Beyond the Basics: Master Community Starter Kits with the Laravel Installer

Overview of Custom Starter Kits

While Laravel provides polished official starter kits for Livewire, Vue, and React, the framework's beauty lies in its flexibility. Developers often have unique requirements—perhaps a Svelte frontend or a pre-configured SaaS boilerplate. The Laravel Installer now bridges this gap by supporting community-created starter kits. This allows you to bootstrap entire applications from any GitHub repository, ensuring your preferred architecture is ready to go in seconds.

Prerequisites

To follow this guide, you should have a solid grasp of PHP and the Laravel framework. You must have the Laravel Installer (version 5.0 or higher) installed globally. Familiarity with Composer and the command line is essential for managing dependencies and project initialization.

Key Libraries & Tools

• Laravel Installer: The command-line utility used to create new projects.
• Laravel Herd: A fast, lightweight development environment for macOS and Windows.
• Wave: A popular community starter kit by DevDojo specifically for SaaS development.

Code Walkthrough: Using the New Parameter

The core of this update is the --using parameter. Instead of relying on the interactive prompt to select official kits, you point the installer directly to a GitHub repository.

laravel new my-awesome-project --using="devdojo/wave"

The installer performs several tasks behind the scenes. First, it clones the repository specified in the vendor/repo format. Once the files are local, it handles the standard Laravel setup. Finally, it prompts you to run asset compilation:

# The installer will ask:
# "Would you like to run npm install and npm build?"

By selecting yes, the installer finishes the frontend scaffolding, leaving you with a fully functional, customized application environment.

Syntax Notes

The --using flag follows a specific convention: organization/repository. This mirrors how you require packages in Composer. Unlike official kits, community kits skip many interactive prompts (like database or testing suite selection) because the starter kit author typically hardcodes these choices into the repository structure.

Practical Examples and One-Click Installs

A powerful new feature is the integration with Laravel Herd. On repository pages like Wave, you may now see an "Install with Herd" link. Clicking this triggers a browser protocol that opens Laravel Herd directly, allowing you to name the project and set its local path through a GUI rather than the terminal. This creates a seamless bridge between finding a tool on GitHub and running it on your local machine.

Tips & Gotchas

Always verify the source of a community kit before running it. Since the installer clones and executes code from these repositories, ensure you trust the maintainer. If your custom kit requires specific environment variables, remember to check the .env.example file immediately after installation, as the generic Laravel setup might not cover every custom configuration option.