55 Laravel interview questions with answers

All Laravel interview questions

• What is Laravel and what problems does it solve?

  Laravel is an MVC PHP framework that bundles what every web app needs: routing, database access, templating, authentication, validation, queues and testing. That way you do not rebuild these pieces in every project. The route receives /posts/5; Laravel sees a Post-typed parameter, so it queries…

• What is routing in Laravel and how do you define routes?

  Routing connects a URL + HTTP method to the code that handles it, usually a controller method. Routes for the web UI are declared in routes/web.php. - Method + URL: GET /users calls index, POST /users uses the same URL but calls store. There are…

• What is the Blade templating engine?

  Blade is Laravel's template engine: a .blade.php file in resources/views is HTML plus a few directives starting with @, without scattering <?php ... ? everywhere. Blade compiles each template into plain PHP and caches it until the file is modified, so it adds almost no…

• What are Laravel migrations and how do you use them?

  Migrations are version-controlled database schema definitions. Create one with php artisan make:migration createuserstable, define the table in up() and the rollback in down(): Run every pending migration with php artisan migrate. Advantages: schema changes tracked in version control, easy rollback, consistency across environments, and the…

• What is the MVC pattern and how does Laravel use it?

  MVC splits an application into three parts so that each one has a single job: the Model works with data and the database, the View is the interface that is displayed, and the Controller receives the request and coordinates between the other two. The flow…

• What is Artisan and what are some common commands?

  Artisan is Laravel's command-line interface for common tasks. Essential commands: - php artisan migrate: run database migrations - php artisan make:controller UserController: create a controller - php artisan make:model User: create a model - php artisan serve: start the development server - php artisan tinker:…

• What are Laravel controllers and what do they do?

  A controller holds the request logic for one resource (User, Product): it takes the request, works with the Model, and returns a View or JSON. php artisan make:controller ProductController --resource scaffolds the CRUD methods — index() (list), show($id) (one record), create() (create form), store() (save…

• What is dependency injection in Laravel?

  Dependency injection automatically provides required dependencies to classes. Instead of new UserRepository() inside the controller, type-hint it in the method: Laravel's service container automatically instantiates and injects the class. Benefits: easier testing (inject mock repository), loose coupling (change implementation without modifying controller), cleaner code. Laravel…

• What is a service provider in Laravel?

  A Service Provider is where a Laravel app declares how services are built in the service container (the registry Laravel asks whenever it needs to inject a dependency) and runs setup code at boot time. Every provider has two methods, register() and boot(). At startup…

• What are Laravel validation rules and how do you validate form data?

  Validation in Laravel means declaring rules per field (required, email, max:100…) and letting the framework check them before the data reaches your logic. The shortest way is $request-validate([...]) inside the controller; for larger forms move it into a Form Request to keep the controller clean.…

• What is Eloquent ORM and why is it better than raw SQL?

  Eloquent is Laravel's Active Record ORM: each table has a Model class, each row is an object, and you query with methods instead of SQL strings. It is not "better" than raw SQL in every way; it is fast for CRUD and relationships, while raw…

• What are Laravel models and how do you create them?

  A Laravel model is an Eloquent class that represents a table: each object is a row and each attribute is a column. You read and write data through the model instead of hand-written SQL. Create one with php artisan make:model Post -m (the -m flag…

• What are Eloquent relationships and what types exist?

  An Eloquent relationship is a model method that declares how two tables are linked by a foreign key. You declare it once, then fetch related data with $user-posts instead of writing a JOIN yourself. The main types: - hasOne / belongsTo: one-to-one. The side that…

• What is the N+1 query problem and how do you fix it?

  An N+1 query problem is when you run 1 query for a list of parents and then one more query per record to fetch a relationship. 100 users become 101 queries. It happens because Eloquent relationships are lazy loaded by default: $user-posts only queries the…

• What are query scopes in Laravel?

  A query scope is a query condition given a name inside the model so it can be reused instead of repeating where(...) in many places. There are two kinds. A local scope applies when you call it. Declare it with the [Scope] attribute (Laravel 12.4…

• What are accessors and mutators in Eloquent?

  An accessor transforms data on read, a mutator transforms it on write. Both are declared with Attribute::make(): Assigning $user-email = "JOHN@EXAMPLE.COM" stores it lowercased, while echo $user-name prints it capitalized even though the DB holds lowercase. Accessors and mutators keep formatting logic in one place.

• What is soft delete in Laravel?

  Soft delete marks records as deleted without removing them from the database. The model uses the SoftDeletes trait and the migration adds a deletedat column: Every Eloquent query automatically adds deletedat IS NULL (a global scope), so existing code keeps working. Queries written with DB::table()…

• What are database factories and seeders in Laravel?

  Factories generate fake data for tests; create one with php artisan make:factory UserFactory. The model must use the HasFactory trait for User::factory() to work. Seeders populate the database: php artisan make:seeder UserSeeder, and inside run() call User::factory(100)-create(). By default php artisan db:seed runs only DatabaseSeeder.…

• What is a query builder in Laravel and what are its advantages?

  Query builder is a fluent interface for building queries without raw SQL. Example: Advantages: database-agnostic (easily switch databases), prevents SQL injection because values are sent through PDO parameter binding (the SQL uses ? placeholders and values travel separately, so they are never parsed as SQL),…

• What is the Laravel service container and how does it work?

• What are Laravel events and how do you use them?

• What are Laravel queues and why use them?

• What is middleware in Laravel and how do you create custom middleware?

• What is broadcasting in Laravel and when do you use it?

• What are Laravel policies and how do you authorize actions?

• What is Laravel testing and what are the main testing types?

• What is the Laravel facade pattern?

• What are Laravel collections and how do you use them?

• What is Laravel Reverb and how does it differ from Pusher?

  Laravel Reverb is Laravel's first-party WebSocket server, launched with Laravel 11 (the package runs on Laravel 10.47 and later), used to broadcast real-time events such as notifications or chat. Unlike Pusher, which is a paid third-party service, Reverb is open source and you host it…

• What is Laravel Pennant and how does it enable feature flag management?

  Pennant is Laravel's official feature flag package (install separately: composer require laravel/pennant, available since Laravel 10) for turning features on and off per user or group. It supports closure-based flags and class-based flags (a resolve method). Example: In Blade, use @feature('new-checkout') ... @else ... @endfeature.…

• What is Pest and why should new Laravel projects use it over PHPUnit?

  Pest is a PHP testing framework that runs on top of PHPUnit. Instead of writing a class with test... methods, each test is a closure passed to test() or it(), and you assert with an expect() chain. Inside the closure, $this is still Laravel's TestCase,…

• What is the difference between Sanctum and Passport for API authentication?

  Sanctum is a lightweight auth package for your own apps: SPAs and mobile apps. Passport is a full OAuth 2.0 server, used when third parties need to request access to your users' data, like "Sign in with GitHub". Sanctum authenticates in two ways: - SPA…

• What are API Resources in Laravel and why not return raw model data?

  API Resources are a layer that turns Eloquent models into JSON responses with a fixed shape, decoupling the API format from the database schema. A resource returns exactly the fields you list in toArray(). It does not hide anything automatically: a sensitive field like password…

• What are DTOs (Data Transfer Objects) and how do they improve code architecture?

• What is architecture testing in Laravel with Pest and why is it important?

• What is the difference between feature tests and unit tests in Laravel?

  In Laravel the key difference is whether the application boots. A feature test (tests/Feature) extends Tests\TestCase, boots the whole app, and sends a fake request through routes, middleware, validation and controllers down to the database. A unit test (tests/Unit) extends PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase directly, does not boot…

• What is Livewire 3 and how does it change Laravel full-stack development?

• What is CSRF and how do you prevent it (including Laravel’s `@csrf`)?

  CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) = an attacker tricks a victim’s browser — already logged into your site — into firing a state-changing request (transfer money, change email). The browser auto-attaches the session cookie, so the server thinks it is a genuine user action. Prevention per…

• What is the Repository pattern in Laravel/PHP?

  Per Fowler (PoEAA), a Repository mediates between the domain and the data-mapping layer, exposing a collection-like API (find, save, findByEmail) and hiding the Eloquent/SQL details underneath. Business logic talks only to the repository, never writing queries directly. - Benefits: decouples logic from the ORM, eases…

• How does caching work in Laravel (stores, tags)?

  Laravel offers one unified Cache API across multiple drivers (stores): file, database, redis, memcached, array (for tests), null. Configured in config/cache.php — switching backends requires no code change. - Cache tags group keys so you can flush them together: Cache::tags(['posts'])-put(...) then Cache::tags(['posts'])-flush(). Only redis/memcached support…

• What is task scheduling in Laravel?

  Instead of scattering messy cron lines on the server, Laravel lets you define the schedule in code in routes/console.php (or the Kernel’s schedule() in older versions). On the server you need just one cron entry on the server running every minute; Laravel decides which tasks…

• How do file upload and storage work in Laravel?

  Laravel’s Filesystem (built on Flysystem) abstracts multiple "disks" — local, public, s3... — configured in config/filesystems.php, with the same Storage API for every disk. Moving from local to S3 requires no business-code change. - Validate before storing: rules file, image, mimes:jpg,png, max:2048 (in KB). -…

• How do `register()` and `boot()` differ in a service provider? What breaks if you mix them up?

  They run in two different phases of the application bootstrap. - register() runs first, for every provider. It should only bind into the container (bind, singleton, scoped). Never touch another provider's services here — they may not be registered yet. - boot() runs after all…

• What is a Form Request? Why prefer it over calling `$request->validate()` inside the controller?

  A Form Request is a class extending FormRequest that moves validation rules and authorization out of the controller. Laravel resolves it from the type-hint and validates before the controller body runs; on failure it redirects with errors (web) or returns 422 JSON (API). Benefits: thin…

• How do `bind`, `singleton`, `scoped`, and `instance` differ in the service container? When do you use each?

  They differ in the lifetime of the object the container hands back. - bind — resolves a new instance every time. Use for objects that carry per-use state. - singleton — resolves once; later calls return the same object for the whole process lifetime. Good…

• How does route model binding work? How do you bind by `slug` and avoid exposing another user's data?

  Route model binding makes Laravel query the model automatically from a route parameter and inject it into the controller; if nothing is found it returns 404. Bind by another column — declare it on the route or override getRouteKeyName() on the model: Scoped binding —…

• What is a polymorphic relationship in Eloquent? When do you use it and what are its downsides?

  A polymorphic relationship lets one model belong to several parent types through a single relation. The child table keeps two columns: id (parent key) and type (parent class name). Classic case: comments attach to both Post and Video; same for images, likes, activitylogs. Eager loading…

• How does `hasManyThrough` differ from `belongsToMany`? Give a practical example.

  Both go through an intermediate table, but they mean different things. - belongsToMany — a many-to-many relation whose intermediate table is a pivot with no model of its own (roleuser). Pivot columns are reachable via withPivot(). - hasManyThrough — a one-to-many that passes through a…

• When do you use built-in casts, `Attribute` accessors, and custom casts in Eloquent? How do they differ?

  Three tiers, chosen by how complex the transformation is. 1. Built-in casts — declared in casts() for common types. This is where datetime, boolean, array, encrypted, and PHP 8.1 backed enums belong: 2. Accessor / mutator via Attribute — custom logic applied when reading or…

• How does Laravel handle a failing queue job? How do `tries`, `backoff`, `retryUntil`, and `failed()` work?

  A job fails when it throws an uncaught exception and has exhausted its attempts. Laravel then writes a row to the failedjobs table and stops retrying it. The knobs: - $tries on the job takes precedence over the worker's --tries flag. - If $backoff is…

• How does an Observer differ from Events/Listeners? When do you pick each?

  An Observer hooks into one Eloquent model's lifecycle. Laravel calls creating, created, updating, updated, deleting, deleted, restored automatically whenever that model is touched — nothing is dispatched by hand. Events/Listeners are the general mechanism: you define the event, dispatch it yourself, many listeners can subscribe,…

• Design a stock-deduction flow when many users order at once: how do you use transactions and locking to avoid overselling?

• How do you catch N+1 queries before production? How does `preventLazyLoading` work?

• How do you handle duplicate job dispatches (double-clicked buttons, overlapping cron runs)? How does `ShouldBeUnique` differ from `WithoutOverlapping`?

• Why does code work locally but `env('API_KEY')` return `null` in production?