Domain-driven design, organizing code by business concern, with business logic encapsulated in single-responsibility Action classes
LaravelStarter
northwestern-laravel-starter — Laravel Starter Template
By NIT-Administrative-Systems
A Laravel starter maintained by Northwestern University's IT team, preloaded with authentication and authorization, API tokens and logging, auditing, a Filament admin panel, and integrations with the Northwestern Directory and EventHub.
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Recorded 2026-10-01View source
What stands out
A quick read of the recorded project description.
Authentication supports Entra ID SSO, access tokens, and passwordless email verification codes, including role permission management and user impersonation
On the API side, token CIDR restrictions and rotation, request logging and performance metrics, trace ID propagation, and RFC 9457 error responses
A complete audit trail records before-and-after history of model changes and user actions, with sensitive information hashed or encrypted
A modular Filament admin panel with prebuilt tables, forms, and dashboards, following school branding and WCAG 2.1
Prebuilt GitHub Actions workflows, parallel PHPUnit and Cypress tests, health checks, and operations dashboards
Template Details
This is a Laravel starter open-sourced by Northwestern University's NIT-Administrative-Systems team, positioned as an enterprise-grade starting point for campus projects. It sets up infrastructure outside business logic in advance: authentication flows, the authorization layer, API conventions, auditing, CI/CD workflows, frontend patterns, and project structure, so teams can move directly into feature development. Architecturally it adopts domain-driven design, organizing code by business concern, with business logic encapsulated in single-responsibility Action classes; configuration options cover authentication methods, API features, Northwestern integrations, and application behavior.
Functional scope includes: authentication supporting Entra ID SSO, access tokens, and passwordless email verification codes; a role-based permission system with an admin interface and support for user impersonation. On the API side it provides access token management (CIDR IP restrictions, rotation, validity periods, and expiration notifications), request logging and performance metrics, trace ID propagation, and RFC 9457-compliant error responses. For auditing, it records before-and-after history of model changes and user actions, with sensitive information hashed or encrypted. The frontend is a modular Filament admin panel with prebuilt tables, forms, and dashboards, following the school's brand guidelines and WCAG 2.1 accessibility practices. Developer experience includes local database snapshot and rebuild tools, parallel PHPUnit and Cypress end-to-end tests, and GitHub Actions static analysis and formatting workflows; on the operations side there are health checks and dashboards for API requests and login activity.
Usage limitations to note: the project is primarily aimed at applications within the Northwestern University ecosystem, and users outside the university may not be able to apply it directly, though the architecture and patterns can serve as reference; integrations such as Entra ID, Northwestern Directory, and EventHub depend on campus services. The repository uses the MIT license, while third-party assets such as demo images, fonts, and icons require separate license verification, and external services such as domains, hosting, and databases may incur additional charges.
LaravelStarter
Is it right for your project?
Use Cases
- Northwestern University campus teams creating a new web application that needs unified authentication, authorization, and auditing
- Building API services with access token management, request logging, and standardized error responses
- Needing to integrate with the Northwestern Directory for just-in-time user provisioning and synchronization, or to publish events and register webhooks via EventHub
- Looking for an architectural reference for domain-driven design and the Action pattern for an existing Laravel project
Suitable For
- Development teams at Northwestern University and within its ecosystem
- Laravel projects that need an enterprise-grade authentication, authorization, and auditing baseline
- Backend teams focused on API services that need token management and request tracing
- Developers who want to reference domain-driven design and the Action pattern for organizing code
Getting started & customization
Use these recorded setup notes alongside the repository instructions for your chosen version.
- 1
Create a project with composer create-project northwestern-sysdev/northwestern-laravel-starter your-project-name
- 2
Full installation, configuration, and usage instructions are available on the official documentation site laravel-starter.entapp.northwestern.edu
- 3
Integrations such as Entra ID, Northwestern Directory, and EventHub depend on campus services and may not be directly usable outside the university environment
- 4
Third-party assets such as demo images, fonts, and icons must be checked against their respective licenses and cannot be judged solely by the code's MIT license
License & source material
Usage conditions & limitations
Free to use · keep license noticeThis entry covers the free version under the MIT license in the public repository; the free scope is the code of that version and does not mean external services or third-party assets are free.
Must comply with when using
- The code of this version may be used, modified, used commercially, and distributed free of charge.
- When distributing copies or substantial portions of the code, retain the original author's copyright notice and the full MIT license notice.
- The code is provided as is; warranties and limitations of liability are governed by the original license and applicable law.
Additional costs & items to verify
- The project is primarily aimed at applications within the Northwestern University ecosystem; users outside the university may not be able to use it as-is, and the architecture and patterns can only serve as reference.
- The Northwestern Directory integration depends on the campus directory service, and this feature is typically unavailable outside the university environment.
- The EventHub integration depends on the campus EventHub system, and this feature is typically unavailable outside the university environment.
- Entra ID SSO authentication depends on an external identity service and corresponding configuration; a usable Entra ID environment is required before use.
- Demo images, fonts, icons, and other third-party assets must be checked against their respective licenses and cannot be judged solely by the code's MIT license.
- External services such as domains, hosting, databases, payments, or AI may incur additional charges.
View Original Text Basis
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge
Original License Text
This starter kit is designed primarily for applications built within [Northwestern University](https://www.northwestern.edu)’s ecosystem. If you're outside Northwestern, you may not be able to use the project as-is.
Original README
Northwestern Directory**: Just-in-time user provisioning, automatic data synchronization, and monitoring via the Northwestern Directory service.
Original README
EventHub**: Publish events and register webhooks with the EventHub system.
Original README
https://github.com/NIT-Administrative-Systems/northwestern-laravel-starter/blob/main/LICENSEhttps://github.com/NIT-Administrative-Systems/northwestern-laravel-starter/blob/main/README.mdSupport for Entra ID SSO, Access Tokens, and passwordless email-based verification codes.
Original README
Compiled by DeepSeek based on repository license and README ·2026-10-01. Results only cover the materials read; dependencies, images, fonts, and subsequent term changes are subject to their respective original texts.
Project checks & description sources
Template Information
- Source platforms
- GitHub
- Documentation and maintenance reference score
- More documented · 83 / 100
- Technologies
- Laravel
- Website type
- Starter
How this score is calculated
Our heuristic uses license records (up to 30), a demo link (12), a preview (10), stars (15), recorded maintenance (15), description completeness (8), feature records (5) and classification data (5). It is not a code, security or performance test, or a Google score. A link does not establish tested functionality.
What to verify for this project
- Repository update recorded
- 2026-09-29
- Screenshot last checked
- 2026-10-01
A demo link is listed. Check it with your own content and viewport sizes; its presence does not confirm that forms, authentication or payments work.
The catalog identifies Laravel as the primary stack. Check the actual dependency manifest and lockfile for versions and hosting requirements. These notes use recorded metadata, not a code audit or a deployment test.
Use a selection guide →How this description was prepared
AI-assisted description based on catalog records and repository material. Repository authors are not automatically the reviewers of this description.
Automatically checked against source and license rules; no manual editorial review.
Inspect the recorded source material
SHA-256: f67bacce27acd6030de1ef5a332780e04bd65cb41fd4a8319a23ed4132b2a1fb
2026-10-01T02:21:53.262Z
Source file / repository<p align="center">
<img width="650px" src="art/readme-lockup.png" alt="Logo lockup for the Northwestern Laravel Starter"/>
</p>
<p align="center">
<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/PHP-8.5-blue" alt="PHP Version">
<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Laravel-13.x-red" alt="Laravel Version">
<a href="https://coveralls.io/github/NIT-Administrative-Systems/northwestern-laravel-starter?branch=main"><img src="https://coveralls.io/repos/github/NIT-Administrative-Systems/northwestern-laravel-starter/badge.svg?branch=main" alt="Coverage Status"></a>
</p>
<hr/>
<div align="center">
<p>An enterprise-focused Laravel starter kit for <a href="https://www.northwestern.edu" target="_blank">Northwestern University</a> projects. This opinionated project provides what you need to build secure, maintainable web applications or API-driven services.</p>
<table>
<tr>
<td align="center">
<a href="art/ui-preview-1.png" target="_blank">
<img src="art/ui-preview-1.png" width="500" alt="Authentication screen and homepage UI" />
</a>
</td>
<td align="center">
<a href="art/ui-preview-2.png" target="_blank">
<img src="art/ui-preview-2.png" width="500" alt="User profile and table UI" />
</a>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center">
<a href="art/ui-preview-3.png" target="_blank">
<img src="art/ui-preview-3.png" width="500" alt="API user profile, role creation form, and audit log UI" />
</a>
</td>
<td align="center">
<a href="art/ui-preview-4.png" target="_blank">
<img src="art/ui-preview-4.png" width="500" alt="API Request Log and Login Records dashboard UI" />
</a>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
## Overview
Modern web development extends beyond routes, controllers, and views. Before any business logic can take shape, teams must establish authentication flows, authorization layers, API conventions, auditing, CI/CD pipelines, frontend patterns, monitoring, and a maintainable project structure. These concerns take time and lead to duplicated effort across projects.
The **Northwestern Laravel Starter** handles this baseline work up front with a production-ready architecture, so teams can start building features instead of infrastructure.
> [!IMPORTANT]
>
> This starter kit is designed primarily for applications built within [Northwestern University](https://www.northwestern.edu)’s ecosystem. If you're outside Northwestern, you may not be able to use the project as-is. The architecture and patterns may still be useful as reference material. Contributions from the community are welcome.
## Getting Started
```bash
composer create-project northwestern-sysdev/northwestern-laravel-starter your-project-name
cd your-project-name
```
Visit the [documentation](https://laravel-starter.entapp.northwestern.edu) for complete installation, configuration, and
usage guides.
## Features
### Architectural Foundation
- **Domain-Driven Design**: Code is grouped by business concerns for modularity and maintainability.
- **Action-Based Business Logic**: Single-responsibility action classes encapsulate discrete operations for reusability
and testability.
- **Flexible Configuration**: Fine-grained settings for authentication methods, API features, Northwestern integrations,
and application behavior.
### Authentication & Authorization
- **Multi-Authentication Methods**: Support for Entra ID SSO, Access Tokens, and passwordless email-based verification codes.
- **Role-Based Access Control**: Fine-grained role and permissions system with a built-in management interface.
- **User Impersonation**: Secure ability to troubleshoot user-specific issues and simulate user experiences.
### API Features
- **Advanced Access Token Management**: Cryptographically secure tokens with CIDR-based IP restrictions, rotation,
time-bound validity, and automatic expiration notifications.
- **API Request Logging & Analytics**: Request tracking with performance metrics, failure analysis, and
probabilistic sampling.
- **Request Tracing**: Automatic trace ID propagation for correlation across logs, audits, and error reports.
- **Standardized Error Responses**: [RFC 9457](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9457.html) compliant machine-readable
error response formats.
### Auditing & Compliance
- **Full Audit Trail**: Logs all model changes and user actions with before/after history.
- **Secure Data Handling**: Sensitive information is hashed or encrypted to limit data exposure risk.
### Northwestern Integrations
- **Northwestern Directory**: Just-in-time user provisioning, automatic data synchronization, and monitoring via the
Northwestern Directory service.
- **EventHub**: Publish events and register webhooks with the EventHub system.
### Frontend & UX
- **Modular Filament UI**: Ready-to-use administration panel with pre-built tables, forms, and dashboards for managing
application data.
- **Brand Compliance**: Pre-built components, layouts, and styling that adhere to the University's branding guidelines.
- **Responsive Design**: Consistent user experience across devices with various screen sizes.
- **WCAG 2.1 Accessibility**: Built with accessibility best practices.
### Developer Experience
- **Local Development**: Schema-validated database snapshots, configuration validation, and database rebuild
utilities.
- **Testing**: Parallelized PHPUnit execution and end-to-end testing
with [Cypress](https://www.cypress.io).
- **CI/CD Ready**: Pre-configured GitHub Actions workflows for static analysis, formatting, and automated testing.
### Monitoring & Operations
- **Health Checks & Monitoring**: Built-in health checks to monitor critical system components.
- **Analytics Dashboards**: Pre-built dashboards for API request metrics and login activity.
## Acknowledgements
Numerous open-source packages power this starter kit. Special thanks to the Laravel community and [Northwestern University IT](https://www.it.northwestern.edu).
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