Unlock Laravel 12 Power: Step-by-Step Upgrade Guide for All Versions

Laravel 12 has landed, bringing exciting new features, performance improvements, and breaking changes. If you’re maintaining a Laravel 10 or older application and planning to upgrade, this guide will help you transition smoothly without breaking your existing codebase.

Why Upgrade to Laravel 12?

Laravel 12 introduces several improvements:

• PHP 8.2+ requirement
• Native typed enums in route model binding
• Improved Eloquent performance
• Slimmed-down default application skeleton
• Updated job batching and queue handling
• Security updates and deprecations removed

Let’s walk through how to upgrade your Laravel application to version 12.

Step 1: Check Your Current Laravel Version

First, confirm your existing Laravel version:

php artisan --version

If you’re on Laravel 10 or 11, the upgrade process is more straightforward. If you’re still on Laravel 9 or earlier, you’ll need to gradually upgrade to Laravel 10 first due to breaking changes in intermediate versions.

Step 2: Review Laravel 12 Upgrade Guide

Always start by reviewing the official Laravel Upgrade Guide for any version-specific notes and breaking changes. Pay special attention to:

• Removed functionality
• Changed method signatures
• Package compatibility

Step 3: Update composer.json

You should update the following dependencies in your application’s composer.json file:

"require": {
    "php": "^8.2",
    "laravel/framework": "^12.0",
    "phpunit/phpunit": "^11.0",
    "pestphp/pest": "^3.0"
}

Step 4: Run composer update

After modifying your composer.json, run:

composer update

Make sure there are no dependency conflicts. If any packages are not compatible with Laravel 12, check for updated versions or alternatives.

Step 5: Check for Deprecated or Removed Features

Review the changelog or run a deprecation scan using tools like:

• Static analyzers like phpstan or larastan

Common breaking changes:

• Middleware behavior changes
• Changed method names (e.g., Carbon::now() usage)
• Blade directives updates
• Event dispatching logic

Step 6: Run Tests

If your project has test coverage (you do have tests, right?), now’s the time to run them:

php artisan test

Or use PHPUnit:

vendor/bin/phpunit

Make sure to fix any failed tests caused by API changes or deprecated features.

Step 7: Update Frontend Dependencies (Optional)

If you’re using Laravel Mix or Vite, update the relevant packages in package.json. Also update Node, npm, and any front-end frameworks you rely on:

npm install
npm run dev

Step 8: Test the App Thoroughly

Manually test your app and ensure all major workflows work as expected:

• Authentication
• CRUD operations
• Jobs, queues, events
• API responses
• Scheduled tasks

Final Thoughts

Upgrading to Laravel 12 ensures your application remains secure, maintainable, and up-to-date with modern PHP practices. Although upgrades can be intimidating, following the official docs and breaking changes will help you avoid surprises.

If you’re dealing with a legacy app, consider using tools like Laravel Shift to automate some upgrade steps.

What’s Your Experience?

Have you already upgraded to Laravel 12? What challenges did you face? Share your experience in the comments — and don’t forget to give this post a 👏 if it helped!