Last week I spent two days at Laracon EU. Inspiring talks, great conversations with peers from across the industry, and a clear signal that the Laravel community is in an exciting place right now. One theme dominated the entire conference: the role of the developer is shifting, faster than most people expected.
These are my main takeaways.
The Biggest Shift: From Writing Code to Directing It
A year ago, AI was a useful assistant. You wrote the code yourself and AI helped along the way. Those days are over. At Laracon EU 2026, the consensus was clear: roughly 80% of code is now generated. Developers spend their time thinking through solutions, reviewing generated code, and maintaining quality.
Code has become essentially free.
The real difficulty in software development was never about typing lines of code. It's about maintaining software, keeping it running in production, and evolving it smartly on top of an existing foundation. AI doesn't change that. In fact, because everyone can now build faster, the total demand for software is only growing. Software has become easier to adopt and implement.
For developers, this requires a different mindset. Less syntax, more architecture. Less typing, more thinking.
Laravel 13: AI in the Framework
Taylor Otwell announced Laravel 13 with built-in AI functionality as its central theme. The new features make it significantly easier to integrate AI into both new and existing Laravel applications, without having to stitch together a collection of separate packages. Think running prompts or integrating vector databases, directly from within the framework.
Laravel is well-positioned for this era. The framework is solid, scalable, and backed by a mature ecosystem. With the new AI integrations in Laravel 13, it aligns directly with how teams build today: iterating quickly, applying AI where it adds value, and relying on a stable backend.
Inertia 3: The Modern Stack Gets Even Better
Joe Tannenbaum announced Inertia 3. As a big fan of the Inertia approach, this was one of the highlights of the conference for me.
Inertia offers what I consider the ideal stack for modern web applications: Laravel as a powerful backend, combined with Vue or React on the frontend, without the overhead of a separate API. Inertia 3 extends this further with features that benefit both the developer experience and the end user. Implementation becomes simpler and applications feel smoother.
Inertia remains a top choice for teams that want to build productively with Laravel.
Beyond the Technical Talks
Alongside the technical sessions, there were some talks that went further than code. Pete Heslop drew lessons from the real world, from restaurants and airports to hospitals, and translated them into software development. In environments where processes are literally a matter of life and death, there is no room for sloppiness. That perspective is valuable for anyone building software that people rely on every day.
NativePHP also drew attention: it offers the ability to run Laravel applications as native iOS and Android apps. An interesting development for teams that want to apply their existing Laravel expertise outside the browser.
Conclusion: It's no longer about writing code
Laracon EU 2026 confirmed something I've been feeling for a while: the value of a great developer is no longer in producing code, but in making the right decisions. AI accelerates execution. But architecture choices, maintainability, and truly understanding a problem? That remains human work.
Laravel and its ecosystem are responding to this shift intelligently. For teams working with the right tools and the right mindset, the opportunities are wide open.
