1. What is a Custom CRM and Why Build One?

A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool helps businesses manage their interactions with existing and potential customers. Popular options like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zoho CRM are great—but they’re often overkill, expensive, or inflexible.

Custom CRMs give businesses:

  • Full control of features
  • Seamless integration with existing tools
  • Cost-effective long-term scalability
  • Ownership of sensitive customer data

2. Why Laravel + Vue.js?

  • Laravel is a powerful PHP framework offering built-in routing, ORM (Eloquent), authentication, and more.
  • Vue.js is a lightweight frontend framework ideal for building reactive, component-driven UIs.
  • They’re a perfect match for Single Page Applications (SPAs) and API-driven development.

3. Tools & Tech Stack Overview

ToolPurpose
Laravel 11Backend API, DB, Auth
Vue 3 + ViteFrontend UI Components
AxiosAPI Communication
MySQLDatabase
Tailwind CSSStyling
PostmanAPI Testing
Laravel SanctumAPI Authentication

4. Project Structure & Setup

📥 Install Laravel

composer create-project laravel/laravel crm-app
cd crm-app
php artisan serve

⚙️ Configure .env

DB_DATABASE=crm
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=

Create the crm database in MySQL.

5. Backend: Laravel API Development

🛠️ a) Create Customer Model & Migration

php artisan make:model Customer -m

Now edit the migration:

public function up()
{
    Schema::create('customers', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->id();
        $table->string('name');
        $table->string('email')->unique();
        $table->string('phone')->nullable();
        $table->text('notes')->nullable();
        $table->timestamps();
    });
}

Run the migration:

php artisan migrate

📦 b) Customer Controller

php artisan make:controller API/CustomerController --api

Controller Logic

namespace App\Http\Controllers\API;

use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Models\Customer;

class CustomerController extends Controller
{
    public function index() {
        return response()->json(Customer::all(), 200);
    }

    public function store(Request $request) {
        $validated = $request->validate([
            'name' => 'required|string',
            'email' => 'required|email|unique:customers,email',
        ]);

        $customer = Customer::create($validated + $request->only(['phone', 'notes']));
        return response()->json($customer, 201);
    }

    public function show($id) {
        return response()->json(Customer::findOrFail($id));
    }

    public function update(Request $request, $id) {
        $customer = Customer::findOrFail($id);
        $customer->update($request->all());
        return response()->json($customer);
    }

    public function destroy($id) {
        Customer::destroy($id);
        return response()->json(['message' => 'Customer deleted']);
    }
}

Update the Model

protected $fillable = ['name', 'email', 'phone', 'notes'];

🌐 c) API Routes

Update routes/api.php:

use App\Http\Controllers\API\CustomerController;

Route::apiResource('customers', CustomerController::class);

🎨 6. Frontend: Vue 3 + Vite Setup

🧰 a) Install Vue 3

npm install
npm install vue@next vue-router@4 axios
npm run dev

resources/js/app.js

import { createApp } from 'vue';
import App from './App.vue';

createApp(App).mount('#app');

🔲 b) Basic Component: CustomerList.vue

<template>
  <div>
    <h2 class="text-xl font-bold mb-4">Customer List</h2>
    <ul>
      <li v-for="customer in customers" :key="customer.id" class="mb-2">
        {{ customer.name }} – {{ customer.email }}
        <button @click="deleteCustomer(customer.id)" class="text-red-600">Delete</button>
      </li>
    </ul>
  </div>
</template>

<script>
import axios from 'axios'

export default {
  data() {
    return {
      customers: []
    }
  },
  mounted() {
    this.getCustomers()
  },
  methods: {
    getCustomers() {
      axios.get('/api/customers').then(res => {
        this.customers = res.data
      })
    },
    deleteCustomer(id) {
      axios.delete(`/api/customers/${id}`).then(() => this.getCustomers())
    }
  }
}
</script>

🧩 App.vue

<template>
  <div class="max-w-4xl mx-auto p-6">
    <h1 class="text-3xl font-bold mb-6">Custom CRM</h1>
    <CustomerList />
  </div>
</template>

<script>
import CustomerList from './components/CustomerList.vue'

export default {
  components: { CustomerList }
}
</script>

🔐 7. Authentication with Laravel Sanctum

Install Laravel Sanctum:

composer require laravel/sanctum
php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Laravel\Sanctum\SanctumServiceProvider"
php artisan migrate

In api.php:

Route::middleware('auth:sanctum')->group(function () {
    Route::apiResource('customers', CustomerController::class);
});

🎨 8. UI Enhancements with Tailwind CSS

Install Tailwind:

npm install -D tailwindcss
npx tailwindcss init

Add Tailwind to resources/css/app.css:

@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;

Update Vite config and re-run:

npm run dev

Your CRM now looks clean, responsive, and modern.

✅ 9. Testing the Custom CRM

Use Postman or Vue UI:

  • Create a customer → POST /api/customers
  • Read all customers → GET /api/customers
  • Update customer → PUT /api/customers/{id}
  • Delete customer → DELETE /api/customers/{id}

🚀 10. Future Improvements

To scale this CRM further:

  • Add search, filters, pagination
  • Export customer data to CSV/PDF
  • Add email/SMS integrations
  • Add user roles: admin, staff, sales
  • Build dashboards with charts (Chart.js)

🧠 11. Conclusion

By building a CRM from scratch using Laravel + Vue.js, you gain full control, flexibility, and scalability. This is ideal for teams who want software tailored to their operations—no extra features, no subscriptions, no compromises.

Whether you’re a dev building your own tool or an agency like Kavcom Expert creating solutions for clients—this stack delivers.

📢 Want to Build a CRM for Your Team?

At Kavcom Expert, we build custom CRMs, dashboards, and SaaS products for businesses in the US and globally. Contact us for tailored development.