2 · Create the project

Goal: a Laravel application that runs, with a frontend the panel can build against.

The panel's published components import nineteen modules they do not ship, and a Laravel Vue starter kit application already has every one of them. That is the whole of the "starter kit assumption" — install into one and the frontend works; install into anything else and those nineteen files are the work.

Do this

laravel new acme

Choose the Vue starter kit when the installer asks. Then:

cd acme
php artisan migrate
npm install
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:8000 in one terminal and leave npm run dev running in another. You should see the starter kit's welcome page, and be able to register an account.

No laravel command?

composer global require laravel/installer

Then make sure ~/.composer/vendor/bin (or ~/.config/composer/vendor/bin) is on your PATH.

What the starter kit gives you

The panel does not read or edit any of these. It imports them, and that is the whole relationship.

	What the panel uses it for
resources/views/app.blade.php	The Inertia root view. Without it, every panel URL is a 500
app/Http/Middleware/HandleInertiaRequests.php	Inertia's middleware. The panel adds its own props separately
resources/js/app.ts	The Inertia entry. The panel needs it to not overwrite the layout each page declares
vite.config.ts	The build, and where the Wayfinder plugin runs
resources/css/app.css	The Tailwind 4 theme the panel's utilities resolve against
@/components/*, @/composables/useTwoFactorAuth, @/types	Account UI and shared types the panel's settings pages import
@/routes/*, @/actions/*	Wayfinder output, generated from your own route table
App\Providers\FortifyServiceProvider	Your application's auth screens, which stay where they are

Generate the Wayfinder modules

Nine of the nineteen are generated from your own routes and controllers:

php artisan wayfinder:generate

The starter kit's Vite config runs the plugin during a build, so npm run build regenerates them too. Running it once now means step 3's installer has nothing to report about them.

The one edit that is easy to get wrong

Every panel page declares its own layout:

defineOptions({ layout: PanelLayout });

If resources/js/app.ts assigns a layout unconditionally in the Inertia resolver, it overwrites that choice after the page already made it. Open the file and look at the resolver:

createInertiaApp({
  resolve: (name) => {
    const page = resolvePageComponent(`./pages/${name}.vue`, import.meta.glob('./pages/**/*.vue'));

    page.default.layout = AppLayout;      // every panel screen renders in your shell
    page.default.layout ??= AppLayout;    // a page that named its own layout keeps it

    return page;
  },
});

??= and ||= are both correct; a bare = is not.

This failure is silent

The wrong version produces HTTP 200, your sidebar, no panel navigation, and nothing in the log. panel:install reads the file and reports the offending line by number — it is checked precisely because nothing else would ever tell you.

If you are not using a starter kit

Nothing about the server half cares. What you have to supply is the nineteen frontend modules, in this order:

1. php artisan inertia:middleware, and a root view at resources/views/app.blade.php.
2. A vite.config.ts with the Vue and Tailwind 4 plugins.
3. npm install the packages panel:install lists in step 3.
4. Install and run Wayfinder for @/routes/* and @/actions/*.
5. Write the seven components, the composable and the two type modules — or copy them from a starter kit application.

The package repository carries a minimal, correctly-typed stand-in for each under frontend/host/, readable as a specification of what every module must export. Details in Host modules.

Check it worked

php artisan route:list --name=dashboard
ls resources/js/routes resources/js/actions

The route should exist, and both directories should be populated. Registering an account through the starter kit's own screens and landing on /dashboard is the strongest check available at this point — it proves Inertia, Vite and the auth stack all work before the panel is anywhere near them.

If it did not work

Symptom	Cause	Fix
npm run dev fails on Tailwind	Node below 20.19	Upgrade Node, delete node_modules, npm install again
resources/js/routes is empty	Wayfinder has not run	php artisan wayfinder:generate
A blank page and a console error about app.blade.php	No Inertia root view	php artisan inertia:middleware, and create the view
/dashboard 500s	Migrations not run	php artisan migrate

Next

The application runs. Now give it a panel.

→ 3 · Install PandaBear

See also

• Laravel Vue starter kit setup — the same ground, in full
• Frontend requirements — the nineteen modules, listed
• Wayfinder