🔁 Fix “Changes not taking effect” — Laravel Cache & Config Issues (2025) When you change config/routes/views but Laravel still shows the old behavior, the problem is almost always cache. Laravel caches config, routes, views and other things to speed up production — but that means changes won’t appear until caches are cleared or rebuilt. 🔍 Why this happens config:cache stores application config (including .env values) to a single PHP file — changes to .env or config/*.php won’t apply until you clear/rebuild the cache. route:cache speeds up routing but can’t include route closures; caching routes with closures will break them. view:cache caches compiled Blade templates. PHP OPcache or long-running workers (queue/Octane) may still serve old code until restarted. File permission issues can prevent Laravel from writing new cache files. 🛠 Step-by-step fixes (safe for dev & production) 1) Clear all Laravel caches (development / quick fix) Run inside your project: php artisan config:clear php artisan cache:clear php artisan route:clear php artisan view:clear composer dump-autoload What this does: removes cached config, app cache, cached routes and compiled views. composer dump-autoload refreshes the autoloader after class changes. 2) Rebuild optimized caches (production) After you’ve cleared and verified changes, rebuild optimized caches for better performance: php artisan config:cache php artisan route:cache php artisan view:cache Caution: only run route:cache if your routes do not use closures (use controller classes instead). config:cache will embed .env values — so don’t change .env afterward without clearing cache again. 3) Restart PHP (fix OPcache / workers) If you still see old behavior, restart PHP-FPM / your queue workers / Octane: # systemd example (Ubuntu) sudo systemctl restart php8.2-fpm sudo systemctl restart nginx # restart queue workers (if using supervisor) sudo supervisorctl restart all Restarting ensures PHP OPcache and long-running processes load the fresh code/config. 4) Permissions & storage Make sure Laravel can write cache files: sudo chown -R www-data:www-data storage bootstrap/cache sudo chmod -R 775 storage bootstrap/cache (Replace www-data with your webserver user if different.) 5) If you changed .env Always clear config cache after changing .env: php artisan config:clear # then, optionally php artisan config:cache If you forget, Laravel will keep using the cached env values. 🔎 Quick troubleshooting checklist Did you run php artisan config:clear after changing .env? ✅ Are you using closures in routes/web.php? If yes — don’t use route:cache. ❌ Are queue workers or Octane running? Restart them. 🔁 Are storage and bootstrap/cache writable? ✅ Did you rebuild caches in production after the final change? ✅ 🎯 Pro tips for deployment (short) In CI/CD: clear caches → composer install → migrate → cache (config/route/view). Example sequence: php artisan config:clear php artisan route:clear php artisan view:clear composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader php artisan migrate --force php artisan config:cache php artisan route:cache php artisan view:cache Use --force for migrations in automated deploys. Avoid route:cache during active development. Use it only in production builds. Back