Laravel

What is Laravel

Laravel is a popular PHP framework designed for building web applications with an elegant syntax. It provides a robust set of tools and an MVC architecture to streamline the development process.

Use cases

Use cases for Laravel include e-commerce platforms, social networking sites, enterprise applications, and custom web applications that require a solid backend structure.

How to use

To use Laravel, you can install it via Composer by running ‘composer require usecroft/laravel --dev’. After installation, publish the configuration file and add it as an MCP server in your preferred tool using the command ‘./artisan croft’.

Key features

Key features of Laravel include a powerful routing system, an ORM called Eloquent for database interactions, built-in authentication, and support for RESTful APIs. It also offers tools for testing and debugging, making development easier.

Where to use

Laravel is widely used in web development, particularly for building complex applications, APIs, and content management systems. It is suitable for both small and large-scale projects.

Croft is an MCP server designed specifcally for Laravel developers, by Laravel developers. We wanted a plug and play solution to boosting productivity, so we built one. The php artisan croft command provides tools to your MCP client to help your AI pair programmer work better. This package is specifically designed to offer tools that are useful locally.

Add even more functionality with usecroft.com » hosted servers.

Installation

Install the package via composer:

composer require usecroft/laravel --dev

Publish the config file with:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag="croft-config"

Add to your IDE:

php artisan croft:install

Add more functionality with usecroft.com » hosted servers (coming soon)

Usage

To make use of Croft you need to add it as an MCP server in your favourite tool.

The command the MCP client needs to run is ./artisan croft

Cursor (Docs)

We recommend you ship an mcp.json file with your project in .cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "croft": {
      "command": "./artisan",
      "args": [
        "croft"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Current functionality

• Screenshot URLs
• Query database (read only, or read write)
• Get absolute URL from relative path
• Get current date and time
• Read last X log entries
• Read & filter database structure - tables, columns, indexes, foreign keys
• List/filter routes
• List artisan commands
• List available config() keys (and optionally values) in dot notation
• List available env() keys (without leaking secrets of course)

Extra functionality

Add more functionality with usecroft.com » remote MCP servers (coming soon).

Add your own tools

It’s trivial to add your own tools.

Just create a class that extends our Croft\Feature\Tool\AbstractTool class, then make sure it’s in your croft.php config file.

Example:

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace Croft\Tools;

use Croft\Feature\Tool\AbstractTool;
use Croft\Feature\Tool\ToolResponse;

class {{CLASSNAME}} extends AbstractTool
{
    public function __construct()
    {
        // Setup annotations according to MCP specification
        $this->setTitle('{{NAME}}')
            ->setReadOnly(true)        // Just listing commands, no modifications
            ->setDestructive(false)    // No destructive operations
            ->setIdempotent(true);     // Safe to retry
    }

    public function getName(): string
    {
        return '{{NAME}}';
    }

    public function getDescription(): string
    {
        return 'Must explain well what the tool can do so the MCP client can decide when to use it.';
    }

    /**
    * What params does the MCP client need to provide to use this tool?
    **/
    public function getInputSchema(): array
    {
        return [
            'type' => 'object',
            'properties' => (object) [
            ],
            'required' => [],
        ];
    }

    public function handle(array $arguments): ToolResponse
    {
        return ToolResponse::text("Howdy, this is the start of something great.");
    }
}

After adding a tool you’ll need to restart the server, or ask the MCP client to relist the tools.

Support & Credits

Croft was developed by Ashley Hindle with support from Springloaded. If you like it, please star it, share it, and let us know!

Ashley Hindle

• https://bsky.app/profile/ashleyhindle.com
• https://twitter.com/ashleyhindle
• https://ashleyhindle.com

Springloaded

• https://bsky.app/profile/springloaded.co
• https://twitter.com/ashleyhindle
• https://springloaded.co