Laravel Real-Time Events on Windows (Local Server)

This article explains how to set up Laravel real-time events on Windows using a local development environment.

• Windows + WSL (Ubuntu)
• Redis as the broadcast queue
• Laravel Broadcasting
• Laravel Echo Server + Socket.IO

By the end, you will be able to broadcast events from Laravel and listen to them in real time on localhost.

1. Prerequisites

• Windows 10/11
• Administrator access
• PHP 8.1+
• Composer
• Node.js & npm
• Laravel project

2. Install Ubuntu using WSL

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

wsl --install

Restart if required and verify installation:

wsl -l -v

3. Install & Run Redis

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

sudo apt install redis-server -y

sudo service redis-server start

redis-cli ping

Redis will be available on 127.0.0.1:6379.

4. Configure Laravel Broadcasting

Install Redis PHP extension:

sudo apt install php-redis -y

Enable broadcasting:

php artisan install:broadcasting

5. Start Laravel Echo Server

laravel-echo-server start

6. Important Notes

• Always implement ShouldBroadcast
• Define channels in routes/channels.php
• Run queue worker

Conclusion

Using WSL, Redis, and Laravel Echo Server allows you to run real-time Laravel events locally on Windows with a production-like setup.