Laravel 12 Best Practices: Common Mistakes That Make Your Code Hard To Maintenance

Ever opened up Laravel code you wrote just a few months ago and thought, "Wait, what was I even trying to do here?" Or worse—you're scared to fix a bug because you might break something else entirely? That's a clear sign your code needs better maintainability.

Laravel comes packed with amazing features, but too many developers keep making the same classic mistakes that turn their codebase into a maintenance nightmare. Let's break down these common pitfalls and how you can avoid them.

Fat Controller Syndrome

This is probably the most common mistake—even experienced developers fall into this trap. Controllers bloated with hundreds of lines of logic, validation, database queries, and business rules all crammed into one place.

❌ Wrong Examples

public function store(Request $request) {
  // 50 lines validation code + custom error mesagges
	// 30 line data processing
	// 20 line database query
	// 15 line notification logic
}

Why is this a problem? When you or your team needs to change one small feature, you'll have to read and understand hundreds of lines of code. And when bugs pop up? Good luck debugging that mess.

The solution? Use the Service Pattern or Action Pattern by separating business logic into dedicated classes. Your controller should just be a coordinator that calls the services it needs.

Skipping Form Request Validation

Many of Laravel developers skip creating Form Request classes and prefer validating inputs directly in controllers with $request->validate(). Sure, it's faster at first, but it'll bite you later. The problem? Your validation logic gets scattered across multiple controllers. If you need to change email validation rules, you'll have to hunt through every single controller.

❌ Wrong Example

public function store(Request $request) {
 $validation = $request->validate([
	  'username' => 'required|string',
	  'password' => 'required|min:8'
	 ], [
    'username.required' => 'Username cannot be null',
	  'password.min' => 'Minimal chars for password is 8'
 ]);
	
 // other code
}

Always use Form Requests for validation to keep your code organized and reusable.

php artisan make:request StoreUserRequest

✅ Good Example

public function rules(): array
{
    return [
        'name' => 'required|string',
        'password' => 'required|min:8',
    ];
}

public function messages(): array
{
    return [
		 'username.required' => 'Username cannot be null',
	   'password.min' => 'Minimal chars for password is 8'
		];
}

Lalu ubah controller menjadi seperti ini:

public function (StoreUserRequest $request) {
  User::create($request->validated());
}

Much cleaner and more readable, right?

Ignoring Database Transaction

Imagine this scenario: Your code deducts money from user A's balance, but before it can add money to user B's account, an error occurs. The result? User A's money just vanishes into thin air.

❌ Wrong Example

$sender->balance -= $amount;
$sender->save();
// An error occurred here
$receiver->balance += $amount;
$receiver->save();

That's why you should always use database transactions for operations involving multiple queries: ✅ Good Example

DB::transaction(function () use ($sender, $receiver, $amount) {
    $sender->decrement('balance', $amount);
    $receiver->increment('balance', $amount);
});

N+1 Query Problem

N+1 queries happen when your app runs one query to fetch the main dataset, then runs N additional queries inside a loop to fetch relationships for each item. That means N+1 total queries when you could reduce it drastically with the right technique.

You might not realize it, but N+1 queries slow your app down significantly and hurt performance.

❌ Wrong Example

$posts = Post::all();
foreach ($posts as $post) {
    echo $post->user->name; // Query user for each post
}

✅ Good Example

$posts = Post::with('user')->get();

Running Queries Directly in Blade Templates

This is a critical mistake beginners often make—writing Eloquent queries directly in Blade files:

@foreach(User::where('active', 1)->get() as $user)
    <li>{{ $user->name }}</li>
@endforeach

Why is this dangerous and completely discouraged? First, performance tanks because the query runs every time the template renders. Second, mixing business logic with your presentation layer violates the separation of concerns principle.

The Bottom Line

Maintainability doesn't happen by magic. It's the result of consistent, small decisions you make every day. Avoid these mistakes, and your Laravel code will become easier to maintain, easier to scale, and easier to work on with a team.

Remember: good code is code that's easy to change. If your code is maintainable, you're already on the right track. Thank you!