Laravel 5.5 LTS Features

Laravel 5.5 is the second LTS (Long-Term Support) release, bringing significant improvements while maintaining stability for three years. At ZIRA Software, we migrated production applications to 5.5, gaining modern features with guaranteed long-term support.

Why LTS Matters

LTS benefits:

• 3 years bug fixes
• 4 years security patches
• Production stability
• Time to upgrade gradually
• Enterprise-ready

5.5 LTS timeline:

• Released: August 2017
• Bug fixes until: August 2020
• Security fixes until: August 2021

Package Auto-Discovery

No more manual registration:

Before:

// config/app.php
'providers' => [
    Barryvdh\Debugbar\ServiceProvider::class,
    Laravel\Tinker\TinkerServiceProvider::class,
],

After:

composer require barryvdh/laravel-debugbar
# Automatically registered!

Package developers:

{
    "extra": {
        "laravel": {
            "providers": [
                "Vendor\\Package\\PackageServiceProvider"
            ],
            "aliases": {
                "Package": "Vendor\\Package\\Facades\\Package"
            }
        }
    }
}

API Resources

Transform models to JSON elegantly:

php artisan make:resource UserResource

<?php

namespace App\Http\Resources;

use Illuminate\Http\Resources\Json\JsonResource;

class UserResource extends JsonResource
{
    public function toArray($request)
    {
        return [
            'id' => $this->id,
            'name' => $this->name,
            'email' => $this->email,
            'posts_count' => $this->posts->count(),
            'created_at' => $this->created_at->toDateTimeString(),
        ];
    }
}

Use in controller:

return new UserResource($user);
return UserResource::collection(User::all());

Custom Validation Rules

Create reusable validation:

php artisan make:rule Uppercase

<?php

namespace App\Rules;

use Illuminate\Contracts\Validation\Rule;

class Uppercase implements Rule
{
    public function passes($attribute, $value)
    {
        return strtoupper($value) === $value;
    }

    public function message()
    {
        return 'The :attribute must be uppercase.';
    }
}

Use:

$request->validate([
    'name' => ['required', new Uppercase],
]);

Frontend Presets

Remove frontend boilerplate:

php artisan preset none  # Remove Bootstrap
php artisan preset react  # Install React
php artisan preset vue  # Install Vue (default)

Community presets:

composer require laravel-frontend-presets/tailwindcss
php artisan preset tailwindcss

Improved Exception Rendering

Better error pages:

<?php

namespace App\Exceptions;

use Exception;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Exceptions\Handler as ExceptionHandler;

class Handler extends ExceptionHandler
{
    public function render($request, Exception $exception)
    {
        if ($exception instanceof CustomException) {
            return response()->view('errors.custom', [], 500);
        }

        return parent::render($request, $exception);
    }

    public function report(Exception $exception)
    {
        if ($exception instanceof ReportableException) {
            // Send to external service
        }

        parent::report($exception);
    }
}

Custom error pages:

{{-- resources/views/errors/404.blade.php --}}
@extends('layouts.app')

@section('content')
    <h1>Page Not Found</h1>
    <p>Sorry, the page you're looking for doesn't exist.</p>
@endsection

Whoops Integration

Beautiful error pages in development:

Automatically included! Whoops provides detailed error information with code context.

Blade Improvements

New directives:

{{-- @auth / @guest --}}
@auth
    <p>Welcome, {{ auth()->user()->name }}</p>
@endauth

@guest
    <a href="/login">Login</a>
@endguest

{{-- @dump / @dd --}}
@dump($users)
@dd($posts)

{{-- Component aliases --}}
@component('components.alert')
    @slot('title')
        Important Notice
    @endslot
    This is the alert content.
@endcomponent

Request Validation

Validate with methods:

// Before
$this->validate($request, [
    'title' => 'required',
]);

// After (5.5)
$request->validate([
    'title' => 'required',
]);

Custom error bags:

$request->validate([
    'email' => 'required|email',
], [], [], 'login');

Route Improvements

Redirect methods:

Route::redirect('/here', '/there');
Route::redirect('/here', '/there', 301);
Route::permanentRedirect('/here', '/there');

View routes:

Route::view('/welcome', 'welcome');
Route::view('/welcome', 'welcome', ['name' => 'Taylor']);

Conditional Notifications

Only notify if condition met:

$user->notify(new InvoicePaid($invoice));

// With condition
$user->notifyNow(new InvoicePaid($invoice));

Mail Improvements

Markdown mail templates:

php artisan make:mail OrderShipped --markdown=emails.orders.shipped

<?php

namespace App\Mail;

use Illuminate\Bus\Queueable;
use Illuminate\Mail\Mailable;
use Illuminate\Queue\SerializesModels;

class OrderShipped extends Mailable
{
    use Queueable, SerializesModels;

    public $order;

    public function build()
    {
        return $this->markdown('emails.orders.shipped');
    }
}

Template:

@component('mail::message')
# Order Shipped

Your order has been shipped!

@component('mail::button', ['url' => $url])
View Order
@endcomponent

Thanks,<br>
{{ config('app.name') }}
@endcomponent

Cache Locks

Atomic operations:

Cache::lock('process-order')->get(function () {
    // Process order exclusively
});

// With timeout
Cache::lock('process-order', 10)->get(function () {
    // Lock for 10 seconds max
});

New Artisan Commands

# Make factory
php artisan make:factory PostFactory

# Make rule
php artisan make:rule Uppercase

# Make exception
php artisan make:exception CustomException

# Preset commands
php artisan preset none

Collection Methods

New collection methods:

$collection = collect([1, 2, 3, 4, 5]);

// Dump and continue
$collection->dump();

// Tap
$collection->tap(function ($collection) {
    Log::info($collection);
})->each(...);

Optional Helper

Avoid null checks:

// Before
$name = $user ? $user->profile ? $user->profile->name : null : null;

// After
$name = optional($user->profile)->name;

Database Improvements

Default string length:

// AppServiceProvider
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;

public function boot()
{
    Schema::defaultStringLength(191);
}

JSON where clauses:

$users = User::whereJsonContains('options->languages', 'en')->get();
$users = User::whereJsonLength('options->languages', 3)->get();

Testing Improvements

Better assertions:

$response->assertJson([
    'created' => true,
]);

$response->assertJsonFragment([
    'name' => 'Laravel',
]);

$response->assertJsonMissing([
    'password' => 'secret',
]);

Upgrade Path

From 5.4 to 5.5:

# Update composer.json
"laravel/framework": "5.5.*"

# Update dependencies
composer update

# Clear caches
php artisan cache:clear
php artisan config:clear
php artisan route:clear
php artisan view:clear

# Run migrations if needed
php artisan migrate

Breaking changes:

• Artisan fire() renamed to handle()
• Custom middleware parameters changed
• Some config file updates required

Conclusion

Laravel 5.5 LTS provides modern features with enterprise stability. From auto-discovery to API resources to improved testing, 5.5 makes development faster while ensuring long-term support. At ZIRA Software, 5.5 LTS powers critical production applications with confidence.

Upgrade to 5.5 for modern Laravel development with guaranteed long-term support.

Need help upgrading to Laravel 5.5 LTS or building new applications? Contact ZIRA Software to discuss Laravel development, upgrade strategies, and enterprise application architecture.