Mapping a CodeIgniter 3 app to Laravel 12: the 12 patterns that cover most of the code

Sanad Kit — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 01:10:27 +0000

CodeIgniter 3 still runs a lot of production apps. TechLeads counts ~124k CodeIgniter sites, and HTTP Archive saw 234k pages in Sept 2026, down 16% year on year. CI4 is effectively a rewrite, so many teams jump straight to Laravel.

I've been cataloguing what a CI3 → Laravel move actually touches. Here are the mechanical mappings:

CodeIgniter 3	Laravel 12
`application/controllers/Users.php` + implicit `/users/edit/5` routing	Controller + explicit `Route::get('users/edit/{id}', ...)`
`$this->load->model('user_model')`	Constructor injection / Eloquent model
`$this->db->where('id',$id)->get('users')->row()`	`DB::table('users')->where('id',$id)->first()`
`$this->input->post('name')`	`$request->input('name')`
`$this->form_validation->set_rules(...)`	`$request->validate([...])`
`$this->session->set_flashdata()`	`session()->flash()` / `->with()`
`$this->load->view('x', $data)`	`view('x', $data)` + Blade
`base_url()`, `site_url()`, `anchor()`	`url()`, `route()`, `<a href>`
`MY_Controller`	Base controller + middleware
hooks	middleware / event listeners
`config/database.php`	`.env` + `config/database.php`
`$this->upload` library	`$request->file()->store()`

The hard parts aren't in the table: HMVC modules, a custom system/ core, and logic hidden in hooks.

I'm building a tool that does the mechanical part automatically and outputs a PR plus a report of what it couldn't convert. If you have a CI3 app you'd like scanned for free, the form is here: ci2laravel.netlify.app. Which patterns hurt you most? Tell me in the comments.

DEV Community: Sanad Kit

Mapping a CodeIgniter 3 app to Laravel 12: the 12 patterns that cover most of the code