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+# Laravel 5.0 → 11 Upgrade Progress
+
+## Current State (Baseline)
+- **Laravel Version**: 5.0.*
+- **PHP Version**: 5.6.40 (container), 7.0 (production Dockerfile)
+- **Database**: MySQL via PDO
+- **Branch**: feature/laravel-upgrade
+
+## Dependencies Audit
+
+### Core Dependencies
+- ✅ `laravel/framework`: 5.0.* → Need to upgrade incrementally
+- ✅ `webpatser/laravel-uuid`: ^2.0 → Compatible through Laravel 8
+- ⚠️ `netshell/paypal`: dev-master → May need replacement (outdated)
+- ⚠️ `guzzlehttp/guzzle`: ~5.0 → Need to upgrade to ^7.0
+- ✅ `google/recaptcha`: ~1.1 → Still maintained
+- ⚠️ `spatie/laravel-analytics`: ^1.4 → Need to upgrade to ^5.0
+- ✅ `league/flysystem-sftp`: ^1.0 → Upgrade to ^3.0 for Laravel 9+
+- ✅ `aws/aws-sdk-php`: ~3.0 → Compatible
+
+### Custom Middleware Found
+- `CheckTeamStorePassword` - Custom team store authentication
+- `IsAdmin` - Admin role check
+- `IsUser` - Normal user role check
+- `isAuthorized` - Custom authorization
+- `Cors` - CORS handling
+
+### Custom Code Patterns Detected
+- ✅ `app/helpers.php` - Auto-loaded helper functions (minio_url, minio_image_url)
+- ✅ Routes in `app/Http/routes.php` (Laravel 5.0 pattern)
+- ⚠️ Controllers echoing HTML directly (needs refactoring)
+- ⚠️ Boolean stored as strings ("TRUE"/"FALSE" in database)
+
+## Upgrade Path
+
+### Phase 1: Laravel 5.0 → 5.1 (Week 1)
+- [ ] Update composer.json
+- [ ] Test route compatibility
+- [ ] Verify middleware still works
+- [ ] Test authentication flow
+
+### Phase 2: Laravel 5.1 → 5.5 LTS (Week 2)
+- [ ] Move routes to `routes/web.php`
+- [ ] Update exception handler
+- [ ] Test all database queries
+- [ ] Update validation rules
+
+### Phase 3: PHP 7.0 → 7.4 & Laravel 5.5 → 6.x (Week 3)
+- [ ] Update Dockerfile to PHP 7.4
+- [ ] Remove mcrypt dependencies (if any encrypted data)
+- [ ] Add string/array helpers package
+- [ ] Test file uploads
+
+### Phase 4: Laravel 6.x → 8.x (Week 4)
+- [ ] Update factory syntax
+- [ ] Test rate limiting
+- [ ] Verify queue jobs
+
+### Phase 5: PHP 8.0 & Laravel 8.x → 9.x (Week 5)
+- [ ] Update Dockerfile to PHP 8.0
+- [ ] Update Flysystem to v3 (affects MinIO config)
+- [ ] Test query builder changes
+
+### Phase 6: Laravel 9.x → 10.x (Week 6)
+- [ ] Update to PHP 8.1
+- [ ] Add type declarations where needed
+- [ ] Test invokable validation rules
+
+### Phase 7: Laravel 10.x → 11.x (Week 7)
+- [ ] Update to PHP 8.2
+- [ ] Test new application skeleton
+- [ ] Verify all functionality
+
+## Breaking Changes to Watch
+
+### Database
+- Boolean fields stored as strings ("TRUE"/"FALSE") - Need migration
+- Direct DB facade usage throughout codebase
+
+### Routes
+- Controller array syntax in routes will be removed
+- Need to update to standard controller@method or invokable
+
+### Middleware
+- Middleware signature changes in later versions
+- CSRF token handling updates
+
+### Views
+- Blade syntax mostly compatible
+- PHP in controllers (<?php echo) needs refactoring
+
+### External Services
+- PayPal integration (netshell/paypal) may need complete rewrite
+- Google Analytics package needs major upgrade
+- Screenshot Node.js service should remain compatible
+
+## Rollback Plan
+- Keep master branch untouched
+- Tag current state: `git tag v5.0-baseline`
+- Can revert entire branch if needed
+- Parallel testing environment on port 8090
+
+## Testing Checklist (After Each Upgrade)
+- [ ] Homepage loads
+- [ ] User registration/login works
+- [ ] Sports category pages render
+- [ ] Designer tool loads
+- [ ] Pattern/clipart selection works
+- [ ] Cart functionality
+- [ ] Team store pages
+- [ ] PayPal checkout flow
+- [ ] Admin panel access
+- [ ] Image serving from MinIO
+- [ ] Screenshot generation service
+- [ ] File uploads work
+
+## Notes
+- Current Composer version 1.x - may need to use `composer self-update --1` during transition
+- AWS SDK already at 3.0, compatible with all Laravel versions
+- Helper functions (minio_url) should remain compatible
+- Fabric.js designer tool is front-end only, won't be affected
+
+## Completed Steps
+1. ✅ Created feature branch
+2. ✅ Documented current state
+3. ⏳ Ready to start first upgrade