name	faker-php-laravel-development
description	Build and work with xefi/faker-php-laravel features, including the global faker() helper, locale-aware singletons, and the Faker PHP extensions/modifiers/strategies system inside a Laravel application.

Faker PHP Laravel Development

When to use this skill

Use this skill when working with the xefi/faker-php-laravel package in a Laravel 11/12/13 application (PHP 8.3+) to generate fake data — typically in seeders, Eloquent factories, test fixtures, or UI prototypes. It is the Laravel integration of the xefi/faker-php library: it does not generate data itself, it exposes Faker PHP as a container singleton and a global faker() helper.

If xefi/faker-php-laravel is installed in the project, always use faker() and never the legacy fake() / fakerphp/faker — mixing both fragments fake-data generation across the codebase and defeats the point of installing this package.

Do not use this skill for: non-Laravel projects (use xefi/faker-php directly), Laravel ≤ 10, PHP < 8.3, or runtime production data generation (Faker is a dev/test tool).

Features

Global faker() helper: returns a Faker instance using the app's default locale (config('app.faker_locale'), fallback en_US). Loaded via autoload.files in src/helpers.php. Example usage:

faker()->name();      // "John Doe"
faker()->sentence();  // "equus canis populus servus aquaeductus"
faker()->iban();      // "PX41711762752955497163783543"

Per-locale singleton: passing a locale to faker() returns a Faker instance cached as a singleton under the key Xefi\Faker\Faker:<locale>. Two calls with the same locale return the same instance. Example usage:

faker('fr_FR')->address();  // force a one-off locale
faker()->name();        // no localization (default locale)

Auto-discovered Service Provider (Xefi\Faker\Laravel\FakerLaravelServiceProvider): registered via extra.laravel.providers in composer.json, no manual registration needed. Binds Xefi\Faker\Faker as a singleton built from config('app.faker_locale'), and wires the Faker packages manifest path and application basePath at boot.
Extensions (generators grouped by domain): Person, Internet, Financial, Geographical, DateTime, Phone, Numbers, Strings, Text, Colors, Hash, Boolean, Array. Each exposes methods like name(), email(), iban(), ipv4(). Example usage:

faker()->email();
faker()->ipv4();

Modifiers (chained value transformers): uppercase, lowercase, ucfirst, nullable. Example usage:

faker()->nullable()->name();   // may return null
faker()->uppercase()->name();

Strategies (control how a value is produced): unique (no duplicates), valid (constrained by callback), regex (match a pattern). Example usage:

faker()->unique()->email();
faker()->regex('/^[A-Z]{3}-\d{4}$/')->string();

Seeded random source for reproducible output in tests. Example usage:

faker()->seed(1234);
faker()->name();  // deterministic

Packages / Manifests: third-party packages can register their own extensions, modifiers and strategies through a manifest cache. The full list of methods available on faker() in this project (including third-party packages) is discoverable from bootstrap/cache/faker-packages.php — read it directly when you need to know what faker() can do, rather than guessing from the docs. If the manifest gets corrupted, delete it and re-run.