Laravel Documentation Search

Search the official Laravel ecosystem documentation in real-time via the boost.laravel.com API. This gives you accurate, version-specific documentation instead of relying on potentially outdated knowledge.

Overview

The API uses vector embeddings for semantic search. This means:

• Queries are converted to vector embeddings and compared against document vectors
• Results are ranked by semantic similarity (cosine distance)
• Markdown-formatted documentation chunks are returned

This is NOT keyword search - it's semantic matching. Understanding this is critical to writing effective queries.

Process

High-Level Workflow

Agent works with Laravel code → Detect project context → Craft technical query → Search docs → Apply findings

When to use this skill:

• Writing or modifying Laravel code
• Debugging Laravel applications
• Researching Laravel features or packages
• Answering questions about Laravel
• Verifying version-specific syntax or APIs

Phase 1: Detect Project Context

Check for composer.json in the project to determine:

• Which Laravel packages are installed
• What versions are being used

cat composer.json

The search script auto-detects packages and scopes results to the relevant versions.

Phase 2: Craft the Query

THE CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING:

• The concept: "How do I create a route in Laravel?"
• What you search: "route definition" or "Route::get"
• What happens: Vector embeddings find semantically similar docs

This is VERY IMPORTANT: Natural language questions return ZERO results. The API matches concepts, not conversational text.

Phase 3: Execute Search

phyton3 scripts/search.py "your query" --dir /path/to/project

Phase 4: Present Results

The API returns markdown-formatted documentation. Present the relevant sections to the user, summarizing key points and including code examples when helpful.

Query Best Practices

The 4 Golden Rules

1. NEVER use natural language questions

# Returns ZERO results
"How do I create a route in Laravel?"
"What is the best way to validate forms?"

# Use technical terms instead
"route definition"
"form request validation"

2. Target 5-15 documents

3. Use 2-4 words

4. Word order matters

# Different results!
"queue worker supervisor"  → 9 docs
"supervisor queue worker"  → 4 docs

# Prefer natural technical order
"eager loading relationships"  → 8 docs ✓
"relationships eager loading"  → 9 docs

Query Patterns

What Works Best

Method and class names (most specific):

"hasMany belongsTo"           → 2 docs
"route:list"                  → 3 docs
"custom validation rule"      → 3 docs
"cache remember"              → 6 docs

Technical terms over descriptions:

# Better (technical)
"hasMany"            → 2 docs
"paginate"           → 7 docs
"validate"           → 6 docs

# Worse (descriptive)
"one to many"        → 16 docs
"split into pages"   → 3 docs
"check input"        → 9 docs

Laravel-specific vocabulary:

# Laravel term        → Better than generic
"eloquent"           → "database model"
"mailable"           → "email class"
"artisan command"    → "cli command"
"form request"       → "input validator"

What to Avoid

❌ Natural language questions (return zero results):

"How do I..."
"What is the..."
"How can I..."

❌ Single broad keywords:

"cache"              → 33 docs
"event"              → 32 docs
"model"              → 25 docs

❌ Generic/non-Laravel terms:

"database"           → Use "eloquent" or "query builder"
"email"              → Use "mailable" or "notification"
"background"         → Use "queue" or "dispatch"

Quick Reference by Topic

CLI Reference

Basic Usage

# Basic search (auto-detects packages from composer.json)
phyton3 scripts/search.py "routing"

# Multiple queries in one call
phyton3 scripts/search.py "middleware" "authentication"

# Adjust response size
phyton3 scripts/search.py "queues jobs" --token-limit 5000

# Manually specify packages
phyton3 scripts/search.py "policies" --package laravel/framework:11.x

# Specify project directory
phyton3 scripts/search.py "validation" --dir /path/to/laravel/project

Options

Token Limit Guide

The token limit controls how much documentation is returned. Choosing the right limit prevents context pollution.

By query specificity:

Decision guide:

What do you need?
├─ Quick syntax check → 500-1000
├─ How to implement X → 1000-1500
├─ Compare approaches → 1500-2000
└─ Deep research → 2000-3000

Still getting truncated? → Query too broad, add specificity instead of increasing limit

Warning signs:

• No code examples → Limit too low, increase to 1000+
• Too much unrelated content → Limit too high OR query too broad
• Truncated mid-sentence → Increase by 500 and retry

Default: 3000 is generous for most cases. For focused lookups, use 1000-1500 to save tokens.

Troubleshooting

Problem: No results

Cause: Natural language question

# Bad
"How do I create a model?"

# Fix: Remove question words, use technical terms
"eloquent model create"

Problem: Too many results (>30 docs)

Cause: Query too broad

# Bad
"cache"              → 33 docs

# Fix: Add more specific terms
"cache remember store" → 6 docs

Problem: Irrelevant first result

Cause: Wrong word order or generic terms

# Bad
"job queue"

# Fix: Try different order or more specific terms
"queue dispatch job"

Problem: Still not finding what you need

Solution: Try multiple query variations

# Try related terms
"eager loading"
"with relationships"
"prevent n+1 queries"

Supported Packages

The API indexes documentation for these packages:

Laravel Framework & First-Party:

• laravel/framework
• laravel/ai
• laravel/breeze
• laravel/cashier
• laravel/cashier-paddle
• laravel/folio
• laravel/fortify
• laravel/horizon
• laravel/jetstream
• laravel/mcp
• laravel/nova
• laravel/octane
• laravel/passport
• laravel/pennant
• laravel/pint
• laravel/pulse
• laravel/reverb
• laravel/sail
• laravel/sanctum
• laravel/scout
• laravel/socialite
• laravel/spark
• laravel/telescope
• laravel/wayfinder

Ecosystem Packages:

• livewire/livewire
• livewire/flux
• livewire/flux-pro
• livewire/volt
• inertiajs/inertia-laravel
• filament/filament
• pestphp/pest
• phpunit/phpunit

Reference Files

• scripts/search.py - Python script for cross-platform API calls
  • Auto-detects packages from composer.json
  • Normalizes versions to X.x format
  • Uses only Python stdlib (no dependencies)