Config & .env

.env for secrets and environment differences. config/*.php for structured app settings. Don't call env() deep in random classes.

The rule

<?php

// .env
MAIL_HOST=smtp.example.com

// config/mail.php reads env(...)
'host' => env('MAIL_HOST', '127.0.0.1'),

// your app code:
config('mail.mailers.smtp.host'); // good
env('MAIL_HOST');                 // avoid outside config files

Why: in production, config:cache freezes config - env() outside config files can return null and ruin your afternoon.

APP_KEY / APP_DEBUG

• APP_KEY - encryption / cookies; generated at create-project; don't commit, don't lose casually
• APP_DEBUG=true - pretty errors locally; never in production (leaks secrets)

Common env dials

APP_ENV=local
APP_URL=http://localhost:8000
DB_CONNECTION=sqlite
SESSION_DRIVER=file
CACHE_STORE=file
QUEUE_CONNECTION=sync
MAIL_MAILER=log

MAIL_MAILER=log writes emails to the log in local - perfect while learning.

FE parallel

Front-end	Laravel
.env + import.meta.env.VITE_*	.env + config()
only expose public vars to client	only expose what Blade/JS need
never ship secrets to the browser	never APP_DEBUG / DB passwords in HTML

Clearing caches when things feel haunted

php artisan optimize:clear

Nuke config/route/view/cache in one go during local weirdness.

Best,

-- ł.