Hey there, Laravel enthusiasts! ? If you thought deploying a Laravel application was as good as it gets, think again—because Laravel Nightwatch is here to take your development journey to a whole new level! Say goodbye to staring into the black box of performance issues and hello to crystal-clear insights ?. Taylor Otwell and Jess Archer introduced this exciting new tool at LaraconAU 2024, and it promises to make monitoring your Laravel applications not only informative but also, dare I say… fun! Let's dive in ?.

? What is Laravel Nightwatch?

Laravel Nightwatch is a hosted, fully managed observability platform designed specifically for Laravel applications. Think of it like the ultimate co-pilot for your Laravel app—always watching, always ready to provide you with the deep insights you need, and 100% tailored for Laravel. No hours of configuration, no generic dashboards, just real actionable metrics that matter to your app. It’s all about leveling up the way we understand and respond to our app's health and performance.

Laravel Nightwatch just works, and it looks amazing. - Taylor Otwell

? Nightwatch vs. The "Others"

Unlike traditional monitoring tools that try to cater to every tech stack (which is often why they’re frustrating to use), Nightwatch is obsessively optimized for Laravel. Here’s why that matters:

• ☆ Out-of-the-box configuration: You just composer install the Nightwatch agent, ship your Laravel app, and boom—you've got yourself a beautiful dashboard ?.
• ☆ Deep Integration: Laravel-specific metrics are displayed in a way that makes sense to Laravel devs. It’s not about reinventing the wheel—it's about putting the right wheels on the right car ?.
• ☆ Easily see what matters: From N 1 query issues ? to detailed request timelines ?, Nightwatch makes it simple to dig deep without getting lost.

? Dive into the Features

Nightwatch isn't just about pretty charts (though, let's admit, the UI is gorgeous ?). It offers a plethora of practical and insightful features to help you master your app's health:

1. Dashboard Overview ?

From the moment you log in, Nightwatch presents you with a clean and effective overview. The top graph lets you see your web requests: successful ones in green and issues popping in red and orange. You can see spikes, track errors, and get a sense of how your app is faring.

2. Performance Insights ?

Wondering why that one page in your app is running slower than a sleepy snail? ? No worries, Nightwatch lets you drill down into individual requests. You can check out every lifecycle stage of a request—from middleware to queries—giving you the power to figure out exactly what went wrong.

Nightwatch provides insights like P95 (95th percentile) for requests and jobs, so you can focus on bottlenecks without being distracted by outliers.

3. N 1 Queries? Not on My Watch! ?

No Laravel dev loves stumbling across an N 1 query. Nightwatch not only detects these situations for you but also provides all the context so you can squash them before they eat your database alive ?. Clicking on an offending query shows its exact origin and the routes that called it, so you’ll be back in the green in no time.

? Full Traceability - From Users to Exceptions

Ever wanted to follow a user's journey through your application and see exactly where they tripped? Now you can ??♂?. With Nightwatch, each request, each job, and even the exceptions are tied together, allowing you to trace back the root cause of the problems in a few clicks. It’s all about getting the "big picture" view with the ability to zoom in on those tiny little things that make a big difference.

? Real-User Insights & Logging

We all know that apps aren't just about backend performance, but about user experience ?. Nightwatch lets you filter and track actions by individual users, meaning you can dig into the requests made by Tim, see where he experienced exceptions, and even identify if he’s having a rough day with your app. ?

Logging is integrated seamlessly into Nightwatch—no more jumping between a million different tools to find that one pesky bug.

? Alerts That Care About You ?

No one wants to babysit a dashboard 24/7. Nightwatch provides alerts for the things that matter—you can set conditions like "notify me if requests take longer than 500ms for more than 5 minutes." It’s all about meaningful notifications (not spam ?), so you’ll always know when your app needs your love and care.

? Setup & Availability

The good news? Laravel Nightwatch is coming soon, with early access opening up towards the end of this year, and beta availability in early 2025. And don’t worry—you won’t need Laravel Cloud to use it, though it integrates beautifully if you do ?.

Getting started is as easy as:

1. install nightwatch
2. Ship your Laravel app ?
3. Enjoy the insights ?

? Wrapping Up

Laravel Nightwatch is set to redefine how we think about app observability. It’s built with the same care and philosophy that we love from Laravel—simplicity, developer happiness, and making tough things easier. It’s not just a monitoring tool; it’s the sidekick your Laravel app deserves.

So whether you’re building for a startup, or a product used by millions… it’s time to keep an eye out for Laravel Nightwatch ??.

Get on the waitlist now, and let Nightwatch have your back!

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