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Introduction

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Backpack is a collection of Laravel packages that help you build custom administration panels, for anything from presentation websites to complex web applications. You can install them on top of existing Laravel installations or fresh projects.

In a nutshell:

• Backpack will provide you with a visual interface for the admin panel (the HTML, the CSS, the JS); it pulls in the excellent CoreUI theme, with our own design called Backstrap, and adds authentication functionality & bubble notifications; when you decide to build a custom feature for your admin panel, you already have the HTML blocks for the UI, and it will look good;
• Backpack will also help you build sections where your admins can manipulate entries for Eloquent models; we call them CRUD Panels after the most basic operations: Create, Read, Update & Delete; after understanding Backpack, you'll be able to create a CRUD panel in a few minutes per model:

If you already have your Eloquent models, generating Backpack CRUDs is as simple as:

# -------------------------------
# For one specific Eloquent Model
# -------------------------------
# Create a Model, Request, Controller, Route and sidebar item, so
# that one Eloquent model you specify has an admin panel.

php artisan backpack:crud tag # use singular, not plural (like the Model name)

# -----------------------
# For all Eloquent Models
# -----------------------
# Create a Model, Request, Controller, Route and sidebar item for
# all Eloquent models that don't already have one.

php artisan backpack:build

If you have NOT created your Eloquent models yet, you can use whatever you want for that. We recommend:

• FREE - laracasts/generators as the best command-line tool for this;
• FREE - laravel-shift/blueprint as the best YAML-based tool for this;
• PAID - backpack/devtools as the best web interface for this; it makes it dead-simple to create Eloquent models, from the comfort of your web browser;

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How to Start

We heavily recommend you spend a little time to understand Backpack, and only afterwards install and use it. Fortunately it's super-simple to get started. Using any of the options below will get you to a point where you can use Backpack in your projects:

• Video Course - 31 minutes
• Text Course - 20 minutes
• Email Course - 1 email per day, for 4 days, 5 minutes each

Video Course Text Course Email Course

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Need to Know

Requirements

• Laravel 9.x or 8.x
• MySQL / PostgreSQL / SQLite / SQL Server

How does it look?

Take a look at our live demo. If you've purchased "Everything" you can even install the demo and fiddle with the code. Otherwise, you can just start a new Laravel project, install Backpack\CRUD on top, and follow our text course to create a few CRUDs.

Security

Backpack has never had a critical vulnerability/hack. But there have been important security updates for dependencies (including Laravel). Please register using Github or subscribe to our twice-a-year newsletter, so we can reach you in case your admin panel becomes vulnerable in any way.

Maintenance

Backpack v5 is the current version, and is being actively maintained by the Backpack team, with the help of a wonderful community of Backpack veterans. See all contributors.

License

Starting with v5, Backpack has become open-core. Its features have been separated into two packages:

• Backpack CRUD is licensed under the MIT License (open-source free software); it is perfect if you're building a simple admin panel - it's packed with features! it's also perfect if you're building an open-source project, the permissive license allows you to do whatever you want;
• Backpack PRO is licensed under our EULA; it is a closed-source, paid add-on; PRO will be useful when your admin panel needs grow, because it adds adds A LOT of features for complex use cases (see our FREE vs PRO comparison);

Our documentation covers both CRUD and PRO, with all the PRO features clearly labeled PRO.

Versioning, Updates and Upgrades

Starting with Backpack v5, all our packages follow semantic versioning. Here's what major.minor.patch (eg. 5.0.1) means for us:

• major - breaking changes, major new features, complete rewrites; released once a year, in February; it adds features that were previously impossible and upgrades our dependencies; upgrading is done by following our clear and detailed upgrade guides;
• minor - new features, released in backwards-compatible ways; every few months; update takes seconds;
• patch - bug fixes & small non-breaking changes; historically every week; update takes seconds;

When we release a new Backpack\CRUD version, all paid addons receive support for it the same day.

When you buy a premium Backpack addon, you get access to not only updates, but also upgrades (for 12mo), that means that... any time you buy a Backpack addon, it is very likely that you're not only buying the current version (v5 at the moment), but also the upgrade to the next version (v6 for example).

Add-ons

Backpack's core is open-source and free (Backpack\CRUD). FREE

The reason we've been able to build and maintain Backpack since 2016 is that Laravel professionals have supported us, by buying our paid products. As of 2022, these are all Backpack add-ons, which we highly recommend:

• Backpack PRO - a crazy amount of added features PAID
• Backpack DevTools - a developer UI for generating migrations, models and CRUDs; PAID
• Backpack FigmaTemplate - quickly create designs and mockups, using Backpack's design; PAID
• Backpack EditableColumns - let your admins do quick edits, right in the table view; PAID

In addition to our open-source core and our closed-source addons, there are a few other addons you might want to take a look at, that treat common use cases. Some have been developed by our core team, some by our wonderful community. You can just install interfaces to manage site-wide settings, the default Laravel users table, users, groups & permissions, content for custom pages, using page templates, news articles, categories and tags, etc. FREE

For more information, please see our addons page.