Laravel 12: an early look and release date
When will Laravel 12 be released?
According to the Support Policy, Laravel 12 is scheduled to be released during Q1 of 2025.
The release of Laravel 12 doesn’t mean you must update all your projects immediately, though.
The framework last had LTS (Long-Term Support) in version 6, but each major version has two years of updates, which should give you enough time to get your codebase in check and upgrade it.
Laravel 11 will receive bug fixes until September 3, 2025 and security fixes until March 12, 2026.
| Version | PHP | Release | Bug fixes until | Security fixes until |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 8.2-8.3 | March 12, 2024 | September 3, 2025 | March 12, 2026 |
| 12 | 8.2-8.3 | Q1 2025 | Q3 2026 | Q1 2027 |
Install and test Laravel 12 right now
Laravel 12 hasn’t been released yet. Therefore, you must use the --dev flag on the official Laravel installer, which pulls the main branch from the laravel/laravel repository that always contains the latest code.
laravel new hello-world --dev
Or, if you prefer to use Composer explicitly:
composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel hello-world dev-master
What’s new in Laravel 12: features and changes
For now, there’s nothing clearly defined. But the Laravel team prepares the next major release of Laravel as soon as the last one is ready. For instance, they create a branch for every Illuminate repository and make minor (but breaking) changes all over the codebase:
- [12.x] Prep Laravel v12
- [12.x] Make Str::is() match multiline strings
- [12.x] Use native MariaDB CLI commands
- [12.x] Preserve numeric keys on the first level of the validator rules
- [12.x] Adds missing streamJson() to ResponseFactory contract
How to contribute your own breaking changes to Laravel 12
Did you know you can create the next big feature for Laravel 12?
- See what’s going on for Laravel 12 on GitHub: https://github.com/laravel/framework/pulls. The Pull Requests will tell you what’s already been done.
- Take one of your pain points with the framework and create a solution yourself.
- Send the PR over to the laravel/framework repository, collect feedback, improve, and get merged.
One important tip to increase your chances of being merged: add something to the framework that’s a win for developers but not a pain to maintain for Taylor and his team in the long run.
