Freek.dev

A practical guide to deploying a high-performance Laravel stack using Octane, FrankenPHP, and a fully automated Docker Compose workflow.

Pause and resume Laravel queues using artisan commands and in code. Learn how to control workers, pause with TTLs, and manage queue flow precisely.

Run realistic load tests directly inside PHPUnit using Volt-Test 1.2.0. Detect race conditions, validate data integrity under load, and catch performance regressions early — all within your Laravel test suite.

In this episode of the Quick Win Wednesday series, we're using the new insert functionality on Factories. This reduces the amount of queries in our seeders.

In this guide, we'll explore everything from basic queue concepts to advanced patterns, with real performance data and production-ready examples.

Read about the difference between immutable and mutable dates in PHP. We'll also look at a common gotcha I've experienced when using mutable dates and how to avoid it.

This month covers code editors and IDEs.

Agentic workflow with Laravel that runs content review with feedback to match certain criteria. Very useful to get high quality content in one shot generation.

In this episode of the Quick Win Wednesday series, I'll have a look at how to use flexible caching in Laravel. A great way to avoid unhappy users who'll hit invalid cache.

Learn how to validate phone numbers in Laravel using built-in rules, regex patterns, and custom validation rules to handle local and international formats.

Read about my latest package: Email Utilities for Laravel. It's a small package which can be used to check and validate whether an email address is disposable or role-based.

A practical deep-dive into how Volt-Test’s PHP SDK brings first-class performance testing to Laravel developers. Learn how to write load tests in pure PHP, run them in CI/CD, and get instant insights without leaving your ecosystem.

A community-driven map connecting Laravel artisans worldwide. Discover developers, connect, and grow together in the Laravel ecosystem.

This article explores some exciting new features that have been added to the language in recent years, because sometimes vanilla is exactly what you need. If you’re looking to cut down on heavy dependencies or simply get up to date, this one’s for you.

The service pattern promised clarity but delivered chaos. Find out why it’s broken and how to fix it with a better & simpler architecture.

After a lot of years working with PHP and Laravel on PHPStorm, I am trying to use VSCode and this is how I configured it for the task.

Adding `fake()` methods to your custom facades in applications and packages can provide some nice DX and APIs.

Nimbus automatically analyzes your routes and validation rules to build an integrated API client for your app. Its Laravel-aware context makes it provide enhanced DX that traditional API platform tools cannot match.

This week I wrote about my experiences with technical and architectural debt. When I was a developer we used to distinguish between code debt (temporary hacks) and architectural debt (structural decisions that bite you later). But in enterprise architecture, it goes way beyond technical implementation. To me architectural debt is found on all layers. Application/Infrastructure layer: This is about integration patterns, system overlap, and vendor lock-in. Not the code itself, but how applications interact with each other. Debt here directly hits operations through increased costs and slower delivery. Business layer: This covers ownership, stewardship, and process documentation. When business processes are outdated or phantom processes exist, people work under wrong assumptions. Projects start on the back foot before they even begin. Issues here multiply operational problems. Strategy layer: The most damaging level. If your business capability maps are outdated or misaligned, you're basing 3-5 year strategies on wrong assumptions. This blocks transformation and can make bad long-term strategy look appealing.