March 2026 Laravel updates

The March 2026 Laravel ecosystem update. A summary of major updates including the Laravel 13 release, the AI SDK, JSON:API, and Inertia v3.

March 2026 was a historic month for the Laravel ecosystem. Laravel 13 shipped as a stable release, along with the first-party AI SDK, JSON:API resources, Inertia v3, and many other major features released together.

Source: Laravel March Product Updates

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Laravel Framework

Laravel AI SDK

Laravel 13 introduces a first-party AI SDK that provides a unified API for text generation, tool-calling agents, embeddings, audio, images, and vector store integration. Build provider-agnostic AI features with a consistent, Laravel-native developer experience.

use Laravel\Ai\Facades\Ai;

$response = Ai::text('gpt-4o')->generate('What is Laravel?');

JSON:API resources

Laravel now includes first-party JSON:API resources. It’s now easy to return responses that conform to the JSON:API specification: resource object serialization, relationship includes, sparse fieldsets, links, and JSON:API-compliant response headers are handled automatically.

use Laravel\JsonApi\Resources\JsonApiResource;

class UserResource extends JsonApiResource
{
    public function toAttributes(Request $request): array
    {
        return [
            'name' => $this->name,
            'email' => $this->email,
        ];
    }
}

Strengthened request forgery protection

As a security enhancement, the CSRF protection middleware has been formalized as PreventRequestForgery. It maintains compatibility with token-based CSRF protection while adding origin-aware request validation.

Queue routing

Class-level queue routing is now possible with Queue::route(). You can centrally manage default queue and connection routing rules for specific jobs.

Queue::route(ProcessPodcast::class, connection: 'redis', queue: 'podcasts');

Expanded PHP attributes

Laravel 13 expands first-party PHP attribute support across the framework. Controller- and auth-related attributes (#[Middleware], #[Authorize], etc.) have been added, allowing you to declare configuration and behavior more declaratively.

use Illuminate\Routing\Attributes\Middleware;

class UserController extends Controller
{
    #[Middleware('auth')]
    public function index(): Response
    {
        // ...
    }
}

Cache::touch()

Cache::touch() has been added, letting you extend the TTL of an existing cache item without fetching and re-storing the value.

Cache::touch('user-session', now()->addHour());

Semantic and vector search

Native vector query support, embedding workflows, and related APIs have been added. Easily build AI-powered search using PostgreSQL + pgvector.

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Inertia v3

Vite plugin

The new @inertiajs/vite plugin removes the boilerplate you used to write in the entry point. Pages are automatically resolved from the ./Pages directory, and code splitting and lazy loading are handled automatically. SSR configuration is also zero-config.

npm install @inertiajs/vite --save-dev

SSR during development

SSR now runs automatically with npm run dev. You no longer need a separate Node.js process during development, and pages are server-side rendered by default.

Removal of Axios

Axios and qs have been completely removed from Inertia’s dependencies. A lightweight built-in XHR client handles all HTTP communication, reducing bundle size and dependency footprint.

If you rely on things like Axios interceptors, an Axios adapter keeps them working during the migration.

Optimistic updates

An .optimistic() method has been added that updates the UI immediately without waiting for the server response.

router.post('/posts', data, {
    optimistic: (currentProps) => ({
        posts: [...currentProps.posts, { ...data, id: 'temp' }],
    }),
});

Instant visits

You can now transition to the target page component immediately while the server request continues in the background.

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Other packages

Prompts new features

• datatable(): A new prompt supporting browsing, searching, and selecting tabular data
• title(): Set the terminal window title
• stream(): Real-time streaming display of AI responses
• task(): Task execution display with a spinner
• autocomplete(): An input completion prompt
• notify(): Native desktop notifications on macOS/Linux

Passport

• #[TokenCan] attribute: Declare required token scopes directly on controller methods

class PhotoController
{
    #[TokenCan('read')]
    public function index() { /* ... */ }

    #[TokenCan('write')]
    public function store() { /* ... */ }
}

Reverb

• Rate limiting: Supports per-app rate limiting using Laravel’s built-in rate limiter

Scout

• Operator support in where(): You can now use where('created_at', '>', $date) syntax in the query builder

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Laravel Cloud and Laravel Forge

Product	Key updates
Laravel Cloud	$5 free trial with no credit card required, GitHub SSO, scheduled autoscaling, redesigned usage page
Laravel Forge	Support for Managed PostgreSQL databases on VPS (with observability, read replicas, and automated backups)