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05 JAN 2026 Article

Experiment: Using Pest 4 as a Standalone Browser Testing Suite for Legacy Applications.

Here's a scenario we encounter regularly at Jump24: a client has a legacy application - perhaps built in CakePHP, CodeIgniter, or even a custom framework - and they want to add automated browser testing. The catch? They don't want to pollute the existing codebase with test dependencies, and frankly, the application wasn't built with testing in mind.

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30 DEC 2025 Article

Fatherhood, First Talks, and Finally Trusting Myself: 2025 in Review

If you'd asked me at the start of 2025 what the year would look like, I don't think I could have predicted just how much would change. Some years are about big career moves or business milestones. This year was about something far more important.

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27 DEC 2025 Article

Inertia.js Once Props: Stop Sending the Same Data Over and Over Again

We've been long time fans of Inertia.js here at Jump24 and honestly, it's become our go-to for building modern Laravel applications without the faff of maintaining a separate API layer. Between deferred props, prefetching, and partial reloads, the Inertia team has been absolutely smashing it with performance features lately.

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26 NOV 2025 Article

Laravel's New Factory insert() Method

Laravel 12.37 quietly shipped with a new factory method that might seem minor when you first look at it - Factory::insert(). You might actually be thinking wait a minute the insert method has been around for a while and you've already been using it in your code already, I mean I know we have.

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20 NOV 2025 Article

Speed Up Your Laravel Test Suite: The Cache Testing Traits You've Been Waiting For

Right, let's have a chat about test suite performance. You know that feeling when you push your code, then go make a brew while waiting for the CI pipeline to finish? Yeah, we've been there too. Laravel 12.38 just dropped two new testing traits that might just save you enough time to actually drink that tea while it's still hot.

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12 NOV 2025 Article

PHP 8.5's #[NoDiscard] Attribute: Stop Silently Ignoring Those Important Return Values

Right, let's talk about a bug pattern we've all created at least once, it's not a pattern that breaks anything as such is more a pattern of we've forgotten to do something.

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05 NOV 2025 Article

Laravel's HTTP::batch(): Parallel Requests Done Right (Finally!)

You know that feeling when you need to fetch data from multiple APIs, and you're sitting there watching your application make request... after request... after request... while your users are staring at a loading spinner that's been going for so long it's practically become a screensaver?

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28 OCT 2025 Article

RectorPHP and Laravel: The Automated Refactoring Tool We Should Have Been Using Years Ago

Hands up — how many of you have a Laravel 9 or 10 application that should be upgraded but the idea of refactoring thousands of lines makes you want to switch careers? We’ve been there. More than once.

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22 OCT 2025 Article

PHP 8.5's URI Extension: Because parse_url() Has Been Lying to Us for 20 Years

PHP 8.5's new URI extension finally fixes 20 years of parse_url() problems.

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18 OCT 2025 Article

Never Lose a Queue Job Again: Laravel 12.34's New Failover Driver

Laravel 12.34 dropped earlier this week with a feature that made me actually say "oh thank god" out loud: automatic queue failover.

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15 OCT 2025 Article

PHP 8.5's array_first and array_last: Finally, Native Array Helpers We Can Use

Right, let's talk about something that's been bugging us for years. If you've been writing PHP for any length of time, you've probably written some variation of "get the first item from this array" more times than you'd care to admit. And if you're a Laravel developer like us, you've probably been spoilt by the Arr::first() and Arr::last() helpers that make this dead simple.

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13 OCT 2025 Article

PHP 8.5's Pipe Operator: Finally, Readable Function Chains That Make Sense

Right, I'm going to be honest with you - when I first heard about PHP 8.5's pipe operator, my initial reaction was "oh great, another operator to remember." and I can't see me needing to use this. But after spending some time playing with it I've completely changed my tune. This little |> operator might just be the best quality-of-life improvement PHP has seen since constructor property promotion.

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