Extracting Laravel 11 Bootstrap Configurations

Laravel 11 introduced the slim boilerplate that is a great starting point for new projects. It is a great way to start a new project with a minimal set of configurations and dependencies.

These changes also includes moving middleware and exceptions handler to the bootstrap/app.php file which can become easily cluttered with a lot of configurations.

<?php

use Illuminate\Foundation\Application;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Configuration\Exceptions;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Configuration\Middleware;

return Application::configure(basePath: dirname(__DIR__))
    ->withRouting(
        web: __DIR__.'/../routes/web.php',
        commands: __DIR__.'/../routes/console.php',
        health: '/up',
    )
    ->withMiddleware(function (Middleware $middleware) {
        // Middleware
        // More Middleware
        // More and more Middleware
        // ...
    })
    ->withExceptions(function (Exceptions $exceptions) {
        // Exceptions
        // More Exceptions
        // More and more Exceptions
        // ...
    })
    ->create();

Because these methods accepts callable type, we can extract the configurations into separate invokable classes and use them in the bootstrap/app.php file.

So let's see how we can extract these configurations into separate classes to make the bootstrap/app.php file cleaner and more maintainable.

We will also make use of one of the new make:* commands which is artisan make:class to create the new classes and also I will be calling them Bootstrappers as they are responsible for bootstrapping the application.

Extracting Middlewares

Start by creating a new invokable MiddlewareBootstrapper class using the make:class command.

artisan make:class -i Bootstrappers/MiddlewareBootstrapper

This will create a new MiddlewareBootstrapper class in the App\Bootstrappers namespace, now we can move the middleware configurations from the bootstrap/app.php file to the MiddlewareBootstrapper class.

<?php

namespace App\Bootstrappers;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Configuration\Middleware;

class MiddlewareBootstrapper
{
    /**
     * Create a new class instance.
     */
    public function __construct()
    {
        //
    }

    /**
     * Invoke the class instance.
     */
    public function __invoke(Middleware $middleware): void
    {
        // Middleware
        // More Middleware
        // More and more Middleware
        // ...
    }
}

Now we can use the MiddlewareBootstrapper class in the bootstrap/app.php file.

<?php

use Illuminate\Foundation\Application;

return Application::configure(basePath: dirname(__DIR__))
    ->withRouting(
        web: __DIR__.'/../routes/web.php',
        commands: __DIR__.'/../routes/console.php',
        health: '/up',
    )
    ->withMiddleware(new App\Bootstrappers\MiddlewareBootstrapper())
    ->withExceptions(function (Exceptions $exceptions) {
        // Exceptions
        // More Exceptions
        // More and more Exceptions
        // ...
    })
    ->create();

Extracting Exceptions

Now let's create a new invokable ExceptionsBootstrapper class using the make:class command.

artisan make:class -i Bootstrappers/ExceptionsBootstrapper

This will create a new ExceptionsBootstrapper class in the App\Bootstrappers namespace, now we can move the exceptions configurations from the bootstrap/app.php file to the ExceptionsBootstrapper class.

<?php

namespace App\Bootstrappers;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Configuration\Exceptions;

class ExceptionsBootstrapper
{
    /**
     * Create a new class instance.
     */
    public function __construct()
    {
        //
    }

    /**
     * Invoke the class instance.
     */
    public function __invoke(Exceptions $exceptions): void
    {
        // Exceptions
        // More Exceptions
        // More and more Exceptions
        // ...
    }
}

Now we can use the ExceptionsBootstrapper class in the bootstrap/app.php file.

<?php

use Illuminate\Foundation\Application;

return Application::configure(basePath: dirname(__DIR__))
    ->withRouting(
        web: __DIR__.'/../routes/web.php',
        commands: __DIR__.'/../routes/console.php',
        health: '/up',
    )
    ->withMiddleware(new App\Bootstrappers\MiddlewareBootstrapper())
    ->withExceptions(new App\Bootstrappers\ExceptionsBootstrapper())
    ->create();

Conclusion

After extracting the middleware and exceptions configurations into separate classes, the bootstrap/app.php file is now cleaner and more maintainable.

This also makes it easier to test the middleware and exceptions configurations as they are now separate classes.

You notice the withRouting method too? I will be explaining how to extract the routing configurations into a separate class in the next post.

I hope you find this helpful and let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

Happy coding!