Before installing Laravel, make sure your system has PHP 8.2+ (PHP 8.3+ if you're targeting Laravel 13), Composer (PHP's dependency manager), and a database such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite.
Option 1: Laravel Installer
composer global require laravel/installer
laravel new blog
cd blog
php artisan serve
Option 2: Composer create-project
composer create-project laravel/laravel blog
cd blog
php artisan serve
Option 3: Laravel Sail (Docker) Sail ships with every new Laravel app and spins up a full environment (PHP, MySQL, Redis, etc.) inside Docker containers — no need to install PHP or MySQL locally:
curl -s "https://laravel.build/blog" | bash
cd blog
./vendor/bin/sail up
Once the server is running, visiting http://localhost:8000 shows the default Laravel welcome page. Your .env file controls environment-specific configuration — database credentials, mail settings, app key, debug mode — and should never be committed to version control. Run php artisan key:generate to create the unique APP_KEY used for encryption.
For Laravel 13 specifically, the installer will prompt you to choose whether to include the new AI SDK starter configuration, and requires PHP 8.3 or newer.