How to Build a Simple Laravel CRUD Application Step by Step

If you're new to Laravel, Laravel can feel a bit confusing. There are many files, folders and concepts. But once you build something simple yourself, things start to click much faster.

If you haven’t installed Laravel on your machine yet, you can follow this step by step tutorial to set up Laravel using XAMPP before continuing with this tutorial.

CRUD stands for Create Read Update Delete. These are the basic actions behind most web apps. Think of blog posts products users anything that can be added edited or removed. Once you understand this flow you can build much more complex systems later.

In this tutorial, we will build a simple posts system where you can create, view and delete data. It is not complex, but it is enough to understand how Laravel handles basic operations.

1. Installing Laravel

First make sure you have Composer installed. Then open your terminal and run:

composer create-project laravel/laravel crud-app

Once it finishes go into the project folder:

cd crud-app
php artisan serve

Open your browser at http://127.0.0.1:8000 and you should see the Laravel welcome page.

2. Database Setup

Create a database using MySQL or any database you prefer. Then open your .env file and update this:

DB_DATABASE=crud_app
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=

Make sure your database exists before continuing.

3. Migration

Now we create a table for posts.

php artisan make:migration create_posts_table

Open the migration file and update it like this:

Schema::create('posts', function (Blueprint $table) {
  $table->id();
  $table->string('title');
  $table->text('content');
  $table->timestamps();
});

Run the migration:

php artisan migrate

4. Model and Controller

Laravel makes this part very fast:

php artisan make:model Post -mcr

This creates:

• Post model
• Migration (already done)
• Resource controller

Open app/Models/Post.php and add:

protected $fillable = ['title', 'content'];

5. Routes

Open routes/web.php and add:

use App\Http\Controllers\PostController;

Route::resource('posts', PostController::class);

Laravel now automatically handles all CRUD routes.

6. Controller Logic

Open PostController and update a few methods.

public function index()
{
  $posts = Post::latest()->get();
  return view('posts.index', compact('posts'));
}

public function store(Request $request)
{
  Post::create($request->all());
  return redirect()->route('posts.index');
}

public function destroy(Post $post)
{
  $post->delete();
  return back();
}

This handles listing, creating and deleting posts in a very simple way.

In most small projects, this structure is more than enough to handle basic data operations without overcomplicating things.

7. Views

Create a folder: resources/views/posts

Now create index.blade.php:

<h2>Posts</h2>

<a href="/posts/create">Add Post</a>

@foreach($posts as $post)
  <div>
    <h3>{{ $post->title }}</h3>
    <p>{{ $post->content }}</p>

    <form method="POST" action="/posts/{{ $post->id }}">
      @csrf
      @method('DELETE')
      <button>Delete</button>
    </form>
  </div>
@endforeach

Create create.blade.php:

<form method="POST" action="/posts">
  @csrf

  <input type="text" name="title" placeholder="Title">
  <textarea name="content"></textarea>

  <button>Save</button>
</form>

8. Simple Styling

You can make it look cleaner with a bit of CSS:

body {
  font-family: Arial;
  max-width: 700px;
  margin: auto;
  padding: 20px;
}

button {
  background: #2563eb;
  color: #fff;
  border: none;
  padding: 8px 15px;
  cursor: pointer;
}

9. Live Preview Example

Here is a simple preview of how your app behaves:

What You Should Try Next

Now that you have a working CRUD app you can start improving it. Add validation so users cannot submit empty forms. Add edit functionality to update posts. Maybe even add authentication so only logged in users can create content.

This is how Laravel starts to make sense. You build something small then you improve it step by step.

“From my experience, building small projects like this is what really helps you improve faster than just reading tutorials.”

If you repeat this project a couple of times you will notice how much faster everything becomes. That is when you know you are getting comfortable with Laravel.