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Published
Mar 30, 2026
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7 min read
Laravel is a phenomenal backend. Next.js is a phenomenal frontend. Most of my client projects in the last three years pair them: Laravel exposes a clean JSON API, Next.js owns rendering, routing, and SEO. Here is the setup that has proven itself.
Who does what
- Laravel: authentication, authorization, business logic, queues, webhooks, admin
- Next.js: pages, server-side rendering, static generation, image optimization, SEO metadata
- Shared contract: versioned REST endpoints (/api/v1) with Laravel API Resources shaping every response
Authentication that doesn't fight you
For first-party frontends I use Laravel Sanctum's cookie-based SPA mode: the Next.js app and the API share a parent domain, CSRF is handled by Sanctum's endpoint, and there are no tokens in localStorage to leak. For mobile or third-party consumers, the same API issues Sanctum personal access tokens.
Fetching: server-first
Next.js server components fetch from Laravel directly inside the data center, which means no CORS in the hot path and response caching with revalidation where it makes sense. Client components only fetch for truly interactive data. A small typed API client (generated from the resource shapes) keeps the contract honest on both sides.
Deployment topology
Laravel lives on AWS (the architecture from my AWS deployment guide), Next.js deploys to Vercel or a Node service on the same VPC. Put both behind the same apex domain — app.example.com and api.example.com — and the cookie/auth story stays simple.
A decoupled stack is only as good as its contract. Version your API, type your client, and the two halves can evolve independently.
