What is Laravel's authentication system?
Why Interviewers Ask This
Foundational questions like this help interviewers calibrate the rest of the interview. A confident, accurate answer signals that you have solid Laravel basics — a prerequisite for any developer role.
Answer
Laravel provides a complete authentication system. The Auth facade handles login: Auth::attempt(["email" => $email, "password" => $password]). Check authentication: Auth::check(). Get current user: Auth::user(). Logout: Auth::logout(). Laravel offers starter kits for scaffolding authentication UI: Laravel Breeze (simple, Blade-based), Laravel Jetstream (advanced, supports Livewire or Inertia.js, two-factor auth, API tokens). The auth middleware protects routes from unauthenticated access. The auth.php config defines guards (web, api) and providers (Eloquent, database). Guards determine how users are authenticated per request; providers determine how users are retrieved from storage.
Common Mistake
Many candidates answer correctly but can't explain the 'why'. Always be prepared to justify your answer with a concrete example or use case from your Laravel experience.