How do I know if this package is good?

Does listener order matter?

Don't forget about DB queries when auditing model changes

Take a moment to reflect periodically

December, 2024

Don't let one-time commands stick around forever

Feature flags: Temporary tool or permanent solution?

What is the monetary value of testing?

Better types on route parameters

Why didn't tests save me?

Be careful about duplicating events

When to use first versus firstWhere in collections

The importance of resisting complexity

Seeing the route list in definition order

How do fallback routes work

Another way to get config values

Deciding when to use a new piece of technology

Step debugging in GitHub Actions

Understand multi-line commands in GitHub Actions

Why is this GitHub Action running on the wrong branch?

Eliminate redundant defaults in your PHPUnit configuration

Why we like stopOnFailure in our test suite

Which collation and character set should I pick?

Tests can show code that will break in the future

Debugging a segmentation fault

Some quirks about using Docker in Gitlab pipelines

Taking liberties with value objects

November, 2024

Feature flags are meant to be temporary

Sometimes it's okay to do it the hard way

Where should that business logic go?

When would you use an enum?

Limit the number of feature flag checks

When would I use a feature flag?

How do strict types work if only enabled in some files?

Have one GitHub Action trigger another

How are duplicate routes resolved?

How to deal with things outside your control

More flexible assertions for mock calls

Make PHPStorm aware of your custom Blade directives

How can you make sure the environment is configured correctly?

Another reason to like named routes

Get rid of the squiggles

What about the action helper?

Always use named routes

Don't forget this when writing mock assertions

Should we use a JSON field for this?

Connecting to a git repo through a SOCKS proxy

October, 2024

Connecting to a git repo through an SSH tunnel

Where should you put extra config values?

Export all routes to a spreadsheet

Make it easier to debug GitHub Actions

Not all databases run migrations the same

A good use for `mergeIfMissing`