What is Authentication in Laravel?

Authentication in Laravel is the process of verifying a user’s identity — usually by checking a username/email and password — to control access to protected parts of a web application.

Key Points:

Laravel provides built-in authentication features to make it quick and secure.
It includes login, registration, password reset, and email verification functionalities.
Authentication ensures that only authorized users can access certain routes, controllers, or data.

How Laravel Handles Authentication:

Laravel provides two main ways to implement authentication:

1. Starter Kit (Laravel Breeze, Jetstream, or Fortify)

You can install packages that scaffold full authentication features.

Example using Laravel Breeze:

Put this comment in your project terminal:


composer require laravel/breeze --dev
php artisan breeze:install
npm install && npm run dev
php artisan migrate

Then go to browser:


http://localhost:8000/register
http://localhost:8000/login

2. Manual Authentication (Custom)

You can create custom login systems using:

Auth facade
Middleware (auth)
LoginController, RegisterController
bcrypt() for password hashing

Example Login Logic:

LoginController


if (Auth::attempt(['email' => $email, 'password' => $password])) {
    return redirect()->intended('dashboard');
}

Auth Middleware

To protect routes:

routes/web.php:


Route::get('/dashboard', function () {
    return view('dashboard');
})->middleware('auth');

Authentication Files Location

Controllers: app/Http/Controllers/Auth/
Views (with Breeze): resources/views/auth/
Config: config/auth.php
Middleware: app/Http/Middleware/Authenticate.php

Happy Coders