Programster's Blog

Tutorials focusing on Linux, programming, and open-source

Ubuntu - Create a Laravel Project


Install composer if you haven't already.

Install the necessary PHP extensions:

sudo apt install -y \
  openssl php8.0-curl libapache2-mod-php8.0 php8.0-mbstring \
  php8.0-mysql php8.0-xml php8.0-zip php8.0-pdo


Create folder for your project and navigate into it.


Install Laravel Through Composer

Initialize the project through composer.

composer create-project laravel/laravel . --prefer-dist

That will install the latest version of laravel. If you wish to install a specific version of laravel, use:

composer create-project laravel/laravel . 5.8 --prefer-dist

If running Ubuntu 18.04, you probably want to have the following packages installed: php7.2-cli php7.2-bcmath php7.2-mysql php7.2-xml php7.2-mbstring php7.2-json.

Composer.json File

You should now have the Laravel framework in place. I would recommend taking a look at the composer.json file (below) and adding your own packages under require at this point.

    "name": "laravel/laravel",
    "type": "project",
    "description": "The Laravel Framework.",
    "license": "MIT",
    "require": {
        "php": "^7.3|^8.0",
        "fideloper/proxy": "^4.4",
        "fruitcake/laravel-cors": "^2.0",
        "guzzlehttp/guzzle": "^7.0.1",
        "laravel/framework": "^8.40",
        "laravel/tinker": "^2.5"
    "require-dev": {
        "facade/ignition": "^2.5",
        "fakerphp/faker": "^1.9.1",
        "laravel/sail": "^1.0.1",
        "mockery/mockery": "^1.4.2",
        "nunomaduro/collision": "^5.0",
        "phpunit/phpunit": "^9.3.3"
    "autoload": {
        "psr-4": {
            "App\\": "app/",
            "Database\\Factories\\": "database/factories/",
            "Database\\Seeders\\": "database/seeders/"
    "autoload-dev": {
        "psr-4": {
            "Tests\\": "tests/"
    "scripts": {
        "post-autoload-dump": [
            "@php artisan package:discover --ansi"
        "post-root-package-install": [
        "post-create-project-cmd": [
            "@php artisan key:generate --ansi"
    "extra": {
        "laravel": {
            "dont-discover": []
    "config": {
        "optimize-autoloader": true,
        "preferred-install": "dist",
        "sort-packages": true
    "minimum-stability": "dev",
    "prefer-stable": true

Test it Out!

If you have php installed locally, you can try it out immediately by running the php local webserver like so:

php -S localhost:8080 public/index.php

Then navigate to localhost:8080 in your browser and you should see this:

The reason for using port 8080 is that it doesn't require admin privileges. If you want, you can use prefix the command above with sudo and use port 80 instead.


I have created a publicly available dockerized version of Laravel that you can use to quickly get started and deployed if you like.

To run my dockerized version of Laravel, use the following commands:

git clone
cd dockerized-laravel
composer update
cd docker

Wait for it to finish building before running the container.



Last updated: 20th May 2021
First published: 16th August 2018