Latest articles from Benjamin Crozat's blog
See the latest stable PHP release, the current PHP 8.6 testing build, and the active and security support dates for PHP 8.2 through 8.5. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn PHP date format patterns with date() and DateTimeImmutable::format(), including escaping, timestamps, time zones, and copy-ready examples. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Use PHP trim() to clean input, remove edge characters, and understand why hidden whitespace or Unicode spaces can survive. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn GPT-5.4 nano step by step by sending your first API request and building a fast routing workflow for high-volume tasks. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn GPT-5.4 mini step by step by sending your first API request and building a structured workflow for coding-friendly, high-volume tasks. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn how to install Laravel Debugbar in a modern Laravel app, keep it local-only, and use it to catch slow or duplicate queries without leaking debug data in production. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn how to use Blade components in Laravel with layouts, props, and slots so your templates stay reusable instead of turning into copy-paste markup. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn how Laravel hasManyThrough works with one concrete example, including the relationship definition, custom keys, and when it is a better fit than manual joins. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn how to generate PDFs in Laravel with barryvdh/laravel-dompdf, including installation, a practical invoice example, downloads, streams, images, and the rendering limits to watch for. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn when to use Laravel seeders, when to use factories, and how to generate realistic sample data for local development and tests without making your database messy. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn how to write Laravel subqueries with practical examples for addSelect(), where subqueries, and joinSub() in Eloquent and the query builder. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn how to use Redis in Laravel with practical setup steps and examples for cache, queues, sessions, rate limiting, and direct Redis commands. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn how Laravel pivot tables work with a practical many-to-many example, including the migration, belongsToMany(), extra pivot fields, attach(), sync(), and updateExistingPivot(). Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Use PHP isset() to check whether a variable or array key exists and is not null, and understand when empty(), ??, or array_key_exists() is the better fit. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Use PHP substr() to extract part of a string, understand negative offsets and lengths, and know when mb_substr() is the safer choice. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Check whether a PHP string contains a value with str_contains(), use strpos() safely on older PHP versions, and handle case sensitivity without false positives. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Decode JSON in PHP with json_decode(), choose arrays vs objects, catch errors with JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR, and avoid null, depth, and bigint surprises. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Use PHP implode() to join array values into strings, choose the right separator, handle associative arrays, and avoid the edge cases that trip people up. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
PHP 8.6 is scheduled for November 19, 2026. Here are the confirmed features already landed, the accepted RFCs still pending, and the proposals still worth watching. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Remodex is a local-first iPhone companion for Codex that pairs through a QR code and keeps the real runtime on your Mac. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Looking for the best analytics tools or analytics software? These five picks stand out for UX research, CRO, competitor tracking, and ecommerce insight. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn what AGENTS.md is, why it helps coding agents, what to put in it, and how to share one instruction file across Codex, Cursor, and Claude Code. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
A simple mental model for AI coding agents: put repo-wide rules in AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md, and move specialized workflows into reusable skills. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn GPT Image step by step by generating images, editing one of them, and seeing the real results from OpenAI’s latest image model. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn GPT Audio step by step by generating a spoken reply, saving the WAV file, and using the returned transcript in your app. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn GPT Realtime step by step by creating a realtime session, opening a live WebSocket connection, and getting your first low-latency reply. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn GPT-5 mini step by step by sending your first API request and building a structured support workflow at a lower cost than full GPT-5. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn GPT-5 nano step by step by sending your first API request and building a fast classification workflow for high-volume tasks. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn GPT-5.0 step by step by sending your first API request and building a support triage workflow with structured JSON. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn how to use GPT-5.3 Chat in the API, what it can and cannot do, and how to build a small structured-output workflow with it. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn GPT-5.1 step by step by sending your first API request and building a support triage workflow with structured JSON. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn GPT-5.2 step by step by sending your first API request and building a support triage workflow with structured JSON. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn GPT-5.4 step by step by sending your first API request, building a structured workflow, and using the new phase-aware output model. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Install Alpine.js in any project with a CDN or a package manager, then verify it works with a tiny component. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Vite 8 shipped on March 12, 2026, and Tailwind merged @tailwindcss/vite support the same day. Here is what has shipped already, what is still only on main , and who should care. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Laravel MCP is still not for every app, but more SaaS products now expose governed AI actions through MCP. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Inertia.js v3 entered beta on March 5, 2026. The big shifts for Laravel teams are async requests, optimistic updates, infinite scrolling, and dropping the Axios dependency. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Laravel Cloud now lets new users start with $5 in credits and no credit card. It also moves Git connections from the organization level to the user level. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Laravel 12.54.0 adds PostgreSQL tsvector columns, BinaryFileResponse test assertions, Model::withoutRelation(), and several queue and validation fixes. Laravel 12.54.1 is a tiny follow-up release. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Is PHP dead? Let’s look at the December 2025 PHP usage statistics and see what the data really says about its future. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Is PHP dead? Let’s look at the March 2026 PHP usage statistics and see what the data really says about its future. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Partial function application in PHP 8.6 explained in plain language, with simple real examples for JSON responses, logging, DB connections, and jobs. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Stop using firstOrCreate blindly. Learn when to use firstOrNew, createOrFirst, updateOrCreate, updateOrInsert and upsert in real Laravel apps. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Merge and rebase with Git confused me for a long time. If that’s also you, give yourself a favor and read this article. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Handpicked 2025 Black Friday & Cyber Monday deals for developers: hosting, Laravel tools, SEO, Mac apps & more. No fluff, just the good stuff. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn how to set up the Laravel failover queue driver so you don’t lose jobs when Redis, SQS, or another queue goes down. I walk you through a copy-paste setup, simple tests, and small gotchas. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
You can’t rely on label:focus. Here’s how I actually style labels on input focus using :focus-within, :has(), and sibling selectors, with accessible defaults. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Learn how to use CSS lh and rlh units for spacing that scales with text, plus examples, Tailwind tips, and full browser support. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Pest 4 lands with first-class browser testing (Playwright-powered), smoke & visual regression checks, test sharding, faster type coverage, and small but handy CLI/arch tweaks. Here’s what’s new and how to upgrade from Pest 3. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .
Deploy Laravel to Sevalla in minutes. Simple GitHub integration, auto-deploy, free SSL, scaling, and $50 credit to launch risk-free. Read more → If you like my feed, follow me on X , LinkedIn , and GitHub .