Laravel 12: an early look and release date

Benjamin Crozat

Modified on Feb 9, 2025 • 1 comment • Edit on GitHub

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.

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

Surprisingly, Laravel 12 doesn’t bring major new features exclusively to its branch. Most features landed during the Laravel 11.x lifecycle. This release is all about polish, performance, and fixes—a light major release.

Breaking changes to watch out for

1. Str::is() now matches multiline strings

The Str::is() helper (and str()->is()) now truly matches multiline strings using the regex s modifier. Previously, wildcard patterns like * didn’t match newline characters—if your code depended on that behavior, this is a breaking change.

[12.x] Make Str::is() match multiline strings.

2. MariaDB schema dump uses native CLI tools

Laravel’s migration system now uses MariaDB’s native command-line tools (mariadb-dump and mariadb). The --column-statistics flag has been removed since it’s not supported by mariadb-dump. If you’re on MariaDB, make sure these tools are available in your environment.

Use native MariaDB CLI commands.

3. ResponseFactory contract updated

The Illuminate\Contracts\Routing\ResponseFactory interface now officially includes the streamJson() method. While the concrete implementation had this feature in Laravel 11, the contract was missing it. Custom implementations may need updating to match the new interface.

[12.x] Adds missing streamJson() to ResponseFactory contract.

Bug fixes

Validator numeric keys preserved

There was an issue with the Validator where numeric rule keys were reindexed, leading to incorrect error messages. Laravel 12 fixes this by preserving the numeric keys as expected.

[12.x] Preserve numeric keys on the first level of the validator rules.

Framework & skeleton preparation for v12

To ensure new Laravel apps use the latest components, both the framework and the default skeleton have been updated. The composer.json in laravel/laravel now requires "laravel/framework": "^12.0", and related packages are bumped to 12.x versions.

• [12.x] Prep Laravel v12
• [12.x] Prep Laravel v12

How to contribute your own breaking changes to Laravel 12

Did you know you can create the next big feature for Laravel 12?

1. 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.
2. Take one of your pain points with the framework and create a solution yourself.
3. 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.

Final thoughts: should you upgrade to Laravel 12?

Laravel 12 is all about refining the experience, cleaning up the codebase, and setting the stage for future improvements. While it might not have flashy new features, these changes are crucial for performance, consistency, and long-term maintainability.

Have you started upgrading or testing Laravel 12 yet?