How I structure large Laravel projects

When a Laravel project starts small, putting logic in controllers and models is fine. But as more features arrive, it becomes difficult to understand what is happening where. I prefer to organize the project by domains and introduce a service layer.

A domain-driven folder structure

Instead of having everything in app/Models and app/Http/Controllers, I like to introduce a Domain (or Modules) folder:

app/
  Http/
    Controllers/
  Domain/
    Users/
      User.php
      UserService.php
      UserRepository.php
    Orders/
      Order.php
      OrderService.php
      OrderRepository.php

The goal is to keep everything related to a feature close together — model, service, repository, sometimes actions or DTOs.

Thin controllers, focused services

Controllers should just handle HTTP concerns: validation, authorization and sending responses. Business rules live in services:

class UserController extends Controller
{
    public function store(UserService $service, UserStoreRequest $request)
    {
        $user = $service->createUser($request->validated());

        return response()->json($user, 201);
    }
}

This structure has made it easier for me to onboard new developers and keep the project maintainable after years of changes.