What is the storage folder in Laravel?
Why Interviewers Ask This
This is a classic screening question for Laravel roles. Hiring managers ask it early in interviews to gauge your baseline understanding and determine if you can communicate technical concepts clearly.
Answer
The storage/ directory contains files generated by the framework: storage/app/ (user-uploaded files), storage/framework/ (cache, sessions, compiled views), and storage/logs/ (application log files). To make uploaded files publicly accessible, create a symbolic link: php artisan storage:link — this creates public/storage pointing to storage/app/public. Store files with the Storage facade: Storage::put("avatars/user.jpg", $fileContents) or Storage::disk("s3")->put(...). Laravel's filesystem abstraction (Flysystem) supports local, Amazon S3, Rackspace, SFTP, and other drivers — switch by changing the FILESYSTEM_DISK env variable, with no code changes needed.
Pro Tip
Demonstrate both theoretical understanding and practical experience. Say what it is, then give an example of how you actually used it in a Laravel codebase.