What is a Cookie?

• A cookie is a small piece of data stored on the client’s browser.
• In Laravel, cookies are often used to store temporary information like:
• User preferences (theme, language, etc.)
• Session identifiers
• Remember-me tokens

Laravel makes cookie handling easy and secure by automatically encrypting them.

Why Use Cookies?

✅ Store small user-specific data on the client side.

✅ Make the app remember user settings/preferences.

✅ Maintain login state (like "Remember Me").

✅ Track activity across pages.

⚠️ Best for lightweight data (not for sensitive large data).

How Laravel Handles Cookies

• By default, Laravel cookies are encrypted & signed (so users can’t tamper with them).
• Middleware EncryptCookies (enabled by default) handles encryption/decryption.
• Middleware AddQueuedCookiesToResponse attaches cookies to responses.

Basic Cookies

web.php (routes\web.php)

Route::get('/cookies_store', function () {
    Cookie::queue('user_name', 'john', 120); // 120 mins
    return "Cookies Stored";
});
Route::get('/cookies_get', function () {
    return Cookie::get('user_name');
});
Route::get('/cookies_clear', function () {
    Cookie::queue(Cookie::forget('user_name'));
    return "Cookies Removed";
});

Output Store Cookies:

Output Get Cookies:

Output Remove Cookies:

How to Use Cookies in Laravel

1. Store Data in Cookies

Route::get('/set-cookie', function () {
  // name, value, minutes
  return response('Cookie set successfully')
      ->cookie('username', 'John', 60); // 60 mins
});

OR

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Cookie;

Route::get('/set-facade', function () {
  Cookie::queue('language', 'English', 120); // 120 mins
  return "Cookie set using facade!";
});

2. Get Data from Cookies

Route::get('/get-cookie', function (Illuminate\Http\Request $request) {
  $name = $request->cookie('username');
  return "Cookie Value: " . $name;
});

OR

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Cookie;

Route::get('/set-facade', function () {
   $name = Cookie::get('username');
   return "Cookie Value: " . $name;
});

3. Remove Data from Cookies

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Cookie;

Route::get('/delete-cookie', function () {
  Cookie::queue(Cookie::forget('username'));
  return "Cookie Deleted!";
});

4.Cookie Lifetime

• Default lifetime = till the browser is closed (session cookie).
• To make persistent:

Cookie::queue('theme', 'dark', 1440); // 1 day (60*24 minutes)

5. Secure & HttpOnly Cookies

• Secure → Only sent over HTTPS
• HttpOnly → Not accessible via JavaScript (document.cookie)

return response('Secure Cookie')
    ->cookie('secure_token', '12345', 60, '/', null, true, true);

Difference Between Cookies & Sessions