#79 - Building your first MCP server with Laravel 🧰, Why we like stopOnError in our test suite🧪, Lada Cache 📦, The new progress() function in CSS 🧩, loadMissing 💡

Laravel Pipeline: Transform Messy Controllers in Minutes (3 minute read)

Discover the power of Laravel's Pipeline for simplifying code refactors by transforming messy controller logic into clean, testable, and maintainable code through linear data processing.

🧰 Building your first MCP server with Laravel (2 minute read)

Explore the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to enhance AI interactions with Laravel apps. This tutorial guides you in building a task management MCP server, demonstrating tools, resources, and prompts for AI-driven task handling.

Laravel 12.33 released

This small release enhances Stringable::doesntContain() for API symmetry and updates withUrlParameters to merge parameters instead of replacing them. It also fixes several bugs throughout the framework.

The ⁠loadMissing method in Eloquent is used to load relationships that have not yet been loaded for a model instance. It is particularly useful when you want to ensure that certain relationships are loaded without reloading those that are already loaded, which can help optimize performance by avoiding unnecessary database queries.

$posts = Post::all();
// ...
// Load comments only if they are not already loaded
$posts->loadMissing('comments');

🧪 Why we like stopOnError in our test suite (1 minute read)

Enabling stopOnError in phpunit.xml halts test execution on first error, optimizing CI pipeline time by avoiding prolonged timeouts. Recommended alongside stopOnFailure for efficient testing.

An Open Source Success Story (2 minute read)

PHP 8.5 introduces a standards-compliant URI extension with parsers for RFC 3986 and WHATWG standards. This secure URL parsing feature enhances PHP's library, backed by community collaboration.

Rector 2.2: New rules for Array Docblocks (3 minute read)

Rector 22 introduces smarter array docblocks, adding new rules that automatically refine type definitions like int[] or User[]. The goal is clearer, more accurate type information for IDEs and static analyzers, improving code readability and reducing confusion in complex array structures.

Lada Cache

This package adds automatic caching to your Laravel Eloquent queries. It stores query results in Redis and invalidates them when related models change, keeping cached data in sync without manual work. Ideal for improving performance in read-heavy applications.

🧩 The new progress() function in CSS (3 minute read)

The new CSS progress() function allows for intuitive and responsive design effects, mapping viewport changes directly to properties like opacity and scale without complex JavaScript or calc() expressions.

Stop Avoiding Politics (4 minute read)

Emphasizing that workplace politics isn't inherently bad, the article argues for strategic relationship-building and influence to ensure good technical decisions and outcomes. It highlights the necessity of engaging in politics to effectively advocate for ideas and projects.

What the 2025 DORA Report means for your AI strategy (8 minute read)

The 2025 DORA Report shows that AI amplifies whatever foundation you have. Teams with weak practices risk making them worse, while those with strong processes can move faster and further. It also outlines key metrics and strategies to build responsibly as AI becomes part of modern development workflows.