A Laravel 2,157 application is an ordinary Composer 5,243 project with a public/index.php front controller that Apache or PHP-FPM runs like any other script (How a Request Becomes a Page). This section installs one for real on the book's Ubuntu 26.04 225 server (PHP 8.5.4, Composer 2.10.3, Node 22), explains the support calendar you sign up for, and covers the two packaged alternatives: Herd 2,157 and Sail 1,922 .