Project Structure

Directory Structure

Organize your Laravel project using the standard directory structure for maintainability and scalability.

app/
    Console/         # Artisan commands
    Exceptions/      # Custom exception classes
    Http/
        Controllers/ # Application controllers
        Middleware/  # HTTP middleware
    Models/          # Eloquent models
config/              # Configuration files
database/
    migrations/
    seeders/
public/
resources/
    views/
routes/
    web.php
    api.php
tests/
vendor/

• Place business logic in appropriate folders (e.g., services in app/Services).
• Use resources/views for Blade templates and UI components.
• Store migrations and seeders in database/.
• Use routes/ for route definitions (web.php for web, api.php for APIs).
• Place tests in the tests/ directory, organized by type (Unit, Feature).
• Use public/ for publicly accessible assets (images, JS, CSS).
• Use vendor/ for Composer dependencies.

Namespaces

Use PSR-4 autoloading and namespaces to organize code and avoid naming collisions.

// Good
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use App\Models\User;

// Bad
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
include_once '../../Models/User.php';

• Match namespaces to directory structure (e.g., App\Http\Controllers for app/Http/Controllers).
• Use use statements for importing classes and interfaces.
• Avoid using global functions or classes without namespaces.

Best Practices

• Keep the root directory clean; avoid placing custom code in the root.
• Group related files and features together.
• Use Composer for dependency management and autoloading.
• Document custom directories and their purpose for new team members.
• Regularly review and refactor project structure as the application grows.