Installation

Install Laravolt v8 into a Laravel application, publish the platform assets, run migrations, and create the first administrator account.

Requirements

Laravolt v8 targets the current Laravel and Livewire generation.

Laravolt also relies on common PHP extensions: bcmath, ctype, curl, gd, json, mbstring, openssl, pdo, and xml.

Install the package

Add Laravolt to a fresh or existing Laravel application:

composer require laravolt/laravolt:^8.1

For a new project, the starter kit v1.8+ already includes it: composer create-project laravolt/laravel-starter-kit my-app.

Laravolt is split into small packages under the laravolt/* namespace (for example laravolt/preline-form, laravolt/suitable, laravolt/auto-crud). The main metapackage wires the service providers, migrations, and configuration together.

Run the installer

php artisan laravolt:install

The installer publishes configuration, migrations, assets, and seed data used by the platform modules.

laravolt:install currently has no flags. It publishes the skeleton, Laravolt migrations, platform assets, media-library migrations, and Pest 4 setup.

Run migrations

Laravolt ships migrations for platform tables such as users, roles, permissions, settings, jobs, media, and workflow state.

php artisan migrate

Follow normal Laravel migration practices in production: review the generated SQL, back up important data, and migrate during a safe deployment window.

Create the first admin user

Create an administrator account after the platform tables exist:

php artisan laravolt:admin

The command asks for name, email, and password when they are not provided. It also supports positional arguments for scripted provisioning; see Artisan commands and verify command help before using optional flags in CI.

Build frontend assets

Laravolt v8 uses Preline UI and Tailwind CSS for its UI foundation. Install frontend dependencies with the package manager your project uses:

# npm
npm install
npm run build

# bun
bun install
bun run build

# pnpm
pnpm install
pnpm run build

Use the same manager consistently across development and CI. The current skeleton uses Tailwind v4 syntax in resources/css/app.css; align the package manager with your application starter kit.

Project structure

A Laravolt project keeps the business application understandable by following Laravel conventions. A typical layout:

app/
  Http/
    Controllers/
    Requests/             # FormRequest classes validated on the server
  Models/
  Policies/
  Providers/
config/
  laravolt/
    platform.php
    ui.php
    menu/
      system.php
resources/
  views/
  js/
  css/
routes/
  web.php
  auth.php

Keep domain logic in standard Laravel locations. Use Laravolt abstractions for platform surfaces: forms (PrelineForm), tables (Suitable), menus, actions, permissions, and generated admin workflows.

Verify the installation

After installation:

1. Visit the application in a browser.
2. Sign in with the administrator account created above.
3. Open the admin area and confirm the navigation renders.
4. Create or edit a small record using a Laravolt form.
5. Run your test suite.

php artisan test

If a step fails, check Artisan commands for command details.

What to read next

• AI-ready platform — the mental model for structuring Laravolt projects so teams and coding agents can extend them safely.
• Forms overview — how PrelineForm turns Laravel validation and Preline UI into a single form API.