Folder Structure in Laravel 12

Important Folders and Files in Laravel 12 Project explained in details with real time examples

📂 app/ — The Brain of Your App

This is where the core logic of your Laravel project lives.

Http/ — Contains your Controllers and Middleware.

Controllers are like traffic police. When a user visits your site, controllers decide what to do.

Middleware are like security guards. They check things before letting users through (like “is this user logged in?”).

Models/ — These represent your database tables. For example, User.php is your code’s connection to the users table.

🧠 Real-Life Analogy: Think of a food delivery app:

When someone places an order — that logic goes in a controller.

The order details that get saved in a table — that comes from a model.

⚙️ bootstrap/ — Laravel’s Start-Up Booster

This folder contains files that help Laravel boot up (start).

app.php — This file starts up your Laravel application.

You won’t usually touch this folder. Just know Laravel reads from here when starting.

🧠 Real-Life: Think of this like the ignition key of your car. It starts the engine but you don’t touch it every day.

🛠 config/ — App Settings & Options

This is where Laravel stores its configuration settings — like app name, timezone, database connection, etc.

app.php — Set app name, timezone, locale

database.php — Configure your database

mail.php — Email sending setup

🧠 Real-Life: Like settings in your phone — ringtone, brightness, Wi-Fi, etc. This is your Laravel settings menu.

🏗 database/ — Where Tables Are Designed

This folder contains files related to database structure and data:

migrations/ — Define what your database tables should look like

seeders/ — Fill tables with sample data

factories/ — Automatically create fake data for testing

🧠 Example: Want to make a products table with name, price, stock? Create a migration in this folder.

🧠 Real-Life: Think of this as your restaurant’s kitchen menu. You decide what dishes (tables) exist and what ingredients (columns) they need.

🌐 public/ — The Only Folder Users See

This is the front door of your Laravel app. Anything the user sees on the browser comes from here.

index.php — The main entry point of your app

You can place CSS, JS, and image files here

🧠 Real-Life: This is like the entrance to a shopping mall. Customers only see this, not what’s behind the scenes.

🎨 resources/ — Your Views, Your Design

This is where the frontend of your website lives — the stuff users actually see like HTML pages.

views/ — Contains all your Laravel Blade files (.blade.php) — your web pages

lang/ — Text translations if you make a multilingual site

css/, js/ — Optional: You can put your custom CSS and JS here

🧠 Example: Want a Contact Us page? Create contact.blade.php inside resources/views.

🧠 Real-Life: These are your restaurant’s tables, lights, paint, and decoration. The customer experience!

🗺 routes/ — The Map of Your Website

This is where Laravel keeps a list of all available URLs (routes).

web.php — For frontend/browser-based routes

api.php — For app or mobile API routes

🧠 Example:

Route::get(‘/about’, function () {
return view(‘about’);
});

When someone visits your-site.com/about, they’ll see the about.blade.php page.

🧠 Real-Life: Just like a receptionist telling visitors where to go in a building.

📦 storage/ — Laravel’s Locker Room

Laravel saves all temporary stuff here:

Uploaded files

Cache files

Logs (errors, activity)

🧠 Real-Life: Like a warehouse or locker room where things are stored privately — no public access.

🔍 tests/ — For Automated Testing

This is where you can write test scripts to automatically check if everything in your app works.

🧠 Beginner Note: You can ignore this for now, but it’s great for large apps where bugs must be caught early.

🧠 Real-Life: Like a robot checking every room in a hotel to make sure lights and water are working.

📄 .env — The Secret Settings File

This file stores sensitive settings like:

Your database username/password

Your mail SMTP credentials

App name, base URL, etc.

🧠 Important: Never share this file publicly — it has your secrets!

🧠 Real-Life: Like the diary where you keep your Wi-Fi password, email password, etc.

🧙 artisan — Laravel’s Magic Wand (Command Tool)

This is a file you use in the terminal. You type commands like:

php artisan make:controller HomeController
php artisan migrate
php artisan serve

Laravel will do these jobs instantly.

🧠 Real-Life: Like telling your assistant, “Please create a new folder for me.” and it just happens.

📃 composer.json — The Recipe List

This file keeps track of every package/tool your Laravel app depends on.

🧠 Real-Life: Like a kitchen recipe card — it lists every ingredient (library) used in the app.

When you install a new package, it gets added here.