Inside Laracon IN 2025

Jithin T C, Lead Laravel Engineer at Cubet and an active contributor to the Laravel community attended Laracon IN 2025 in Ahmedabad, marking his third consecutive year at the event. We caught up with him to discuss his key takeaways, insights, highlights, and challenges, and what excited him the most at India’s biggest Laravel gathering.

Q: What was your favourite part of this year’s Laracon IN, and why did it stand out to you?

Laracon IN 2025 was awesome! I loved Nuno Maduro’s talk on tools that make coding easier, like fixing mistakes or testing faster. He also showed off Laravel Cloud, which felt exciting and useful. Freek Van der Herten’s talk on handling multiple users in one app was super clear too. I could use it at work. But honestly, chatting with other developers between sessions was the best part. Those random talks gave me new ideas every time.

Q: Was there a particular talk or session that you found especially insightful or inspiring?

Yeah, Ashish Tiwari’s session on adding AI to apps was cool. He showed how PHP can do smart stuff with tools like LLPhant and Elasticsearch. It made me think we could try AI at Cubet. But I wish he’d talked about how it can slow things down. Laravel isn’t always fast with heavy stuff like that. Still, it got me excited to experiment.

Q: What makes Laracon IN different from other Laracon events globally, or other developer conferences?

Laracon IN feels special because of the Indian developer crowd. It’s lively and friendly. It’s fancier than some global events, but that makes it more community-feeling, like a big Laravel party. I just wish it was a bit more organized. The schedule got messy sometimes. Still, it’s all about the community here, and that’s what I love.

Q: Laracon events are known for exciting updates. What were some of the key announcements at Laracon IN 2025 that grabbed your attention?

No huge surprises this time, which was a bummer. Laracon usually drops something big. But Nuno’s Laravel Cloud demo was cool. It makes putting your app online super easy. Laravel Nightwatch for checking on apps and the Fission starter kit were neat too. They’re helpful, but I was hoping for something more exciting to shake things up.

Q: Which announcement do you feel will have the biggest impact on the Laravel community and why?

Laravel Cloud, for sure. It takes away the headache of managing servers so you can just code. That’s huge for busy developers. But it ties you to their system, which might not work for everyone, and I wonder if it’ll cost too much for small teams. Still, it could save a lot of time if it fits your needs.

Q: Do you see opportunities for Cubet to play a bigger role in supporting the Laravel ecosystem?

Absolutely, and we’re in a great spot to do it! Cubet is the first Laravel partner from India, and even Asia, which gives us a special chance to lead. We could build tools or guides that fix real issues, like simpler ways to catch bugs or speed up coding. Maybe even create a package that makes Laravel projects easier to start for Indian devs. We could also host meetups, workshops, or online sessions to teach newbies and share what we know. The community’s growing fast here, and we could make Laravel bigger and better, especially in India. But we’d need to plan it right. Jumping in too much could tire us out, so we’d have to balance it with our own work.

Q: What are the key strengths that have driven Laravel’s widespread adoption?

Laravel is easy to pick up but powerful enough for complex applications. It has a very developer-friendly syntax, great documentation and a strong ecosystem. Features like Eloquent, Livewire and queues make building applications feel less like a task and more like a creative process. The community also plays a huge role by constantly sharing and improving what is already available.

Q: How has the Laravel community influenced the direction of the framework, and what trends do you see emerging?

The community’s huge. They talk to the Laravel team at events and online, sharing what they want. We’re seeing stuff like Laravel Cloud for easy hosting and NativePHP for making phone or desktop apps. It’s cool, but I think they’re focusing too much on flashy things and not enough on making it run faster. The community loves it, though!

Q: Do you think Laravel is future-ready in today’s evolving tech landscape?

Yes, Laravel’s on the right track. Tools like Octane, async support, and AI-friendly features show it’s keeping up with modern needs. Artisan, Prompts, and AI-assisted coding make it feel next-gen, and NativePHP opens up mobile and desktop apps in a way devs already get. It’s solid stuff. Still, some prefer “cooler” stacks like Node.js, Go, or Python. Laravel can lag with heavy middleware or big database loads compared to speedy compiled languages like Go or Rust. PHP 8+ and new tricks are pushing back on that old “slow PHP” vibe, but it’s not flawless yet.

Q: Are the recent updates enough to keep it relevant amidst competition and modern development demands?

They’re good. Laravel Cloud and Nightwatch help with real stuff developers need. But other tools like Node.js are super-fast and big on AI, and Laravel’s updates feel more like small steps. It’s still a solid choice if you want to build quickly, but it needs bigger leaps to match the competition.

Q: If you could influence Laravel’s roadmap, what changes or innovations would you push for?

I’d make it easier to split apps into small pieces for big projects. Tools to spot problems and fix slow code would be great too. AI stuff should feel smoother, not tacked on. And it needs to run faster. Sometimes it feels heavy when it doesn’t need to be. Keep it simple but speed it up!

Q: What advice would you give to Laravel developers, both beginners and experienced, on how to grow, stay updated, and build effectively?

Beginners, take it easy. Learn the basics like routing and databases first. Build little things to practice. For experienced developers, try fast stuff like Octane, Swoole and Livewire, always build with modern Laravel and PHP tools — they make your development faster, cleaner, and future-ready. Everyone: hang out with the community, follow the big names, and share what you make. Oh, and don’t just cheer for Laravel. Ask how it can improve. That’s how you grow!