Custom Laravel Community Starter Kits: Extending the Installer

Overview of Community Starter Kits

Laravel 12 has introduced a paradigm shift in how developers initialize projects. With the release of

, users can now bypass official defaults in favor of community-crafted scaffolds. This feature addresses a common pain point: the desire for specific tech stacks—like pure Blade without Livewire or React—that the official

Laravel

starter kits may not prioritize. By leveraging the --using parameter, the installer now acts as a flexible bridge to the wider ecosystem.

Prerequisites and Requirements

Before utilizing this feature, ensure you have the

version 5.14 or higher. Familiarity with

Composer

, PHP 8.2+, and the terminal is essential. If you intend to build your own kit, your repository must be a full

Laravel

application—not a package—and must be hosted on

Packagist

.

Key Libraries & Tools

• Laravel Installer 5.14: The command-line tool that facilitates the --using flag.
• Tony Lee's Registry: A curated repository by
  Tony Lee
  listing available community kits.
• Packagist: The primary PHP package repository where these starter kits must reside.
• Laravel 12: The underlying framework version supported by these new scaffolds.

Code Walkthrough: Implementing Custom Kits

To install a specific community kit, use the following syntax in your terminal:

laravel new my-project --using="vendor/package"

Behind the scenes, the installer modifies the standard composer create-project command. It replaces the default

repository URL with the one you provided. This bypasses the standard setup prompts for

Laravel Breeze

or

Laravel Jetstream

.

For kit creators, your composer.json must include a post-create-project-cmd to handle setup tasks like environment configuration:

"scripts": {
    "post-create-project-cmd": [
        "@php artisan app:install-features",
        "@php artisan migrate"
    ]
}

Practical Examples: Blade and LaraSonic

A standout example is the

by

Christian Taylor

. It recreates the modern

Laravel

dashboard design using only

Blade

templates, effectively stripping away

Livewire

or

React

dependencies. Another example is LaraSonic, which includes pre-built team management and subscription features right out of the box.

Tips & Gotchas

Community kits come with no official guarantee from the

core team. You must verify the security and maintenance status of any third-party repository you use. Common issues include version conflicts between

React

or

Vue

dependencies and default environment variables—such as mandatory email verification—that might differ from standard

Laravel

behavior.