Before you can use the Laravel Orchid, you need to install it. This guide should help you perform a simple installation to start the project.

Create a New Laravel Project

Note. If you already have Laravel installation, you can skip this step.

Being a package for the framework, you must first install Laravel. This can be done using the Composer dependency management tool by running the composer create-project command in your terminal:

composer create-project laravel/laravel orchid-project "11.*"

Or if you would prefer Laravel Installer:

composer global require laravel/installer

laravel new orchid-project

For more information on how to install Laravel, follow Official Laravel Installation Guide.

Don’t you have Composer? It’s easy to install by following the instructions on the download page.

It will create a new orchid-project directory, load the dependencies, and generate the leading directories and files you need to get started. In other words, install your new framework project.

Do not forget

• Set “chmod -R o+w” rights to the storage and bootstrap/cache directories
• Edit the .env file

Note. If you just installed Laravel, you may need to generate a key with command php artisan key:generate

Add Dependency

Go to the created project directory and run the command:

composer require orchid/platform

Note. You also need to create a new database, update the .env file with credentials, and add your application’s URL to the variable APP_URL.

Package Installation

Note: During the installation process, the package will overwrite the app/Models/User model. However, it is important to note that replacing the model is not mandatory. You have the flexibility to customize the model according to your preferences. The package automatically applies certain configurations, such as hidden and casts, to the Eloquent model.

Run the installation process by running the command:

php artisan orchid:install

Create an Admin User

To create a user with maximum permissions, you can run the following command with a username, email, and password:

php artisan orchid:admin admin admin@admin.com password

Start the Development Server

If you haven’t installed a server (Nginx, Apache, etc.) to run the project, you can use the built-in server:

php artisan serve

Open a browser and go to http://localhost:8000/admin. If everything works, you will see the control panel login page. Later you can stop the server by pressing Ctrl + C in the terminal.

Note. Suppose your runtime uses a different domain (e.g., orchid.loc). In that case, the admin panel may not be available. You need to specify your domain in the configuration file config/platform.php or .env file. It allows you to make the admin panel available on another domain or subdomain, such as platform.example.com.

Updating

While in the project directory, use Composer to update the package:

composer update orchid/platform --with-dependencies

Note. You can also update all your dependencies listed in the composer.json file by running composer update.

After updating to a new release, you should be sure to update JavaScript and CSS assets using orchid:publish and clear any cached views with view:clear. It will ensure the newly-updated version is using the latest versions.

php artisan orchid:publish
php artisan view:clear

Keeping Assets Updated

To make sure that your assets are promptly updated whenever a new version is downloaded, you can easily add a Composer hook to your project’s composer.json file. This will automatically publish the latest assets for you:

"scripts": {
    "post-update-cmd": [
      "@php artisan orchid:publish --ansi"
  ]
}

Once you have added this hook, you can rest assured that your assets will always be up-to-date and functioning properly. And if you ever want to verify that the assets are indeed current, you can simply use the artisan console command to check:

php artisan about

This command will provide you with an importance of information, including some of the details about the package itself. It’s ensuring that your environment is correctly configured and running as expected.

Problems encountered during installation? It is possible that someone already had this problem https://github.com/orchidsoftware/platform/issues. If not, you can send a message or ask for help.

What to Do Next?

A newly installed package already has several screens that show various input fields, masks, states, as well as some interface layout. You can try them out or go directly to the step by step examples of working with the package on the “Quick Start” page or read the documentation.