Most of the time, enum cases are sorted alphabetically and the order doesn't matter. But when it does matter, a well-placed comment can save your team from a subtle mistake. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

I still enjoy writing code, but it just doesn't compare with the frustration + satisfaction of fixing physical hardware. I just reconstructed shoulder buttons and replaced an LCD on this Nintendo DSi. It feels like defusing a bomb, such a thrill 😀

Using workarounds without creating a mess | Mastering Laravel Keep them from piling up as technical debt

Workarounds are sometimes unavoidable. But a little extra care when you implement them can keep your codebase from turning into a pile of technical debt. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

Code for the schema you wish you had | Mastering Laravel Don't let legacy constraints leak into your new code

When your new Laravel app has to read from legacy databases you can't change, it's tempting to let the weirdness spread everywhere. Here's a better approach. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

When weird code needs to explain itself | Mastering Laravel Making the non-obvious impossible to miss

What happens when your code does something weird on purpose? In this week's podcast, Aaron and I talk about how to communicate non-obvious decisions so your whole team stays on the same page. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

The right way to fix double encoding in Blade components | Mastering Laravel The internet often gets it wrong

In today's video, I tracked down a double encoding bug in a Blade component. A lot of online advice was wrong, which leads to the deeper lesson on understanding any solution you adopt before blindly accepting it. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

Why I still review every line Claude writes | Mastering Laravel AI is great at writing code, but it doesn't always know when to stop

Claude extracted a query into its own method in a simple Livewire component. The code was fine. The decision was wrong for my app. Here's why that kind of review still matters. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

Joins in Eloquent? How? | Mastering Laravel There's a package for that

Sometimes you need a join for performance or sorting by relations. Here's a package that lets you do that without giving up Eloquent. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

Laravel does not provide one no. You just need to satisfy the contract and it's fine. Easy enough to workaround, but when things work accidentally (like with a string), I like to call it out so others don't get bit :)

Your composer audit notes may soon be a legal requirement | Mastering Laravel The EU agrees that documenting your reasoning matters

That habit of documenting why you ignored a CVE in composer.json? The EU Cyber Resilience Act is about to make it a legal requirement for anyone selling software in Europe. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

A subtle gotcha when faking UUIDs in tests | Mastering Laravel It works until it doesn't

Laravel makes it easy to fake UUIDs in tests with Str::createUuidsUsing, but returning a plain string instead of a proper UUID object can break in ways you might not anticipate. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

An easy way to test UUIDs | Mastering Laravel Laravel has you covered

In today's video, I look at a few different ways to test UUIDs in Laravel and talk about why the approach you pick matters. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

Don't just silence composer security warnings | Mastering Laravel A documented reason turns a warning into a decision

When composer audit flags a CVE that doesn't apply to your app, don't just make the warning go away. The way you handle it communicates a lot to your future self and your team. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

Take time to make things better | Mastering Laravel Look for opportunities to make things just a little bit nicer than you found them.

When you're already in the code, small improvements add up. Here's how to spot those opportunities without derailing your main task. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

Manual transactions don't fail the way you'd expect | Mastering Laravel The closure does more than clean up your code

If you use DB::beginTransaction() and DB::commit() instead of the DB::transaction() closure, you might be leaving your database in a weird state when things go wrong. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

Are you testing your app or just the framework? | Mastering Laravel A simple litmus test for your test suite

How do you know if a test is actually useful? In this week's podcast, Aaron and I share a simple rule for spotting tests that only prove the framework works, not your application. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

Another reason I like fillable instead of guarded | Mastering Laravel Every little bit helps

In today's video, I wade into the classic fillable vs guarded debate with a reason you might not have heard before: guarded triggers a hidden database query. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

A subtle gotcha with Eloquent's date cast | Mastering Laravel What you read isn't always what gets stored

If you use Eloquent's date cast on a DATETIME column, you might be silently persisting time data that Eloquent hides from you. Here's how it happens. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

A scenario using events and observers together | Mastering Laravel Sometimes it's useful to pair events and observers together. Let's look at one real-world example.

Events and observers each have their strengths, but sometimes the best approach is to use them together. Here's a real-world scenario where pairing them keeps your app fast and your logic reusable. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

A better way to memoize within a request | Mastering Laravel A framework-supported upgrade to a plain PHP trick

I once shared a static variable trick for avoiding repeated lookups within a request. Laravel now has a first-party helper that's cleaner and more robust. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

When loadMissing works against you | Mastering Laravel Sometimes the extra query is worth it

Using loadMissing() to avoid duplicate queries? If the relationship was previously loaded with a filter, you might silently get incomplete data. Here's when the extra query is actually worth it. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

Another nice feature for local pull request review | Mastering Laravel It's even nicer than GitHub's UI

In today's video, I show you how PHPStorm's PR review tools give you better file tracking than GitHub's own interface. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

A quick RDS storage tweak for your Laravel app | Mastering Laravel Save money and get faster queries with one change

If your Laravel app runs on Amazon RDS, switching from gp2 to gp3 storage can save money and improve performance. Here's how to do it safely. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

How do you know if something is slow in production? | Mastering Laravel The tools we used for finding slow code in development are not suitable for production. So how can we find slow code there?

We all want fast code, but how do you find the slow spots in production? Here are two approaches that have worked well for us. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

MySQL defaults were not designed for your Laravel app | Mastering Laravel A few InnoDB settings that are worth a second look

MySQL ships with conservative defaults meant for minimal hardware. Here's a quick read that highlights the InnoDB settings most likely to matter for your Laravel app. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

Being anti-hype does not mean being anti-AI | Mastering Laravel Taking time to learn before speaking up

Does everyone need to have an immediate opinion on AI? In this week's podcast, Aaron and I discuss why waiting to build deeper knowledge before sharing opinions is not the same as being against new technology. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

Eager loading, but only if you really need to | Mastering Laravel A one-word change to eliminate duplicate queries

In today's video, I show you a one-word change that can eliminate duplicate eager loading queries in your Laravel app. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

Let an AI agent dig through your git history | Mastering Laravel Old code is never truly gone when you have git and a smart assistant

Deleted code lives on in git history, and AI agents like Claude Code can search through it for you. Here's an example of finding old code when you're not even quite sure what to search for. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

Try not to make things worse | Mastering Laravel Tidy as you go

When you find messy code, it's tempting to just work around it. But sometimes a small refactor now saves a lot of pain later. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...

Common objections to deleting dead code | Mastering Laravel Every one of them has a better alternative

When you suggest deleting dead code, someone always says "but what if I need it later?" Here are four common objections and why none of them hold up. masteringlaravel.io/daily/2026-0...