Check Laravel version: 4 easy ways

To check which Laravel version you are using, the quickest way to do it is to use the php artisan --version command.

But there are multiple other ways to do it. Let’s review them.

The about command

The about command gives you the Laravel version you are running as well as a lot of other information about your project.

php artisan about
 
Environment ................................................................
Application Name ........................................... Benjamin Crozat
Laravel Version ..................................................... 9.29.0
PHP Version ......................................................... 8.1.10
Composer Version ..................................................... 2.4.1
Environment .......................................................... local
Debug Mode ......................................................... ENABLED
URL .................................................... benjamincrozat.test
Maintenance Mode ....................................................... OFF
 
Cache ......................................................................
Config .......................................................... NOT CACHED
Events .......................................................... NOT CACHED
Routes .......................................................... NOT CACHED
Views ............................................................... CACHED
 
Drivers ....................................................................
Broadcasting ........................................................... log
Cache ................................................................ redis
Database ............................................................. mysql
Logs ........................................................ stack / single
Mail .................................................................. smtp
Queue ................................................................. sync
Session .............................................................. redis

The –version flag

Before Laravel blessed us with the about command, it was also possible to check your project’s Laravel version like so:

php artisan --version
 
Laravel Framework 9.29.0

The app() helper

The app() helper will give you access to many information, such as the Laravel version you are running. Try this simple code below:

// 9.28.0
app()->version();

Check inside the composer.json and composer.lock files

In your composer.json, you will be able to get the minimum version of Laravel your project is locked on:

"require": {
    "php": "^8.0.2",
    "guzzlehttp/guzzle": "^7.2",
    "laravel/framework": "^9.19",
    "laravel/sanctum": "^3.0",
    "laravel/tinker": "^2.7"
},

As you can see, this project is locked on Laravel 9.19.0 or earlier.

But this might not be enough. Search for “laravel/framework” inside your composer.lock file to get the exact Laravel version that’s installed on your project :

{
    "name": "laravel/framework",
    "version": "v9.30.0",
    "source": {
        "type": "git",
        "url": "https://github.com/laravel/framework.git",
        "reference": "2ca2b168a3e995a8ec6ea2805906379095d20080"
    }
}