What’s new in Laravel 11

Laravel, the beloved PHP framework, continues to evolve with the release of Laravel 11. Packed with powerful features and improvements, this version aims to streamline development and empower developers to build better applications faster. If you’re wondering what Laravel 11 brings to the table, here’s an overview of the most notable updates.

1. PHP 8.1 as the Minimum Requirement

Laravel 11 officially requires PHP 8.1 or higher. This upgrade allows the framework to fully utilize modern PHP features like readonly properties, intersection types, and native enumerations, resulting in cleaner, more efficient code. If you haven’t upgraded your PHP version yet, now’s the time!

2. Enhanced Process Layer

The Process Layer introduced in Laravel 10 has been further improved in Laravel 11. It simplifies working with system processes, providing a fluent and expressive API to execute commands, handle processes asynchronously, and capture their outputs.

Example:

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Process;

$result = Process::run('ls -al');
if ($result->successful()) {
    echo $result->output();
}

This update makes interacting with system-level processes easier and more developer-friendly.

3. Typed HTTP Client Responses

Laravel’s HTTP Client now supports typed responses, enhancing type safety and enabling better integration with IDEs. Developers can define DTO (Data Transfer Object) classes to represent their response data, ensuring consistency and reducing errors when working with API responses.

Example:

use Illuminate\Http\Client\Response;

class UserResponse{
    public function __construct(
        public string $name,
        public string $email
    ) {}
}

$response = Http::get('https://api.example.com/user');
$user = $response->object(UserResponse::class);

echo $user->name; // Type-safe access

4. Improved Validation Rules

Validation in Laravel 11 becomes even more powerful with custom closure validation rules. This update provides developers with a more concise and readable way to define custom validation logic.

Example:

use Illuminate\Validation\ValidationRule;

$request->validate([
    'age' => ValidationRule::make('numeric')->using(fn ($value) => $value > 18),
]);

5. Native Support for Data Transformers

Laravel 11 introduces native support for data transformers, a feature designed to simplify transforming data structures for APIs or views. While this was previously achievable using custom solutions, having built-in support makes it more accessible and standardized.

Example:

use Illuminate\Support\Transformer;

$transformedData = Transformer::make($data)->transform(fn ($item) => [
    'id' => $item['id'],
    'name' => strtoupper($item['name']),
]);

6. Queueable Collections

Laravel’s queues now natively support collections, allowing you to dispatch an entire collection of jobs with one command. This feature is perfect for batch-processing jobs efficiently.

Example:

use App\Jobs\SendNotification;

$users->chunk(100)->dispatchable(function ($chunk) {
    return SendNotification::batch($chunk);
});

7. Laravel Pennant (Feature Flags)

Feature flags are now a native part of Laravel through the Laravel Pennant package. This tool helps developers toggle features on and off in production without deploying new code. It’s perfect for A/B testing, gradual rollouts, and phased deployments.

Example:

if (Feature::active('new-dashboard')) {
    return view('dashboard.new');
}

return view('dashboard.old');

8. New Blade Enhancements

Blade, Laravel’s templating engine, receives several updates in Laravel 11, including:

• Improved directives for conditions and loops.

• Enhanced support for reusable components.

• Performance optimizations for faster rendering.

Why Upgrade to Laravel 11?

Laravel 11 not only introduces new features but also refines existing ones to improve performance, maintainability, and developer experience. Here’s why you should consider upgrading:

• Access to modern PHP features.

• Enhanced developer productivity with streamlined APIs.

• Long-term support and compatibility with the Laravel ecosystem.

Conclusion

Laravel 11 is a significant step forward, offering developers a robust toolkit to build scalable, modern applications. Whether you're creating a new project or maintaining an existing one, upgrading to Laravel 11 ensures you’re using the latest and greatest in web development.

So, what are you waiting for? Upgrade your project and start exploring all the exciting new features today!

Have thoughts or questions about Laravel 11? Share them in the comments below!