5 ways to check which Laravel version you are running

Did you ever asked yourself “What laravel version do I have?”

Well, to check which Laravel version you are running, the quickest way is to use the php artisan --version command.

One important aspect of using Laravel is knowing how to check which version you are working with, as different versions can have different features and requirements.

Let’s review the multiple other ways to find out which version of Laravel you are using.

The about command shows you the version of Laravel

The about command not only displays the Laravel version but also other helpful information about your project, such as the PHP version, Composer version, and cache drivers.

However, it is important to note that the about command is only available in Laravel 8 or later.

php artisan about
 
Environment ................................................................
Application Name ........................................... Benjamin Crozat
Laravel Version ..................................................... 9.43.0
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 is the original way

If you are using an older version of Laravel, you can still use the --version flag to display the Laravel version.

This is the original method of checking it before the about command was introduced. The –version flag can be used with any php artisan command to display the Laravel version.

php artisan --version
 
Laravel Framework 9.43.0

The app() helper has a version() method

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

// 9.43.0
app()->version();

Check inside the composer.json and composer.lock files for laravel/framework version

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": "v9.43.0",
    "source": {
        "type": "git",
        "url": "https://github.com/laravel/framework.git",
        "reference": "2ca2b168a3e995a8ec6ea2805906379095d20080"
    }
}

The version is also burried inside Laravel’s source code

Open your favorite code editor and search for vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Foundation/Application.php. The exact version of Laravel you are using is written in the VERSION constant.

…
 
class Application extends Container implements ApplicationContract, CachesConfiguration, CachesRoutes, HttpKernelInterface
{
    …
 
    const VERSION = '9.43.0';
 
    …
}