Verification checklist for Laravel upgrading

 

1. Confirm the framework upgrade actually worked

php artisan --version

You should see something like:

Laravel Framework 12.x.x

Also double-check:

composer show laravel/framework

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2. Clear everything (this matters after major upgrades)

Run these once:

php artisan optimize:clear
php artisan config:clear
php artisan route:clear
php artisan view:clear

Then rebuild:

php artisan optimize

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3. Check for breaking changes & deprecated features

Laravel 12 removes or tightens some legacy behavior.

Do this:

php artisan about

Look for warnings or environment mismatches.

Also scan logs:

storage/logs/laravel.log

Red flags to search for:

• Deprecated middleware

• Old authentication scaffolding

• Removed helpers

• Strict typing errors

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4. Run your test suite (non-negotiable)

php artisan test

If you don’t have tests yet (👀), at least:

php artisan test --parallel

to surface runtime issues faster.

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5. Smoke-test core features manually

Hit your critical flows:

• Login / logout

• CRUD screens

• File uploads

• Background jobs

• APIs (Postman / curl)

For APIs:

php artisan route:list

Ensure routes are registered and middleware is correct.

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6. Validate config & env compatibility

Check these files carefully:

• .env

• config/app.php

• config/auth.php

• config/cache.php

• config/session.php

Laravel 12 is stricter with:

• Enum values

• Null config entries

• Missing env vars

Run:

php artisan config:show app

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7. Queue, jobs, and scheduler

Verify background systems:

php artisan queue:work
php artisan schedule:list

Run one job manually if possible.

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8. Check Composer + PHP compatibility

Laravel 12 requires newer versions.

php -v
composer -V

Then:

composer outdated

Watch especially for:

• symfony/*

• league/*

• auth / permission packages

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9. Re-publish vendor assets (if needed)

If you use:

• Laravel UI / Breeze / Jetstream

• Filament

• Livewire

Run:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=laravel-assets --force

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10. Production-readiness check

Before deploying:

php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache

If any of these fail → don’t deploy yet.

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Bonus: quick “is anything broken?” command

php artisan serve

Load a few pages and watch logs live:

tail -f storage/logs/laravel.log

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TL;DR upgrade verification checklist

✅ Version check
✅ Clear & rebuild caches
✅ Run tests
✅ Manual smoke tests
✅ Check logs
✅ Verify jobs & scheduler
✅ Validate PHP + Composer versions