Here's how to get started really quickly with Laravel 4.

Updated on 6/4/2013 since this the official launch of Laravel.

Here's what we'll accomplish:

1. Installing Composer locally or globally
2. Creating your project with Composer
3. File permissions
4. Config (Dev environment)
5. Database Config (User database)
6. Auth
   • Routes
   • Form
   • Form submission
7. ...
8. Profit

Copy-Pasta Time!

Install composer locally:

$ curl -s https://getcomposer.org/installer | php

Alternatively, install composer globally (so it can be run from anywhere):

$ curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
$ mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

Create a new Laravel project:

// Creates a new laravel project with latest stable inside of directory "myproject"
$ composer create-project laravel/laravel myproject

Config:

$ chmod -R 0777 app/storage
// This is simply setting your environment - bootstrap/start.php
$ find -name 'bootstrap/start.php' -print -exec sed -i 's/your-machine-name/localhost/g' {} \; # add machine-name to local env, for instance "localhost"
// MAC OSX FRIENDLY VERSION: find bootstrap -name 'start.php' -exec sed -i '' -e 's/your-machine-name/localhost/g' {} \;
// Set up a local environment
$ mkdir app/config/local
$ cp app/config/database.php app/config/local/database.php

Edit config/local/database.php :

# Edit config/local/database.php to suit your needs
# Don't forget to actually create that DB you specify :D

Database Migration Setup:

// Create a migration file for table "users", tell Laravel we need logic to create the table
$ php artisan migrate:make create_users_table --table=users --create

Due to new changes, we need to define which fields are fillable in our Users model. Edit app/models/User.php and add the "fillable" array:

<?php

use Illuminate\Auth\UserInterface;
use Illuminate\Auth\Reminders\RemindableInterface;

class User extends Eloquent implements UserInterface, RemindableInterface {

/**
 * The database table used by the model.
 *
 * @var string
 */
protected $table = 'users';

/**
 * The attributes excluded from the model's JSON form.
 *
 * @var array
 */
protected $hidden = array('password');

// Add to the "fillable" array
 protected $fillable = array('email', 'password');

// Rest of class cut-off for brevity

Edit app/database/migrations/SOME_DATE_create_users_table.php:

public function up()
{
	Schema::create('users', function(Blueprint $table)
	{
		$table->increments('id');
		$table->string('email')->unique();
		$table->string('password');
		$table->timestamps();
	});
}

Seeding:

Edit app/database/seeds/DatabaseSeeder.php:

public function run()
{
	Eloquent::unguard();

	// Uncomment this line
	$this->call('UserTableSeeder');
}	

Create User Table seeder file:

$ touch app/database/seeds/UserTableSeeder.php

Edit app/database/seeds/UserTableSeeder.php:

<?php

class UserTableSeeder extends Seeder {

	public function run()
	{
		DB::table('users')->delete();

		User::create(array(
			'email' => 'your@email.com',
			'password' => Hash::make('your_password')
		));
	}
}

Create DB and seed it:

$ php artisan migrate --env=local
$ php artisan db:seed --env=local

Setup Auth filter and routes:

Edit app/filters.php:

Route::filter('auth', function()
{
	// Slight change to redirect to login route
	if (Auth::guest()) return Redirect::to('login');
});

Edit app/routes.php:

Route::get('/', array('before' => 'auth' ,function()
{
	return 'Hello, '.Auth::user()->email.'!';
}));

Route::get('/login', function()
{
	return View::make('login');
});

Route::post('/login', function()
{
	// Validation? Not in my quickstart!
	// No, but really, I'm a bad person for leaving that out
	Auth::attempt( array('email' => Input::get('email'), 'password' => Input::get('password')) );
	
	return Redirect::to('/');
});

Create login view:

$ touch app/views/login.php

Edit app/views/login.php: Grab that here.

And you're pretty much done. Head to your localhost, get redirected to your login form, and try logging in!

You should see:

'Hello, whatever@email.you.used.com!'

If you get an error try running:

$ chmod -R 0777 app/storage

again.

The End