Introduction

Embarking on your Laravel journey on MacOS? This detailed guide will walk you through installing Composer, Laravel, and Laravel Valet. Get ready to set up a robust PHP development environment on your MacOS machine! 🚀

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure that you have:

MacOS running on your computer
Homebrew installed (Visit Homebrew for installation instructions)

Step 1: Installing PHP and Composer with Homebrew

PHP and Composer are essential for Laravel. Install them using Homebrew:

Install PHP

brew install php

Install Composer

brew install composer

Step 2: Adding Composer to Your PATH

To ensure global access to Composer, add it to your $PATH in your ~/.bash_profile or ~/.zshrc file:

  
export PATH="$HOME/.composer/vendor/bin:$PATH"

Then, reload your profile:

  
source ~/.bash_profile
# Or, if you're using Zsh
source ~/.zshrc

Step 3: Installing Laravel

With Composer installed, you can now install Laravel:

composer global require laravel/installer

This command installs Laravel globally, enabling you to create new Laravel projects easily.

Step 4: Installing Laravel Valet

Laravel Valet is a lightweight development environment for MacOS. To install it:

Install Valet with Composer

composer global require laravel/valet

Run the Valet installation command

valet install

After installation, Valet will start the necessary background services, like Nginx.

Step 5: Configuring and Using Laravel Valet

Park Directories: Run valet park in a directory to serve all projects within.
Link Individual Projects: Use valet link project-name in a project directory to serve it as http://project-name.test.

Step 6: Running Your Laravel Project

To run your Laravel project:

valet open

Or access it at http://project-name.test in your browser. 🌐

Conclusion

You’re now equipped with Laravel and Laravel Valet on your MacOS. This setup is ideal for a smooth and efficient development process. Dive into Laravel and create amazing applications! 🚀👨‍💻👩‍💻

Additional Resources

Explore these tools and refer to the official documentation for advanced configurations and troubleshooting. Happy coding! 🎈👩‍💻👨‍💻

Comprehensive Guide to Installing Laravel and Laravel Valet on MacOS