Do you usually start a new project with a Laravel starter kit, your own template, or completely from scratch?

As part of my journey learning PHP and Laravel on the side, I’m trying to document the small wins along the way.
The filled() helper checks if a value is not empty/blank, making the code much easier to read at a glance compared to standard comparison operators.

laravel.com/docs/13.x/helpers#method-filled

I've been thinking a lot about where validation should live in a Laravel application.
For a long time, I put almost everything into Form Requests because it felt clean. Recently, I've been exploring a more domain-focused architecture (Actions, Value Objects, ADR), and now I'm asking myself:
Should the domain ever throw a ValidationException?
On one hand, it makes sense because the domain protects its invariants. On the other hand, ValidationException feels like an HTTP concern.
At the moment I'm leaning towards keeping Laravel's validation inside the HTTP layer and letting the domain throw domain-specific exceptions instead.
I'm curious: how do you approach this in your projects?

Hello Pinkary! 👋

I'm excited to finally join and make my first post here.

One of my goals is to improve my PHP and Laravel skills, share what I learn, and hopefully contribute something useful to the community. Joining an English-speaking community is a bit outside my comfort zone, and the language barrier is still a challenge for me, but I wanted to take the first step anyway.

I'm looking forward to learning from all of you, exchanging ideas, and becoming part of this awesome community. 😊

I have been interested in how software works since my school days. My first experiences came from finding the source code of websites more exciting than the website itself. Through my professional career (I worked as a truck driver and mechanic…) and the growth of my family, however, this interest gradually moved more and more into the background.
Just over two years ago, I consciously decided that I wanted to reactivate and nurture this interest. My first step was a Laracast membership, and now I am on this journey.
So, to answer your question: I have been active before. But in terms of depth and breadth, I am currently learning a lot of fundamental things about programming through my study of PHP/Laravel-specific topics.

From my time when I had “diesel in my blood,” I can empathize with you – fantastic. I wish you many more such moments of success and enthusiasm.

Passing parameters in PHP methods: I’m curious how you handle this and what reasons you have for your approach. Do you have a preferred method (typed parameters, arrays, DTOs, are there others?) or do you define criteria based on which you decide which option to use?