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Introduction

Laravel 13 was released on March 17, 2026. As with every annual major release, it brings meaningful improvements — but this cycle is notable for its focus on AI-native workflows, safer defaults, and more expressive developer APIs. Breaking changes are minimal, so most applications can upgrade with little effort. At the same time, new features like the Laravel AI SDK and semantic search have the potential to change how modern applications are built.
Laravel 13 support policy: bug fixes through Q3 2027, security fixes until March 17, 2028.

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PHP requirements

Laravel 13 requires PHP 8.3 or higher. Support for PHP 8.2 has been dropped.
VersionPHPReleasedBug fixes untilSecurity fixes until
118.2–8.4Mar 12, 2024Sep 3, 2025Mar 12, 2026
128.2–8.5Feb 24, 2025Aug 13, 2026Feb 24, 2027
138.3–8.5Mar 17, 2026Q3 2027Mar 17, 2028
PHP 8.3 brings typed constants, json_validate(), the #[\Override] attribute, and more.

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Major new features

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Laravel AI SDK

The headline feature in Laravel 13 is a first-party AI SDK. It provides a unified API for text generation, tool-calling agents, embeddings, audio, image generation, and vector store integration. You can build AI-powered features without coupling your code to a specific provider, while keeping the Laravel developer experience you’re used to. Text generation (agent) 
use App\Ai\Agents\SalesCoach;

$response = SalesCoach::make()->prompt('Analyze this sales transcript...');

return (string) $response;
Image generation 
use Laravel\Ai\Image;

$image = Image::of('A donut on a kitchen counter')->generate();

$rawContent = (string) $image;
Text-to-speech 
use Laravel\Ai\Audio;

$audio = Audio::of('I love coding with Laravel.')->generate();

$rawContent = (string) $audio;
Embeddings 
use Illuminate\Support\Str;

$embeddings = Str::of('Napa Valley wines are the best.')->toEmbeddings();
See the Laravel AI SDK documentation for full details.
The AI SDK ships with native vector query support. You can run semantic searches against PostgreSQL with pgvector directly from the query builder. 
$documents = DB::table('documents')
    ->whereVectorSimilarTo('embedding', 'Best wineries in Napa Valley')
    ->limit(10)
    ->get();
Everything from creating embedding columns to running similarity queries stays within the Laravel ecosystem.

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JSON:API resources

Laravel 13 adds first-party support for JSON:API resource responses. You can now return spec-compliant responses with:
  • Resource object serialization
  • Relationship includes
  • Sparse fieldsets
  • Links
  • JSON:API-compliant response headers

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Expanded PHP attribute support

Laravel 13 extends declarative PHP attribute-based configuration across the entire framework. On controllers 
<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use App\Models\Comment;
use App\Models\Post;
use Illuminate\Routing\Attributes\Controllers\Authorize;
use Illuminate\Routing\Attributes\Controllers\Middleware;

#[Middleware('auth')]
class CommentController
{
    #[Middleware('subscribed')]
    #[Authorize('create', [Comment::class, 'post'])]
    public function store(Post $post)
    {
        // ...
    }
}
On queued jobs 
use Illuminate\Queue\Attributes\Tries;
use Illuminate\Queue\Attributes\Backoff;
use Illuminate\Queue\Attributes\Timeout;
use Illuminate\Queue\Attributes\FailOnTimeout;

#[Tries(3)]
#[Backoff(60)]
#[Timeout(120)]
#[FailOnTimeout]
class ProcessPodcast implements ShouldQueue
{
    // ...
}
New attributes at a glance:
AttributePurpose
#[Middleware]Apply middleware to a controller or method
#[Authorize]Apply a policy check to a controller
#[Tries]Set the max attempt count for a queued job
#[Backoff]Set the backoff delay for a queued job
#[Timeout]Set the execution timeout for a queued job
#[FailOnTimeout]Mark a job as failed when it times out
Additional attributes have also been introduced for Eloquent, events, notifications, validation, testing, and resource serialization.

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Queue routing

Queue::route(...) lets you define default queue and connection routing rules for specific jobs in one central place, without hardcoding queue names in the job class itself. 
use App\Jobs\ProcessPodcast;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Queue;

Queue::route(ProcessPodcast::class, connection: 'redis', queue: 'podcasts');
This separates infrastructure configuration from your application code.

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Cache TTL extension

Cache::touch(...) extends the TTL of a cached item without fetching or re-storing its value. 
// Extend the TTL of this item by 3600 seconds without changing its value
Cache::touch('expensive-computation', 3600);

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Security improvements

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CSRF protection renamed (PreventRequestForgery)

The CSRF middleware has been renamed from VerifyCsrfToken to PreventRequestForgery, and it now validates the request origin using the Sec-Fetch-Site header. 
use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Middleware\PreventRequestForgery;

// Excluding the middleware in tests
->withoutMiddleware([PreventRequestForgery::class]);
VerifyCsrfToken remains as a deprecated alias, but you should migrate all references to the new class name.

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Cache deserialization restrictions

A serializable_classes option has been added to config/cache.php and defaults to false. This prevents PHP deserialization gadget-chain attacks in the event that APP_KEY is compromised. 
// config/cache.php
'serializable_classes' => [
    App\Data\CachedDashboardStats::class,
    App\Support\CachedPricingSnapshot::class,
],
If your application stores PHP objects in the cache, you must explicitly allowlist those classes.

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Starter kit changes

The revamped starter kits introduced in Laravel 12 (React, Vue, Svelte, Livewire) continue to be the default in Laravel 13. Inertia v3 also shipped alongside Laravel 13. Key changes include:
  • Simpler layout props
  • Vite 8 support
  • A new withApp callback
  • New Blade components
If your project uses Inertia, consider upgrading it as well.

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Other improvements

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AI-assisted upgrade (Laravel Boost)

Laravel Boost is a first-party MCP server that integrates with AI editors like Claude Code, Cursor, OpenCode, Gemini, and VS Code. Run the /upgrade-laravel-v13 slash command to semi-automate your upgrade. 
composer require laravel/boost:^2.0 --dev

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New contract methods

ContractAdded method(s)
Bus\DispatcherdispatchAfterResponse
Routing\ResponseFactoryeventStream (SSE support)
Auth\MustVerifyEmailmarkEmailAsUnverified
Queue\QueuependingSize, delayedSize, reservedSize, creationTimeOfOldestPendingJob
Cache\Store / Cache\Repositorytouch

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Summary

Laravel 13 is a “few breaking changes, many new features” release. The upgrade path is straightforward for most applications, while the AI SDK and semantic search features open up entirely new possibilities for modern app development. Ready to upgrade from Laravel 12? See the step-by-step guide below.

Upgrade guide: Laravel 12 → 13

A full list of breaking changes and a step-by-step upgrade walkthrough.
Last modified on March 29, 2026