Have you just got the Laravel error could not open input file artisan?

Usually, the error shows up when a user tries to open the Laravel project outside the project folder.

At Bobcares, customers often approach us to fix Laravel errors, as a part of our Server Management Services.

Today, let’s see how our Support Engineers fix this Laravel error.

Laravel application structure

Laravel is a PHP framework for web application development. A composer is a tool that integrates the dependencies and libraries.

It includes the dependencies in the composer.json file. This file is usually placed in the source folder.

Laravel has a command-line interface. This is known as Artisan. It has a set of commands to assist web application development. To start the Laravel service, we use the command,

php artisan

But in some cases, this ends up in errors. Our customers often approach us to fix errors while accessing the artisan console. Today, let’s discuss one such error.

Laravel error could not open input file artisan

Could not open input file: artisan

This is a very common error message that a Laravel user gets.

Usually, users get this error while trying to access a project using the command, php artisan. In the command-line, the error appears as,

Now let’s see why does this error appears.

1. Wrong console location

This error mainly occurs when a user tries to open a Laravel project outside the project folder. Laravel can only execute the project if we open it inside the project folder.

That is what the error says ‘could not open input file‘. So whenever customers approach us with this error, we ask the customer to re-check the location where they execute the command.

2. Improper permissions of artisan

Sometimes the artisan may not be executable. If the user tries to execute the command, it cannot access it. And the user receives this error.

So to make artisan executable, we use the command

chmod +x artisan

Later try to use the command, and it will work.

[Still, having trouble in loading your Laravel project? – We can help you.]

Conclusion

So far we saw the reasons for the Laravel error could not open input file artisan. Incorrect console location and improper permissions trigger the error. We also saw how our Support Engineers fix it.