Installation

Install Polyform and configure it for your Laravel application

Requirements

Make sure your environment meets these before installing:

PHP: 8.2 or higher (8.4 supported)
Laravel: 11.x or 12.x
Vue: 3.x (for frontend components)
Inertia.js: Latest version (for SPA functionality)
Database: MySQL 8.0+, PostgreSQL 13+, SQLite 3.35+ or SQL Server 2019+

Vue 3 + Inertia Required

The frontend components need Vue 3 and Inertia.js. If you're on a different frontend stack, you can still use the JSON API to build your own renderers.

Step 1: Install via Composer

Pull in the package with Composer:

terminal

Laravel's auto-discovery handles the service provider, so you're good to go.

Step 2: Initialize Polyform

Run the init command to publish the config file and run migrations:

terminal

This will:

Publish the config/polyform.php configuration file
Run migrations to create 9 tables (forms, form_fields, form_submissions, etc.)
Create storage directories for file uploads (if using local disk)

Migration Tables

Tables are created with a polyform_ prefix by default. You can change this in the config file before running migrations.

Step 3: Publish Vue Components (Optional)

Want to customize the Vue components? Publish them into your app:

terminal

This copies all Vue components from resources/ts/ to resources/js/vendor/polyform/ in your app.

Using Published Components

After publishing, update your imports to point to the local copies. From there you can tweak styling, behavior and structure however you like.

Step 4: Import Components

Import the Polyform components in your Vue app:

app.ts

If you published the components, import from your local vendor directory instead:

app.ts

Step 5: Verify Installation

Check that everything is wired up correctly:

terminal

You should see the full Polyform config output. If you get an error, make sure the config file was published.

Installation Complete

You're ready to start building forms! Check out the Quickstart Guide to create your first form.

Next Steps

Before building your first form, take a look at the configuration options:

Configuration Reference

All the config options: table prefixes, file storage, caching, webhooks and more.

Troubleshooting

Migration Errors

If migrations fail because of table name conflicts, change the table_prefix in config/polyform.php and re-run:

terminal

Component Not Found Errors

Getting "Component not found" errors? Make sure your build tool resolves the Polyform components. For Vite, add an alias in vite.config.js:

Introduction Configuration