Laravel News

Taylor Otwell

Laravel 13.24 ships a handful of genuinely useful additions alongside a performance fix that’s worth knowing about.
<h2>Image API updates</h2>
The first-party image API (built on Intervention Image) gains two things: HEIC/AVIF input and output support, and a new <code>dominantColor()</code> method.
<code>dominantColor()</code> returns a hex string representing the average color of an image. The implementation is straightforward — it resizes the image to a single pixel and reads that pixel’s value. Images with an alpha channel return an 8-digit hex string.
<pre><code class="language-php">$color = Image::read($path)-&gt;dominantColor();
// e.g. &quot;#a3b4c5&quot;
</code></pre>
A few practical uses:
CSS placeholder before images load. Store the dominant color at upload time in a database column, then use it as a background color while the real image loads. Avoids the jarring white flash.
<pre><code class="language-php">// At upload time
$color = Image::read($file)-&gt;dominantColor();
$photo-&gt;update([&#x27;dominant_color&#x27; =&gt; $color]);

// In your template
&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: {{ $photo-&gt;dominant_color }}&quot;&gt;
 &lt;img src=&quot;{{ $photo-&gt;url }}&quot; loading=&quot;lazy&quot;&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
</code></pre>
Readable text color. Use the Rec. 709 luma formula to decide whether to put white or black text over the color.
<pre><code class="language-php">[$r, $g, $b] = sscanf($color, &#x27;#%02x%02x%02x&#x27;);
$luma = 0.2126 * $r + 0.7152 * $g + 0.0722 * $b;
$textColor = $luma &gt; 128 ? &#x27;#000000&#x27; : &#x27;#ffffff&#x27;;
</code></pre>
Letterbox fill. When you rotate or crop an image and need to fill the empty corners, pass <code>background: 'dominant'</code> to match the image’s own color rather than defaulting to white or black.
One implementation detail worth noting: if you’re storing the image and reading the dominant color in the same pipeline, call <code>store()</code> before <code>dominantColor()</code>. The method memoizes per instance, so calling it after a store avoids processing the image twice.
This isn’t a full palette extractor — it gives you one representative color, not a ranked list. For most placeholder and UI use cases that’s exactly what you need.
<h2>Eloquent: modelKeys()</h2>
A small but handy addition to the Eloquent query builder. <code>modelKeys()</code> plucks primary keys without requiring you to hardcode the column name:
<pre><code class="language-php">$ids = User::where(&#x27;active&#x27;, true)-&gt;modelKeys();
</code></pre>
Useful when working with models that have non-standard primary key names.
<h2>New array_keys validation rule</h2>
A new <code>array_keys</code> rule provides clearer error messages when an array contains unexpected keys. The error message includes an <code>:unexpected</code> placeholder so you can tell users exactly which key caused the failure, rather than a generic rejection.
<h2>Critical validation performance fix</h2>
This one matters if you’re validating large arrays with wildcard rules like <code>foo.*.bar</code>.
Previous versions had quadratic rule expansion — the time to expand wildcard rules grew with the square of the array size. At 8,000 items, validation could stall for over 85 seconds. After the fix, the same input validates in under a second.
If you’re accepting user-submitted arrays of any meaningful size, upgrading is worth doing promptly.
<h2>Other fixes</h2>
<ul>
<li><code>Arr::forget()</code> was removing the wrong elements in certain cases</li>
<li><code>CompiledRouteCollection</code> was rebuilding Route objects on every lookup — 404 response time drops from ~71ms to ~2.5ms</li>
<li>Eloquent accessor/appends disagreement — accessors and <code>$appends</code> were sometimes out of sync</li>
<li>PostgreSQL JSON path — a SQL injection risk in JSON path queries has been patched</li>
<li>Circular alias memory exhaustion — circular route aliases could exhaust memory</li>
</ul>

Collections

Laravel 13.24 introduces image dominant color detection and HEIC/AVIF format support in the image API. Eloquent gains a modelKeys() method for safely plucking primary keys without hardcoding column names. A new array_keys validation rule provides precise error messages with an :unexpected placeholder. The most impactful fix addresses quadratic expansion in wildcard validation rules — at 8,000 items, validation time drops from 85+ seconds to under a second. Other fixes include Arr::forget() element removal bugs, CompiledRouteCollection 404 response time reduced from ~71ms to ~2.5ms, Eloquent accessor/appends inconsistency, a PostgreSQL JSON path SQL injection patch, and a circular alias memory exhaustion fix.

Laravel 13.24 adds image dominant color detection, HEIC support, and fixes a wildcard validation performance bug