Laravel Boost Guidelines

<laravel-boost-guidelines>
=== foundation rules ===

# Laravel Boost Guidelines

The Laravel Boost guidelines are specifically curated by Laravel maintainers for this application. These guidelines should be followed closely to ensure the best experience when building Laravel applications.

## Foundational Context

This application is a Laravel application and its main Laravel ecosystems package & versions are below. You are an expert with them all. Ensure you abide by these specific packages & versions.

- php - 8.4.15
- filament/filament (FILAMENT) - v3
- inertiajs/inertia-laravel (INERTIA) - v2
- laravel/framework (LARAVEL) - v12
- laravel/horizon (HORIZON) - v5
- laravel/octane (OCTANE) - v2
- laravel/prompts (PROMPTS) - v0
- laravel/sanctum (SANCTUM) - v4
- livewire/livewire (LIVEWIRE) - v3
- tightenco/ziggy (ZIGGY) - v2
- larastan/larastan (LARASTAN) - v3
- laravel/boost (BOOST) - v2
- laravel/breeze (BREEZE) - v2
- laravel/mcp (MCP) - v0
- laravel/pail (PAIL) - v1
- laravel/pint (PINT) - v1
- laravel/sail (SAIL) - v1
- laravel/telescope (TELESCOPE) - v5
- pestphp/pest (PEST) - v4
- phpunit/phpunit (PHPUNIT) - v12
- \@inertiajs/react (INERTIA) - v2
- eslint (ESLINT) - v9
- prettier (PRETTIER) - v3
- react (REACT) - v19
- tailwindcss (TAILWINDCSS) - v3

## Skills Activation

This project has domain-specific skills available. You MUST activate the relevant skill whenever you work in that domain—don't wait until you're stuck.

- `pest-testing` — Tests applications using the Pest 4 PHP framework. Activates when writing tests, creating unit or feature tests, adding assertions, testing Livewire components, browser testing, debugging test failures, working with datasets or mocking; or when the user mentions test, spec, TDD, expects, assertion, coverage, or needs to verify functionality works.
- `inertia-react-development` — Develops Inertia.js v2 React client-side applications. Activates when creating React pages, forms, or navigation; using &lt;Link&gt;, &lt;Form&gt;, useForm, or router; working with deferred props, prefetching, or polling; or when user mentions React with Inertia, React pages, React forms, or React navigation.
- `tailwindcss-development` — Styles applications using Tailwind CSS v3 utilities. Activates when adding styles, restyling components, working with gradients, spacing, layout, flex, grid, responsive design, dark mode, colors, typography, or borders; or when the user mentions CSS, styling, classes, Tailwind, restyle, hero section, cards, buttons, or any visual/UI changes.
- `medialibrary-development` — Build and work with spatie/laravel-medialibrary features including associating files with Eloquent models, defining media collections and conversions, generating responsive images, and retrieving media URLs and paths.
- `laravel-permission-development` — Build and work with Spatie Laravel Permission features, including roles, permissions, middleware, policies, teams, and Blade directives.

## Conventions

- You must follow all existing code conventions used in this application. When creating or editing a file, check sibling files for the correct structure, approach, and naming.
- Use descriptive names for variables and methods. For example, `isRegisteredForDiscounts`, not `discount()`.
- Check for existing components to reuse before writing a new one.

## Verification Scripts

- Do not create verification scripts or tinker when tests cover that functionality and prove they work. Unit and feature tests are more important.

## Application Structure & Architecture

- Stick to existing directory structure; don't create new base folders without approval.
- Do not change the application's dependencies without approval.

## Frontend Bundling

- If the user doesn't see a frontend change reflected in the UI, it could mean they need to run `vendor/bin/sail npm run build`, `vendor/bin/sail npm run dev`, or `vendor/bin/sail composer run dev`. Ask them.

## Documentation Files

- You must only create documentation files if explicitly requested by the user.

## Replies

- Be concise in your explanations - focus on what's important rather than explaining obvious details.

=== boost rules ===

# Laravel Boost

- Laravel Boost is an MCP server that comes with powerful tools designed specifically for this application. Use them.

## Artisan

- Use the `list-artisan-commands` tool when you need to call an Artisan command to double-check the available parameters.

## URLs

- Whenever you share a project URL with the user, you should use the `get-absolute-url` tool to ensure you're using the correct scheme, domain/IP, and port.

## Tinker / Debugging

- You should use the `tinker` tool when you need to execute PHP to debug code or query Eloquent models directly.
- Use the `database-query` tool when you only need to read from the database.
- Use the `database-schema` tool to inspect table structure before writing migrations or models.

## Reading Browser Logs With the `browser-logs` Tool

- You can read browser logs, errors, and exceptions using the `browser-logs` tool from Boost.
- Only recent browser logs will be useful - ignore old logs.

## Searching Documentation (Critically Important)

- Boost comes with a powerful `search-docs` tool you should use before trying other approaches when working with Laravel or Laravel ecosystem packages. This tool automatically passes a list of installed packages and their versions to the remote Boost API, so it returns only version-specific documentation for the user's circumstance. You should pass an array of packages to filter on if you know you need docs for particular packages.
- Search the documentation before making code changes to ensure we are taking the correct approach.
- Use multiple, broad, simple, topic-based queries at once. For example: `['rate limiting', 'routing rate limiting', 'routing']`. The most relevant results will be returned first.
- Do not add package names to queries; package information is already shared. For example, use `test resource table`, not `filament 4 test resource table`.

### Available Search Syntax

1. Simple Word Searches with auto-stemming - query=authentication - finds 'authenticate' and 'auth'.
2. Multiple Words (AND Logic) - query=rate limit - finds knowledge containing both "rate" AND "limit".
3. Quoted Phrases (Exact Position) - query="infinite scroll" - words must be adjacent and in that order.
4. Mixed Queries - query=middleware "rate limit" - "middleware" AND exact phrase "rate limit".
5. Multiple Queries - queries=["authentication", "middleware"] - ANY of these terms.

=== php rules ===

# PHP

- Always use curly braces for control structures, even for single-line bodies.

## Constructors

- Use PHP 8 constructor property promotion in `__construct()`.
    - `public function __construct(public GitHub $github) { }`
- Do not allow empty `__construct()` methods with zero parameters unless the constructor is private.

## Type Declarations

- Always use explicit return type declarations for methods and functions.
- Use appropriate PHP type hints for method parameters.

<!-- Explicit Return Types and Method Params -->
```php
protected function isAccessible(User $user, ?string $path = null): bool
{
    ...
}
```

## Enums

- That being said, keys in an Enum should follow existing application Enum conventions.

## Comments

- Prefer PHPDoc blocks over inline comments. Never use comments within the code itself unless the logic is exceptionally complex.

## PHPDoc Blocks

- Add useful array shape type definitions when appropriate.

=== sail rules ===

# Laravel Sail

- This project runs inside Laravel Sail's Docker containers. You MUST execute all commands through Sail.
- Start services using `vendor/bin/sail up -d` and stop them with `vendor/bin/sail stop`.
- Open the application in the browser by running `vendor/bin/sail open`.
- Always prefix PHP, Artisan, Composer, and Node commands with `vendor/bin/sail`. Examples:
    - Run Artisan Commands: `vendor/bin/sail artisan migrate`
    - Install Composer packages: `vendor/bin/sail composer install`
    - Execute Node commands: `vendor/bin/sail npm run dev`
    - Execute PHP scripts: `vendor/bin/sail php [script]`
- View all available Sail commands by running `vendor/bin/sail` without arguments.

=== inertia-laravel/core rules ===

# Inertia

- Inertia creates fully client-side rendered SPAs without modern SPA complexity, leveraging existing server-side patterns.
- Components live in `resources/js/pages` (unless specified in `vite.config.js`). Use `Inertia::render()` for server-side routing instead of Blade views.
- ALWAYS use `search-docs` tool for version-specific Inertia documentation and updated code examples.
- IMPORTANT: Activate `inertia-react-development` when working with Inertia client-side patterns.

=== inertia-laravel/v2 rules ===

# Inertia v2

- Use all Inertia features from v1 and v2. Check the documentation before making changes to ensure the correct approach.
- New features: deferred props, infinite scrolling (merging props + `WhenVisible`), lazy loading on scroll, polling, prefetching.
- When using deferred props, add an empty state with a pulsing or animated skeleton.

=== laravel/core rules ===

# Do Things the Laravel Way

- Use `vendor/bin/sail artisan make:` commands to create new files (i.e. migrations, controllers, models, etc.). You can list available Artisan commands using the `list-artisan-commands` tool.
- If you're creating a generic PHP class, use `vendor/bin/sail artisan make:class`.
- Pass `--no-interaction` to all Artisan commands to ensure they work without user input. You should also pass the correct `--options` to ensure correct behavior.

## Database

- Always use proper Eloquent relationship methods with return type hints. Prefer relationship methods over raw queries or manual joins.
- Use Eloquent models and relationships before suggesting raw database queries.
- Avoid `DB::`; prefer `Model::query()`. Generate code that leverages Laravel's ORM capabilities rather than bypassing them.
- Generate code that prevents N+1 query problems by using eager loading.
- Use Laravel's query builder for very complex database operations.

### Model Creation

- When creating new models, create useful factories and seeders for them too. Ask the user if they need any other things, using `list-artisan-commands` to check the available options to `vendor/bin/sail artisan make:model`.

### APIs & Eloquent Resources

- For APIs, default to using Eloquent API Resources and API versioning unless existing API routes do not, then you should follow existing application convention.

## Controllers & Validation

- Always create Form Request classes for validation rather than inline validation in controllers. Include both validation rules and custom error messages.
- Check sibling Form Requests to see if the application uses array or string based validation rules.

## Authentication & Authorization

- Use Laravel's built-in authentication and authorization features (gates, policies, Sanctum, etc.).

## URL Generation

- When generating links to other pages, prefer named routes and the `route()` function.

## Queues

- Use queued jobs for time-consuming operations with the `ShouldQueue` interface.

## Configuration

- Use environment variables only in configuration files - never use the `env()` function directly outside of config files. Always use `config('app.name')`, not `env('APP_NAME')`.

## Testing

- When creating models for tests, use the factories for the models. Check if the factory has custom states that can be used before manually setting up the model.
- Faker: Use methods such as `$this->faker->word()` or `fake()->randomDigit()`. Follow existing conventions whether to use `$this->faker` or `fake()`.
- When creating tests, make use of `vendor/bin/sail artisan make:test [options] {name}` to create a feature test, and pass `--unit` to create a unit test. Most tests should be feature tests.

## Vite Error

- If you receive an "Illuminate\Foundation\ViteException: Unable to locate file in Vite manifest" error, you can run `vendor/bin/sail npm run build` or ask the user to run `vendor/bin/sail npm run dev` or `vendor/bin/sail composer run dev`.

=== laravel/v12 rules ===

# Laravel 12

- CRITICAL: ALWAYS use `search-docs` tool for version-specific Laravel documentation and updated code examples.
- Since Laravel 11, Laravel has a new streamlined file structure which this project uses.

## Laravel 12 Structure

- In Laravel 12, middleware are no longer registered in `app/Http/Kernel.php`.
- Middleware are configured declaratively in `bootstrap/app.php` using `Application::configure()->withMiddleware()`.
- `bootstrap/app.php` is the file to register middleware, exceptions, and routing files.
- `bootstrap/providers.php` contains application specific service providers.
- The `app\Console\Kernel.php` file no longer exists; use `bootstrap/app.php` or `routes/console.php` for console configuration.
- Console commands in `app/Console/Commands/` are automatically available and do not require manual registration.

## Database

- When modifying a column, the migration must include all of the attributes that were previously defined on the column. Otherwise, they will be dropped and lost.
- Laravel 12 allows limiting eagerly loaded records natively, without external packages: `$query->latest()->limit(10);`.

### Models

- Casts can and likely should be set in a `casts()` method on a model rather than the `$casts` property. Follow existing conventions from other models.

=== boost/core rules ===

# Laravel Boost

- Laravel Boost is an MCP server that comes with powerful tools designed specifically for this application. Use them.

## Artisan

- Use the `list-artisan-commands` tool when you need to call an Artisan command to double-check the available parameters.

## URLs

- Whenever you share a project URL with the user, you should use the `get-absolute-url` tool to ensure you're using the correct scheme, domain/IP, and port.

## Tinker / Debugging

- You should use the `tinker` tool when you need to execute PHP to debug code or query Eloquent models directly.
- Use the `database-query` tool when you only need to read from the database.
- Use the `database-schema` tool to inspect table structure before writing migrations or models.

## Reading Browser Logs With the `browser-logs` Tool

- You can read browser logs, errors, and exceptions using the `browser-logs` tool from Boost.
- Only recent browser logs will be useful - ignore old logs.

## Searching Documentation (Critically Important)

- Boost comes with a powerful `search-docs` tool you should use before trying other approaches when working with Laravel or Laravel ecosystem packages. This tool automatically passes a list of installed packages and their versions to the remote Boost API, so it returns only version-specific documentation for the user's circumstance. You should pass an array of packages to filter on if you know you need docs for particular packages.
- Search the documentation before making code changes to ensure we are taking the correct approach.
- Use multiple, broad, simple, topic-based queries at once. For example: `['rate limiting', 'routing rate limiting', 'routing']`. The most relevant results will be returned first.
- Do not add package names to queries; package information is already shared. For example, use `test resource table`, not `filament 4 test resource table`.

### Available Search Syntax

1. Simple Word Searches with auto-stemming - query=authentication - finds 'authenticate' and 'auth'.
2. Multiple Words (AND Logic) - query=rate limit - finds knowledge containing both "rate" AND "limit".
3. Quoted Phrases (Exact Position) - query="infinite scroll" - words must be adjacent and in that order.
4. Mixed Queries - query=middleware "rate limit" - "middleware" AND exact phrase "rate limit".
5. Multiple Queries - queries=["authentication", "middleware"] - ANY of these terms.

=== pint/core rules ===

# Laravel Pint Code Formatter

- You must run `vendor/bin/sail bin pint --dirty --format agent` before finalizing changes to ensure your code matches the project's expected style.
- Do not run `vendor/bin/sail bin pint --test --format agent`, simply run `vendor/bin/sail bin pint --format agent` to fix any formatting issues.

=== pest/core rules ===

## Pest

- This project uses Pest for testing. Create tests: `vendor/bin/sail artisan make:test --pest {name}`.
- Run tests: `vendor/bin/sail artisan test --compact` or filter: `vendor/bin/sail artisan test --compact --filter=testName`.
- Do NOT delete tests without approval.
- CRITICAL: ALWAYS use `search-docs` tool for version-specific Pest documentation and updated code examples.
- IMPORTANT: Activate `pest-testing` every time you're working with a Pest or testing-related task.

=== inertia-react/core rules ===

# Inertia + React

- IMPORTANT: Activate `inertia-react-development` when working with Inertia React client-side patterns.

=== tailwindcss/core rules ===

# Tailwind CSS

- Always use existing Tailwind conventions; check project patterns before adding new ones.
- IMPORTANT: Always use `search-docs` tool for version-specific Tailwind CSS documentation and updated code examples. Never rely on training data.
- IMPORTANT: Activate `tailwindcss-development` every time you're working with a Tailwind CSS or styling-related task.

=== filament/filament rules ===

## Filament

- Filament is used by this application, check how and where to follow existing application conventions.
- Filament is a Server-Driven UI (SDUI) framework for Laravel. It allows developers to define user interfaces in PHP using structured configuration objects. It is built on top of Livewire, Alpine.js, and Tailwind CSS.
- You can use the `search-docs` tool to get information from the official Filament documentation when needed. This is very useful for Artisan command arguments, specific code examples, testing functionality, relationship management, and ensuring you're following idiomatic practices.
- Utilize static `make()` methods for consistent component initialization.

### Artisan

- You must use the Filament specific Artisan commands to create new files or components for Filament. You can find these with the `list-artisan-commands` tool, or with `php artisan` and the `--help` option.
- Inspect the required options, always pass `--no-interaction`, and valid arguments for other options when applicable.

### Filament's Core Features

- Actions: Handle doing something within the application, often with a button or link. Actions encapsulate the UI, the interactive modal window, and the logic that should be executed when the modal window is submitted. They can be used anywhere in the UI and are commonly used to perform one-time actions like deleting a record, sending an email, or updating data in the database based on modal form input.
- Forms: Dynamic forms rendered within other features, such as resources, action modals, table filters, and more.
- Infolists: Read-only lists of data.
- Notifications: Flash notifications displayed to users within the application.
- Panels: The top-level container in Filament that can include all other features like pages, resources, forms, tables, notifications, actions, infolists, and widgets.
- Resources: Static classes that are used to build CRUD interfaces for Eloquent models. Typically live in `app/Filament/Resources`.
- Schemas: Represent components that define the structure and behavior of the UI, such as forms, tables, or lists.
- Tables: Interactive tables with filtering, sorting, pagination, and more.
- Widgets: Small component included within dashboards, often used for displaying data in charts, tables, or as a stat.

### Relationships

- Determine if you can use the `relationship()` method on form components when you need `options` for a select, checkbox, repeater, or when building a `Fieldset`:

<code-snippet name="Relationship example for Form Select" lang="php">
Forms\Components\Select::make('user_id')
    ->label('Author')
    ->relationship('author')
    ->required(),
</code-snippet>

## Testing

- It's important to test Filament functionality for user satisfaction.
- Ensure that you are authenticated to access the application within the test.
- Filament uses Livewire, so start assertions with `livewire()` or `Livewire::test()`.

### Example Tests

<code-snippet name="Filament Table Test" lang="php">
    livewire(ListUsers::class)
        ->assertCanSeeTableRecords($users)
        ->searchTable($users->first()->name)
        ->assertCanSeeTableRecords($users->take(1))
        ->assertCanNotSeeTableRecords($users->skip(1))
        ->searchTable($users->last()->email)
        ->assertCanSeeTableRecords($users->take(-1))
        ->assertCanNotSeeTableRecords($users->take($users->count() - 1));
</code-snippet>

<code-snippet name="Filament Create Resource Test" lang="php">
    livewire(CreateUser::class)
        ->fillForm([
            'name' => 'Howdy',
            'email' => 'howdy@example.com',
        ])
        ->call('create')
        ->assertNotified()
        ->assertRedirect();

    assertDatabaseHas(User::class, [
        'name' => 'Howdy',
        'email' => 'howdy@example.com',
    ]);
</code-snippet>

<code-snippet name="Testing Multiple Panels (setup())" lang="php">
    use Filament\Facades\Filament;

    Filament::setCurrentPanel('app');
</code-snippet>

<code-snippet name="Calling an Action in a Test" lang="php">
    livewire(EditInvoice::class, [
        'invoice' => $invoice,
    ])->callAction('send');

    expect($invoice->refresh())->isSent()->toBeTrue();
</code-snippet>

## Version 3 Changes To Focus On

- Resources are located in `app/Filament/Resources/` directory.
- Resource pages (List, Create, Edit) are auto-generated within the resource's directory - e.g., `app/Filament/Resources/PostResource/Pages/`.
- Forms use the `Forms\Components` namespace for form fields.
- Tables use the `Tables\Columns` namespace for table columns.
- A new `Filament\Forms\Components\RichEditor` component is available.
- Form and table schemas now use fluent method chaining.
- Added `php artisan filament:optimize` command for production optimization.
- Requires implementing `FilamentUser` contract for production access control.

=== spatie/laravel-medialibrary rules ===

## Media Library

- `spatie/laravel-medialibrary` associates files with Eloquent models, with support for collections, conversions, and responsive images.
- Always activate the `medialibrary-development` skill when working with media uploads, conversions, collections, responsive images, or any code that uses the `HasMedia` interface or `InteractsWithMedia` trait.

</laravel-boost-guidelines>