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GROSSBYTE
$ composer create-project laravel/laravel

Laravel & PHPdeveloper Hamburg

Almost 20 years of PHP – from Zend and Yii through Shopware and Oxid to Laravel. I take over existing applications, bring them up to date and keep developing them, without bringing your day-to-day business to a halt.

Start a project
$ ls services/laravel-php/

What I do

The focus is on existing applications: take over, understand, secure and modernise them step by step.

Taking over existing applications

The original developer is gone and the documentation is thin? I get to grips with grown Laravel and PHP codebases and make sure they can be developed predictably again.

Laravel & PHP upgrades

From Laravel 5–8 to the current release, from PHP 7 to PHP 8.x – version by version, backed by tests, instead of turning everything upside down at once.

Modernising legacy PHP

Zend, Yii or a home-grown framework from the 2010s: I modernise step by step or replace parts in a targeted way – up to a migration to Laravel or TypeScript.

Laravel backend with Vue frontend

Laravel as a solid backend, Vue or Nuxt as a modern frontend – with a clean API in between. That gives an existing application a contemporary interface.

APIs, integrations & payment

REST APIs, connections to ERP, CRM or third-party systems – and payment providers: in the gaming industry I integrated more than 50 payment service providers.

Shopware & Oxid

I know Shopware and Oxid from my agency years. For customisations, plugins and integrations in existing shops, I'm the right person to talk to as well.

$ cat workflow.md

How I work

With existing applications the rule is: understand first, then secure, then change.

1. Intro & code check

I look at the codebase, versions and dependencies. You get an honest assessment: where the application stands, where the risks are and what is worth doing.

2. Plan & tickets

The assessment turns into a concrete roadmap with clear tickets – prioritised by risk and benefit, so every step delivers value on its own.

3. Secure & implement

Where tests are missing, tests come first. Then the application is updated and extended in small steps – AI-assisted with spec-driven development, with code review.

4. Handover & further development

Documented, up-to-date code your team can take over – or I stay on board for maintenance, updates and new features.

$ cat package.json

Tech stack

  • PHP 8.x
  • Laravel
  • Eloquent
  • Artisan
  • Composer
  • PHPUnit
  • MySQL
  • PostgreSQL
  • REST APIs
  • Vue.js
  • Nuxt
  • Docker
  • Shopware
  • Oxid
$ man laravel-freelancer

Frequently asked questions

In most cases, yes. Older Laravel and PHP versions no longer receive security updates, and every skipped version makes the jump bigger. A step-by-step upgrade backed by tests is usually far cheaper than a rewrite.
A complete rewrite is rarely the best option – it takes longer than planned and loses knowledge that lives in the old code. It usually makes more sense to modernise the application step by step and replace individual parts selectively. I'll tell you honestly what fits your case.
Yes, that's the core of this service. I get to grips with other people's codebases, document what I find and make the application maintainable again – even without tests and with little documentation.
Yes. For new projects I usually go with TypeScript on Node.js or AdonisJS. But if your team already works with PHP or your infrastructure is built around it, Laravel is often the better choice – we decide that together.
Customisations, plugins and integrations for existing Shopware or Oxid shops: yes. I don't build off-the-shelf WordPress sites – my focus is on custom applications.
Hourly. After the first code check you get a realistic estimate of the effort – no lowball offers, no hidden costs.
$ grep -r "practice" blog/

From practice

Entwicklung11/02/2026

One backend, three clients, no hand-written types

An API description you maintain by hand is documentation. And documentation goes stale. How my backend writes the types for web, admin and mobile itself – and why the important part is that it breaks loudly.

7 min
Entwicklung04/15/2026

The ticket as a thinking tool – before the first line of code

Whoever has to write down a problem first has to think it through. Better code, fewer direction changes – and with AI it matters more than ever.

5 min
AI & Development03/26/2026

My agent workflow – from idea to deployment in minutes

How I use a multi-agent setup to ship changes to my website in minutes instead of hours – from the first prompt to live deployment.

7 min

PHP application showing its age?

A 30-minute call. No sales pitch – just an honest look at where your application stands and how we bring it up to date.

Book a call

Write to me directly: moin@grossbyte.io

Response within 24h
Relaxed conversation
No commitment