Laravel 12 (2026) + ReactJS Integration: The Ultimate Beginner-Friendly Guide

If you’ve ever tried to combine a Laravel backend with a modern React frontend, you might have felt overwhelmed. There are many ways people talk about doing it—and not all of them are up-to-date for Laravel 12 and modern build tooling.

So let’s cut through the noise and walk through the best current way to set up Laravel 12 with React step by step, using the official recommended tooling like Vite, Inertia, and Laravel’s React starter kit. This gives you a real, modern app setup: Laravel routes + controllers powering a React UI in one project.(Laravel)

What You’re Building (Big Picture — Simple Terms)

You will set up a project where:

• Laravel handles backend logic (routes, database, API)
• React renders dynamic UI
• Vite compiles and hot-reloads JavaScript
• Inertia connects Laravel and React seamlessly

This approach feels like building a single app, not two separate apps glued together.(Laravel)

Why This Is the Preferred Modern Approach

Earlier ways of integrating React with Laravel involved:

• Mixing Blade with React
• Manually configuring Webpack
• Creating a separate React app entirely

Those still work, but Laravel 12 comes with a first-class integration using Vite + Inertia + official starter kits that make building SPAs much easier.(Laravel)

Step-by-Step Setup

1️⃣ Install Laravel 12

First, make sure you have:

• PHP 8.3+
• Composer
• Node.js + npm

Run:

composer create-project laravel/laravel my-app

Navigate in:

cd my-app

2️⃣ Choose the React Starter Kit

Laravel 12 now includes starter options that scaffold React + Inertia for you:

laravel new my-app
# When asked, pick: React

This installs:

• Inertia + Laravel backend support
• React 19 and React dependencies
• Vite configured for React
• Authentication scaffolding (optional)
• Tailwind + UI components setup

Then install dependencies:

npm install
composer install

And start dev builds:

npm run dev

Now run Laravel:

php artisan serve

Visit:

http://localhost:8000

You now have a React frontend integrated with Laravel.(Laravel)

🛠 How the Frontend Is Structured

In this setup:

📁 resources/js
👉 React components, pages, layouts live here

📁 resources/js/pages
👉 These map to Inertia pages

📁 resources/js/app.jsx
👉 Vite entry — bootstraps React and connects to Laravel

📁 routes/web.php
👉 Laravel routes render React pages via Inertia.

Controller example:

use Inertia\Inertia;

Route::get('/', function () {
    return Inertia::render('Welcome', [
        'appName' => config('app.name'),
    ]);
});

React page example:

export default function Welcome({ appName }) {
  return <h1>Welcome to {appName}</h1>;
}

Inertia sends Laravel data as React props.(Laravel)

Why Inertia? (Simple Analogy)

Think of Inertia as a bridge:

Laravel = Backend Server
React = Frontend UI

Traditionally you’d build two separate apps and connect them with APIs.

With Inertia:

• You write Laravel routes and controllers as usual
• Instead of returning Blade views, you return React pages
• Inertia handles the rest under the hood

So your app feels like a single cohesive stack — no separate React server to manage.(Laravel)

Try a Test Page

Create a React page:

resources/js/pages/About.jsx

export default function About() {
  return <h1>This is the About Page</h1>;
}

Laravel route:

Route::get('/about', function () {
    return Inertia::render('About');
});

Now visiting /about shows your React page — with full SPA behavior!(Laravel)

Hot Reloading with Vite

Thanks to Vite, your React components auto-refresh while you code:

npm run dev

Vite keeps browser reloads fast — ideal for modern frontend dev.

💡 Using Laravel API + Plain React (Alternative)

If you prefer:

• Laravel outputs JSON API
• React is a completely separate frontend app

You can still do that. Just:

1. Expose API routes in routes/api.php
2. Fetch them from React using fetch or axios
3. Deploy frontend and backend separately

That’s a good choice for teams where frontend and backend are decoupled, but it’s not the focus of the Laravel 12 starter kit.(Laravel Daily)

Benefits of Laravel + React (Modern)

🔹 Unified Codebase

You don’t juggle two repos — backend + frontend live together.(Laravel)

🔹 Inertia Makes React Feel Like “Laravel”

Controllers pass props → React consumes them.(Laravel)

🔹 Fast Builds with Vite

Instant reloads without waiting for compilation.(Laravel)

🔹 Authentication Out-of-the-Box

Laravel starter kit even gives login/register, Tailwind UI, and layouts ready to go.(Laravel)

Beginner Tips (Real World)

✔ Always commit your vite.config.js — it determines how React is compiled.(Medium)
✔ If React pages fail to load, check the Vite dev server console.
✔ Use Inertia shared props for common data like authenticated user.
✔ Use /api/* routes for pure JSON endpoints if needed.

📌 Quick Recap

✅ Use Laravel’s React starter kit for the smoothest experience.
✅ Inertia binds Laravel and React in one full-stack project.
✅ Vite handles fast builds with React plugins.
✅ You don’t need separate frontend projects unless you want to.