README

Two upgrade tools in one small CLI:

1. uplift upgrade — a free, open-source Laravel upgrader. Steps your app up to the latest version one release at a time, with automated code changes and a clean, reviewable commit per step.
2. uplift deps — a dependency updater for any PHP project. Checks every dependency for releases newer than your constraints allow, and rewrites composer.json when you ask it to.

Repo: github.com/anilkumarthakur60/uplift · Packagist: anil/uplift

uplift upgrade — the Laravel upgrader

It steps a Laravel application up to the latest version one release at a time, and for each hop it:

1. Bumps the right Composer constraints — laravel/framework plus the first-party packages you actually use (Sanctum, Passport, Horizon, Telescope, Scout, Pint, Pest, …), and removes packages that have been folded into the framework.
2. Runs composer update to resolve the new dependency tree.
3. Applies automated code changes via Rector + the community rector-laravel upgrade sets.
4. Prints a manual checklist pulled live from the official https://laravel.com/docs/{version}.x/upgrade guide, plus curated notes for the things automation can't safely do.
5. Commits the result — one clean, reviewable commit per version (e.g. Upgrade Laravel 9.x to 10.x).

So a 9 → 13 upgrade lands as four separate, reviewable commits on a dedicated branch.

⚠️ It does what can be automated — not everything. No tool can fully upgrade an arbitrary app. Always review each commit, work through the printed checklist, and run your test suite before merging.

Installation

Install it globally so you can point it at any project:

composer global require anil/uplift

Make sure your global Composer bin directory is on your PATH (e.g. ~/.composer/vendor/bin or ~/.config/composer/vendor/bin).

Or run it from source:

git clone https://github.com/anilkumarthakur60/uplift.git
cd uplift
composer install
./bin/uplift --help

Usage

From inside your Laravel project (or by passing its path):

# See what would happen — detects your version and prints the plan
uplift diagnose

# Preview the changes without touching anything
uplift upgrade --dry-run

# Do the upgrade, all the way to the latest known version
uplift upgrade

# Upgrade only as far as a specific version
uplift upgrade --to=11

# Point at a project elsewhere
uplift upgrade /path/to/app

Useful options

uplift deps — the dependency updater

composer outdated tells you what's stale, but leaves your constraints alone. uplift deps goes the rest of the way — it finds the newest release of every dependency beyond what your current constraints allow, shows you the jump, and rewrites composer.json when you pass -u. It works on any Composer project, Laravel or not.

cd your-project

# Report what could move (writes nothing)
uplift deps

 require
   laravel/framework          ^10.0   →  ^12.63   major · latest v13.19.0 needs php ^8.3
   spatie/laravel-permission  ^5.5    →  ^6.25    major
   inertiajs/inertia-laravel  ^0.6.3  →  ^3.1.1   major
 require-dev
   phpunit/phpunit            ^9.5    →  ^11.5    major
   laravel/pint               1.13.0  →  1.29.3   minor

 ⚠ swiftmailer/swiftmailer is abandoned — consider symfony/mailer instead.

# Write the new constraints, then install them
uplift deps -u
composer update

What it gets right:

• Constraint style is preserved — ^1.2 becomes ^2.4, ~1.2.3 becomes ~2.4.1, 1.2.* becomes 2.4.*, exact pins stay exact pins, v-prefixes and @stability flags survive. OR-ranges, hyphen ranges and dev-* branches are never guessed at; they're listed as skipped instead.
• PHP-aware — it only proposes releases your platform PHP can actually install (respecting config.platform.php), and tells you when something newer is held back by its PHP requirement. --ignore-platform-reqs turns this off.
• Stable releases only — alphas, betas and RCs are ignored.
• Abandoned packages are flagged, with Packagist's suggested replacement — even when the version itself is "up to date".
• Fast — all Packagist lookups run concurrently.

How the Laravel upgrader works

The upgrade knowledge lives as plain data in src/Laravel/VersionRegistry.php — one UpgradeStep per release hop describing the PHP requirement, the package constraints to set, packages to remove, and which Rector sets to run. This makes it easy to keep current with new Laravel releases: add a step, ship a release.

The tool runs against a clean git working tree and creates a dedicated branch, so the upgrade is always easy to review or throw away.

Requirements

• PHP 8.2+ (to run the tool itself — your target app can be older)
• Composer 2 on your PATH
• Git (only used by uplift upgrade, and skippable with --no-git)

Contributing

The most valuable contributions are keeping the version registry accurate and extending the Rector coverage. PRs welcome.

License

MIT.