LARAVEL 8 - Bootstrap 5

Since version 8 Laravel uses Tailwind CSS as its main CSS framework. Allthough being a first class CSS framework, developing using Tailwind CSS requires a lot of work because you’ll have to develop every reusable component from scratch yourself.

In the past a lot of developers, like myself, used Bootstrap. Laravel has dropped Bootstrap support since version 8. The easiest way to keep using Bootstrap in Laravel 8 is by creating a new Laravel project and then using the two commands :

composer require laravel/ui
php artisan ui bootstrap --auth

This installs the previous version Bootstrap 4.6.x and adds some scaffolding in case you use the – – auth option.

For those of us who want to keep using Bootstrap, there’s a simple way to create a new Laravel project using the latest Bootstrap 5 framework.

Tip :

If you’re looking for an excellent Local Web Development Server to develop your PHP based applications in a Microsoft Windows environment, please read my posts regarding Laragon.

2. LARAVEL 8 - Build the application manually from scratch

a. Create a new Laravel project

Start by creating a new Laravel project :

composer create-project laravel/laravel your-project-name

Then cd into the newly created project folder and install the Laravel UI package :

composer require laravel/ui

This legacy package is a very simple authentication scaffolding built on the Bootstrap 4 CSS framework.

Generate the Bootstrap scaffolding :

php artisan ui bootstrap --auth

This installs Bootstap 4.6 and generates the files needed for authentification.

b. Install Bootstrap 5

Now let’s install Bootstrap 5 :

npm install bootstrap@latest bootstrap-icons @popperjs/core --save-dev

This updates Bootstrap 4.6.x to version 5.x and adds the Bootstrap Icons and popper.js version 2.
Do not remove popper.js version 1!

c. Configure the .env file

Now open your project in your favorite code editor. I use Visual Studio Code.

Check and addapt all settings, especially the database connection and the mail settings.

d. Import Bootstrap Icons

Inside your project, open the file resources\sass\app.scss and add :

@import '~bootstrap-icons/font/bootstrap-icons';

e. Replace the scaffolding files

Inside your project, replace the Bootstrap 4 scaffolding files by the ones you can download here.

So replace the content of your projects /resources/views/ folder by the folder in the downloaded ZIP archive.

f. Finalize the application

Now create the database tables :

php artisan migrate

Then let’s finalize the setup :

npm install
npm run dev

Tip :

If the npm run dev command throws errors concerning missing dependencies, just run the command a second time.

Normaly all should be OK now and you can start developing your own Laravel 8 Bootstrap 5 application.

2. LARAVEL 8 - Build the application by cloning the GitHub repository

An empty demo Laravel 8 project containing Bootstrap 5 is available on GitHub.

a. Clone the GitHub repository

Inside the root folder of your local web development environment, open a new terminal window.
Enter the command :

git clone https://github.com/MGeurts/laravel-8-bootstrap-5.git

Change directory into the newly created project folder.

b. Install Composer Dependencies

Enter the command :

composer install

c. Install NPM Dependencies

Enter the commands :

npm install
npm run dev

d. Create your copy of the .env file

Enter the command :

cp .env.example .env

e. Generate an App Encryption Key

Enter the command :

php artisan key:generate

f. Create an empty database for our application

Use your favorite database management tool to create an empty database.
Configure a username and password.

g. Configure the .env file

Open the .env file for editing :

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=laravel
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=********

Adjust the DB_HOST, DB_PORT, DB_DATABASE, DB_USERNAME and DB_PASSWORD options to match your situation. Also adjust the mail settings:

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=mailhog
MAIL_PORT=1025
MAIL_USERNAME=null
MAIL_PASSWORD=null
MAIL_ENCRYPTION=null
MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=null
MAIL_FROM_NAME="${APP_NAME}"

Adjust the MAIL_HOST, MAIL_PORT, MAIL_USERNAME, MAIL_PASSWORD, MAIL_ENCRYPTION and MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS options to match your situation.