Laravel cannot find bootstrap/app.php when caching its configuration

What it means

The project has a non-standard layout: <path> does not exist, the real file is in another directory (for example backend/bootstrap/app.php).

The build passed, but the app did not start or did not answer the health check.

Typical causes

• The app does not listen on 0.0.0.0 and the port from the PORT variable
• An environment variable is missing, or the database or Redis is not connected
• The start command is wrong or the process exits right away

How to fix it on mevcore

That makes php artisan optimize fail, so the application does not start. Quick fix: remove "php artisan optimize &&" from the start command in the settings. Lasting fix: add a bootstrap/app.php file to the repository with one line: return require __DIR__.'/../backend/bootstrap/app.php';

1. 1 Open the app in the mevcore panel: the Problems card on the overview shows this error and the log line it was found in.
2. It is fixed on the “Settings” tab of the app.
3. 2 After the fix, deploy again. If it fails again, the log ends with [mevcore] lines naming the new error code.
4. 3 The "Ask AI" button next to the error prepares a request for ChatGPT or Claude: the error code, the end of the log without secrets and the app settings.

For an AI assistant

The same in English: paste it together with the log into the AI chat.

mevcore error code: runtime.laravel_custom_bootstrap
phase: start / health check
diagnosis: Laravel cannot find bootstrap/app.php when caching its configuration
platform hint: The project has a non-standard layout: <path> does not exist, the real file is in another directory (for example backend/bootstrap/app.php). That makes php artisan optimize fail, so the application does not start. Quick fix: remove "php artisan optimize &&" from the start command in the settings. Lasting fix: add a bootstrap/app.php file to the repository with one line: return require __DIR__.'/../backend/bootstrap/app.php';
platform docs: https://mevcore.com/llms-full.txt

Related errors

• runtime.laravel_mac_invalid Laravel cannot decrypt data (APP_KEY changed)
• runtime.laravel_target_class Laravel cannot find the class <class>