Laravel 13 is HERE — Every New Feature Explained (2026)

[00:00] Welcome back to the channel.

[00:02] If you are a Laravel developer, this

[00:04] video is for you.

[00:06] Today, we are going to talk about

[00:08] Laravel 13, which is released recently

[00:11] on March 3rd week, 2026.

[00:16] In this video, I will explain you the

[00:18] main updates in simple way, including

[00:20] new features, improvements, and removed

[00:23] items with a clear examples.

[00:26] The best part,

[00:27] Laravel 13 has no breaking changes. It

[00:30] is one of the easiest major Laravel

[00:33] upgrades, and many apps can be upgraded

[00:37] very quickly.

[00:39] But, there is a still many exciting

[00:41] updates like AI features, especially

[00:45] uh passkey authentication, web socket,

[00:48] web socket improvements, and PHP

[00:50] attributes.

[00:53] Let's get started.

[00:55] Now, the agenda.

[00:57] What we will cover in this video. What

[01:00] we will cover today.

[01:02] This video has 10 main sections. If you

[01:05] can see,

[01:08] PHP attributes,

[01:10] release overview,

[01:11] cache queue updates, JSON API resources,

[01:13] Laravel AI SDK, especially.

[01:17] Right? That is the powerful feature of

[01:20] Laravel 13. That is nothing but AI SDK.

[01:24] I hope

[01:25] in future releases also, in every

[01:29] Laravel new version release, definitely

[01:31] they will integrate AI and AI related

[01:34] integrations, I'm sure.

[01:36] Because everyday AI today in the market.

[01:39] Right? Like you can see other other

[01:41] features also, passkey authentication,

[01:43] and what removed, what is deprecated.

[01:45] Right? Let's talk about this.

[01:48] So, let's have a overview of the

[01:51] release.

[01:53] So, Laravel 13 was released on March 17,

[01:56] 2026.

[01:57] PHP 8.3, that is a minimum requirement.

[02:00] There is no breaking changes. Bug fixes

[02:03] support is available until Q3 2027, as

[02:06] well as the security fixes support is

[02:08] available up to Q1 2028. Maybe around 2

[02:11] years is there. Now, let's talk about

[02:14] the

[02:15] the big feature, that is nothing but

[02:17] native PHP attributes. This is also

[02:20] called hash bracket syntax. If you don't

[02:22] know, don't worry, I will create

[02:24] separate video on what is a hash bracket

[02:26] syntax, how that is work.

[02:28] So, this hash bracket syntax is

[02:30] introduced in PHP 8 version.

[02:33] But, Laravel did not use them much

[02:35] before. Now, Laravel 13 uses them in a

[02:39] much better way.

[02:42] So, what is the syntax will do? We just

[02:44] if we can observe, before Laravel 12,

[02:46] after Laravel 13.

[02:48] Can you see in Laravel 12, we have a

[02:51] model. In that model, we are defining

[02:53] the properties like table, primary key,

[02:55] key type, increment, fillable, casts,

[02:58] hidden, and lot of things we can define.

[03:00] But, they're all inside the class. But,

[03:02] if you can see Laravel 13, what is

[03:05] there?

[03:07] Much of the configuration can be written

[03:10] using PHP attributes just above the

[03:12] class.

[03:14] All these properties are going to become

[03:16] into a configuration, which are going to

[03:19] be defined inside hash bracket syntax.

[03:22] This keeps the class very clean and

[03:24] makes you main logic very easier. So,

[03:27] what we will do? Any logic you want

[03:29] Right, you can write that in the class.

[03:31] And we don't want to write those

[03:33] properties inside the class.

[03:35] The best part is, one thing remember,

[03:37] this feature is optional. Old code will

[03:39] work still without any changes.

[03:42] But, my suggestion, we are using Laravel

[03:44] 13, so let us go with Laravel 13.

[03:48] So, we don't know what is going to be

[03:49] happen in future. So, but as of now,

[03:52] both are compatible. If it is a Laravel

[03:54] 13 version, you can use

[03:56] the eloquent model how you define

[03:59] previously,

[04:00] or now you can use the same 13 way, that

[04:02] is nothing but hash bracket syntax. You

[04:05] can exactly we can use this hash bracket

[04:07] syntax.

[04:09] The PHP attributes not only for eloquent

[04:11] models, and they are available many

[04:14] places.

[04:16] Some common examples if we can see, we

[04:17] just now we seen eloquent models for

[04:20] defining the tables, primary keys,

[04:21] fillable, casts, and all for defining,

[04:23] we can use the eloquent models. Not only

[04:25] this,

[04:26] for working with artisan commands also,

[04:29] in artisan commands where we can define

[04:30] the signature and description,

[04:32] and jobs, some job classes are there to

[04:36] set the queue connections, so queue

[04:38] name, and retry attempts.

[04:42] We have event listeners, define which

[04:44] event listener should handles.

[04:46] So, we can all define notifications,

[04:48] mailables, broadcast events, all of the

[04:52] configuration,

[04:53] all of these related configurations, we

[04:55] can keep into this hash bracket syntax.

[04:58] These are the some common places.

[05:00] Definitely, I'm sure in upcoming

[05:02] sessions, we will discuss about this.

[05:04] And one more thing, these all attributes

[05:07] are 100% optional.

[05:09] Now, the next one, Laravel AI SDK.

[05:14] The Laravel AI SDK was in beta before,

[05:17] but from this latest release, it is a

[05:20] stable and ready to use for production.

[05:24] It is an official Laravel package

[05:26] that gives you a simple and common way

[05:29] to work with the AI providers like

[05:31] OpenAI, Anthropic, and Gemini, and other

[05:34] AI providers.

[05:36] So, we can work with them very easily

[05:37] without using any third-party package.

[05:40] This Laravel AI SDK package is provided

[05:43] by the Laravel itself. We don't want to

[05:45] go for any third-party.

[05:47] So, the as of now, we can see some of

[05:49] the powerful features, text generation

[05:52] with AI agents, image generation, audio

[05:55] and text-to-speech,

[05:58] and embeddings, and vector search. All

[06:00] how we are doing? So, with just with the

[06:03] help of prompts, we are generating all

[06:05] these things, right? Definitely, these

[06:07] features are going to be available in

[06:09] Laravel also with this package. If you

[06:13] want to implement AI-powered search

[06:16] functionalities in your website,

[06:18] definitely, this package will makes a

[06:21] blow. I'm I'm sure

[06:23] in future also, any new releases coming

[06:27] from Laravel, definitely, they will come

[06:29] with new integrations for AI.

[06:31] I'm sure.

[06:32] Every release, you know, we are in 13,

[06:34] maybe 14, 15, 16, every new release,

[06:38] definitely, they will come with a new AI

[06:40] integrations. So,

[06:43] If you can see, Reverb database

[06:46] driver.

[06:48] This is a very useful update in Laravel

[06:50] 13 about this Reverb

[06:52] database driver.

[06:54] Laravel Reverb is a Laravel's official

[06:56] web socket server.

[06:58] Earlier, if you wanted to run Reverb on

[07:01] multiple servers, you need Redis

[07:03] database for this to messages between

[07:06] the multiple servers, to communicate

[07:07] between the multiple servers. Now,

[07:09] Laravel 13 adds a new database driver

[07:12] for Reverb.

[07:13] This means you can use MySQL or

[07:16] PostgreSQL instead of Redis.

[07:19] So, we don't want to do anything. Just

[07:20] you see, before Redis, after Redis.

[07:23] So, there is a scaling inside we have

[07:25] driver property, there you set Redis.

[07:27] Now, you can see in the after Laravel

[07:30] drive after Laravel 13 database driver,

[07:32] if you can see the section,

[07:34] driver is database.

[07:37] What is the database you are working

[07:38] with? The database it will connect

[07:39] automatically.

[07:41] So, we don't want to do anything. You

[07:43] only need to change one config value

[07:45] from the Redis to database, that's all.

[07:47] Which one you are using by default, it

[07:49] will continue with that. So, we don't

[07:51] want to work hard here. So, for this

[07:54] especially for the Reverb database, this

[07:56] is a very nice fix coming from the

[07:58] Laravel.

[08:01] So, this is why this is helpful means,

[08:03] no need to install Redis in smaller

[08:05] projects.

[08:06] Easier to set up and manage. You can use

[08:09] your existing database. No need to go

[08:12] for any other. Good enough for many

[08:15] Laravel applications. For very large

[08:17] apps, still Redis is faster.

[08:20] But, for most projects,

[08:22] the new database driver is great option.

[08:25] Let's talk about the next feature, that

[08:26] is nothing but a passkey authentication.

[08:30] Laravel 13 is now support passkey

[08:32] authentication directly

[08:34] in starter kits

[08:36] and a Fortify.

[08:38] Earlier, we have to take some

[08:40] third-party libraries help to do this,

[08:43] but now we don't want to go for any

[08:45] third-party.

[08:46] So, it is available inside Laravel

[08:49] itself directly. What are the passkeys?

[08:51] Let me explain you. Passkeys are a

[08:54] modern replacement of passwords.

[08:56] Generally, we will type the passwords.

[08:58] Instead of typing passwords, user can

[09:01] log in using Face ID, fingerprint,

[09:04] Windows Hello, hardware security keys

[09:06] also.

[09:08] Definitely, this is going to be more

[09:10] useful. Why this is more useful?

[09:12] Biometric login works out of the box.

[09:15] Hardware keys are also supported. No

[09:18] extra packages are required. That is

[09:20] very important. Passkeys use public key

[09:23] security.

[09:25] The public key is stored on server,

[09:27] but the private key stays safely on

[09:31] user's device.

[09:33] This makes login more secure and

[09:35] protects the

[09:37] protects it against the phishing

[09:38] phishing techniques and everything,

[09:40] whatever it is.

[09:43] One of the powerful mechanism that is

[09:44] passkey authentication. You believe me

[09:47] or not, recently, I have implemented

[09:49] passkey authentication for iPhone

[09:52] uh in one of my projects.

[09:54] So, people are slowly the people are

[09:55] asking these features. That's why these

[09:58] people also introduced this

[09:59] authentication. The next new feature is

[10:02] cache and queue enhancements. What is

[10:04] this? Laravel 13 introduced there is a

[10:07] method called cache a touch.

[10:09] It lets you to extend the cache expiry

[10:12] time without reloading or changing the

[10:15] cache data.

[10:16] You see that powerful feature. But

[10:18] earlier what is happening? If you wanted

[10:21] to keep cache data alive, you had to

[10:24] reload and save it again.

[10:26] Or let it expire.

[10:28] Now you can simply update the TTL for

[10:31] the same cache key.

[10:34] This is useful for active users session

[10:37] like caching and keeping frequently used

[10:40] data fresh.

[10:42] The next feature.

[10:44] JSON API resources and security. What

[10:48] exactly this is? Simply says Laravel 13

[10:50] has a built-in JSON API resource

[10:53] support. We don't want to go for any

[10:55] third party again. It automatically

[10:57] handles the correct formatting, field

[11:00] selection, relationships, and headers

[11:02] and everything.

[11:03] No need for extra packages or manual

[11:06] setup to work with this JSON API in

[11:08] future. In Laravel 13 specially.

[11:10] CSRF protection is improved provided a

[11:13] middleware

[11:14] to improve the CSRF protection. The

[11:17] middleware name is prevent request

[11:19] forgery.

[11:20] We can check this also. It checks both

[11:23] the token and the request origin for

[11:26] better security. Next one.

[11:28] Teams, bug fixes, and other additions.

[11:31] Laravel 13 brings back the teams

[11:33] feature. It is back with a better

[11:36] structure.

[11:37] This helps you to build apps with the

[11:40] multiple teams, user management, roles

[11:43] and permissions, and the team switching.

[11:46] This is a very useful SaaS application.

[11:49] Laravel 13 fixes an important MySQL

[11:52] issue.

[11:53] Before

[11:54] if you use a delete with join

[11:57] the order by and limit options are

[12:00] ignored.

[12:02] Because of this, Laravel could delete

[12:04] all matching records instead of only the

[12:07] required few.

[12:09] Now this problem is fixed. Still after

[12:12] upgrading, test your delete queries

[12:14] carefully.

[12:16] STR factory reset test. This is also an

[12:20] issue and it is also fixed in Laravel

[12:21] 13.

[12:23] Before, if one test changed the STR

[12:26] factory behavior, that change could

[12:29] affect other tests also. And create

[12:32] confusing errors. Now Laravel reset it

[12:35] automatically after each test.

[12:39] Next one more thing. Semantic vector

[12:41] search. In Laravel 13 adds where vector

[12:45] similar to method

[12:47] to the query builder.

[12:49] This allows semantic search with

[12:52] PostgreSQL

[12:53] and PG vector.

[12:55] It is useful for AI features like

[12:58] embedding base search.

[13:01] Next one. The verification email

[13:04] improvements.

[13:06] Laravel 13 also improves the subject

[13:09] lines of verification emails and

[13:11] password reset emails.

[13:14] They now follow modern email

[13:16] capitalization style. It is a small

[13:19] change, but it makes Laravel looks more

[13:22] polished really.

[13:25] Now let us talk about what was dropped

[13:28] in Laravel. I mean what is removed.

[13:31] Right? What are the breaking changes?

[13:33] And let us see. PHP 8.0 is removed for

[13:36] the support. Definitely you have to go

[13:37] 8.3 or higher. Verify CSRF token has

[13:41] been replaced with the prevent request

[13:43] forgery.

[13:45] Laravel 13 makes small changes to how

[13:48] some cache data is stored. But most apps

[13:52] will not notice this. But if you cache a

[13:55] complex object, test carefully. Cache

[13:57] session naming defaults and name

[14:00] arguments stability removed. Now the

[14:04] next one is going to be upgrading

[14:06] to Laravel 13. So most of the Laravel

[14:10] apps now 12.

[14:13] So how we can upgrade this?

[14:16] First make sure your project is using

[14:18] 8.3 version or higher. So find the PHP

[14:21] version by using PHP hyphen V.

[14:24] You'll get the latest version. As well

[14:26] as update the composer.json. So in that

[14:28] composer.json we have version with caps

[14:30] 12.0. Just change this to cap 13.0 and

[14:33] run composer update. Just if you can run

[14:36] composer composer update Laravel

[14:37] framework, it will

[14:39] take the latest version of the Laravel.

[14:41] Also review the custom CSRF middleware

[14:45] if it is added in it.

[14:49] So test on staging. Definitely you have

[14:51] to test the application and use Laravel

[14:54] Shift. That is optional for bigger

[14:56] projects you can use Laravel Shift. It

[14:58] helps you to automate the upgrade.

[15:01] And creates a pull request with

[15:03] suggested changes actually. That's the

[15:05] best option. Look at the key takeaways.

[15:08] There is no breaking changes. 8.3 is

[15:10] required.

[15:12] PHP attribute that is a new feature

[15:13] implemented. Now the support is

[15:16] available implemented in Laravel 13.

[15:18] Laravel AI SDK. One of the powerful new

[15:22] feature is also added. And passkey

[15:24] authentication.

[15:26] Reverb can now use MySQL PostgreSQL

[15:30] instead of Redis. Laravel 13 brings many

[15:34] useful improvements and makes

[15:36] development even better.

[15:38] Yeah, this is all about Laravel 13

[15:40] updates. You can also check the official

[15:42] Laravel 13 docs and upgrade guide.

[15:46] Let me know in the comment section which

[15:48] Laravel 13 feature do you like the most?

[15:52] Yeah. If this video is helpful to you,

[15:55] please like and subscribe.

[15:57] See you in the next video. Thank you.