Verification loop for Laravel projects: env checks, linting, static analysis, tests with coverage, security scans, and deployment readiness.
Laravel Verification Loop
Run before PRs, after major changes, and pre-deploy.
When to Use
Before opening a pull request for a Laravel project
After major refactors or dependency upgrades
Pre-deployment verification for staging or production
Running full lint -> test -> security -> deploy readiness pipeline
How It Works
Run phases sequentially from environment checks through deployment readiness so each layer builds on the last.
Environment and Composer checks gate everything else; stop immediately if they fail.
Linting/static analysis should be clean before running full tests and coverage.
Security and migration reviews happen after tests so you verify behavior before data or release steps.
Build/deploy readiness and queue/scheduler checks are final gates; any failure blocks release.
Phase 1: Environment Checks
php -v
composer --version
php artisan --version
Verify .env is present and required keys exist
Confirm APP_DEBUG=false for production environments
Confirm APP_ENV matches the target deployment (production, staging)
If using Laravel Sail locally:
./vendor/bin/sail php -v
./vendor/bin/sail artisan --version
Phase 1.5: Composer and Autoload
composer validate
composer dump-autoload -o
Phase 2: Linting and Static Analysis
vendor/bin/pint --test
vendor/bin/phpstan analyse
If your project uses Psalm instead of PHPStan:
vendor/bin/psalm
Phase 3: Tests and Coverage
php artisan test
Coverage (CI):
XDEBUG_MODE=coverage php artisan test --coverage
CI example (format -> static analysis -> tests):
vendor/bin/pint --test
vendor/bin/phpstan analyse
XDEBUG_MODE=coverage php artisan test --coverage
Phase 4: Security and Dependency Checks
composer audit
Phase 5: Database and Migrations
php artisan migrate --pretend
php artisan migrate:status
Review destructive migrations carefully
Ensure migration filenames follow Y_m_d_His_* (e.g., 2025_03_14_154210_create_orders_table.php) and describe the change clearly
Ensure rollbacks are possible
Verify down() methods and avoid irreversible data loss without explicit backups
Phase 6: Build and Deployment Readiness
php artisan optimize:clear
php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache
Ensure cache warmups succeed in production configuration
Verify queue workers and scheduler are configured
Confirm storage/ and bootstrap/cache/ are writable in the target environment
Phase 7: Queue and Scheduler Checks
php artisan schedule:list
php artisan queue:failed
If Horizon is used:
php artisan horizon:status
If queue:monitor is available, use it to check backlog without processing jobs:
php artisan queue:monitor default --max=100
Active verification (staging only): dispatch a no-op job to a dedicated queue and run a single worker to process it (ensure a non-sync queue connection is configured).
php artisan tinker --execute="dispatch((new App\\Jobs\\QueueHealthcheck())->onQueue('healthcheck'))"
php artisan queue:work --once --queue=healthcheck
Verify the job produced the expected side effect (log entry, healthcheck table row, or metric).
Only run this on non-production environments where processing a test job is safe.
Examples
Minimal flow:
php -v
composer --version
php artisan --version
composer validate
vendor/bin/pint --test
vendor/bin/phpstan analyse
php artisan test
composer audit
php artisan migrate --pretend
php artisan config:cache
php artisan queue:failed
CI-style pipeline:
composer validate
composer dump-autoload -o
vendor/bin/pint --test
vendor/bin/phpstan analyse
XDEBUG_MODE=coverage php artisan test --coverage
composer audit
php artisan migrate --pretend
php artisan optimize:clear
php artisan config:cache
php artisan route:cache
php artisan view:cache
php artisan schedule:listdon't have the plugin yet? install it then click "run inline in claude" again.