Getting Started with the Laravel Blog Starter Kit

Unlike most packages, this kit is not installed through Composer, instead you use the repository as a template to build your own blog. If you know your way around Laravel, you can follow the Quick Start Guide, otherwise you can skip to the full tutorial.

Quick Start

Requirements

The kit uses Laravel 9 which requires PHP >= 8.0.

Installation

1git clone https://github.com/caendesilva/laravel-blogkit.git
2cd laravel-blogkit
3composer install
4npm install && npm run dev

Configuration

1cp .env.example .env && nano .env # Configure your database
2php artisan migrate
3php artisan key:generate
4php artisan storage:link
5 
6php artisan admin:create # Create your admin user

Tutorial

Prerequisites

The kit uses Laravel 9 which requires PHP >= 8.0. This is a quick start guide that assumes you are familiar with the basics of Laravel and Git, and it will not go into detail on how to set up your development environment. It will also not cover deploying to production.

This guide was created using Windows Terminal (PowerShell) and VSCode on a Windows 10 workstation, but you should be able to follow along on macOS and Linux as well.

The guide uses the v1.0.0 release.

Cloning the repository

Start by navigating to a folder, such as your Documents folder, and clone the repository.

1# Clone from the release branch (recommended)
2git clone -b release https://github.com/caendesilva/laravel-blogkit.git blog-guide
3 
4# Or the master
5git clone https://github.com/caendesilva/laravel-blogkit.git

Now we can start the setup

1# Enter the directory
2cd blog-guide
3 
4# Install composer dependencies
5composer install
6 
7# Install node modules and compile assets
8npm install
9npm run dev

Now is a good time to configure your environment and database. I recommend using MySQL, but that is just a personal preference. If you are on Windows, you can use XAMPP to set it up.

1# You can base your .env file on the provided example using:
2cp .env.example .env

Once you have configured your database it's time to run the migrations.

1# You can base your .env file on the provided example using:
2php artisan migrate
3 
4# You also need to generate your app key using:
5php artisan key:generate
6 
7# And link your storage folder using:
8php artisan storage:link

Next, we want to create our Admin user with the built-in artisan command which guides you through the process

1# Run the command and follow the on-screen instructions
2php artisan admin:create

Now we are ready to serve!

1# Start the development server with
2php artisan serve

Now you can visit http://localhost:8000/ in your browser.

You should now see a blank app page!

Creating your first post

Your blog is not very fun at the moment. It needs content! Navigate to the login page at http://localhost:8000/login and enter the login details you created for the admin user.

Next, go to the "Create post" page at http://localhost:8000/posts/create and start writing your post!

Hit save, and marvel at your beautiful blog post!

What's next?

While this app is fully functional and has a lot of customizable features it (in my humble opinion) shines as a starting point for your blog. Since this is just a template, you don't need to worry about keeping compatibility with future releases. The code is yours. Modify away! And please send me a link to what you make, I'd love to see it!

You should also take a look at the blog config file in config/blog.php as it has a ton of settings you can use to customize things fast. You can also check out the dedicated blog post I made about the configuration and customization possibilities.

Conclusion

That's all for this post! I hope you learned something. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments, and Tweet your creations to me at @caendesilva!