Laravel is a PHP web framework designed for developer happiness. Modern Laravel (11, released 2024) emphasizes convention over configuration, meaning you write less boilerplate. It includes Eloquent (ORM for database queries), Blade (templating), migrations, and built-in auth. Modern Laravel features Livewire (reactive components without JavaScript) and Inertia (SPA-like pages with Vue/React backend). This means full-stack developers can prototype and ship faster than traditional "separate frontend/backend" approaches.