Project structure

pnpm create nevela my-app gives you two apps in one folder.

my-app/
├─ apps/
│  ├─ api/      the Laravel app
│  └─ web/      the Next.js dashboard
├─ nevela       every Nevela command, from here: php nevela
└─ package.json

apps/api, the Laravel app

An ordinary Laravel app. These are the parts Nevela adds to it:

Path	What it holds
nevela/resources/*.json	One descriptor per resource. The input to everything else.
app/Models/	A model per resource.
app/Http/Requests/Nevela/	Validation per resource.
app/Http/Resources/Nevela/	The shape of a record in the API.
app/Http/Controllers/Api/	A controller per resource.
app/Policies/	Authorization per resource. Written once, then yours.
routes/nevela.php	The resource routes. Add your own below the generated block.
database/migrations/	The create-table migration per resource. Written once, then yours.

apps/web, the dashboard

Path	What it holds
resources/	The dashboard’s description of each resource, generated from Laravel.
app/dashboard/<slug>/	The list, new, detail and edit pages per resource. Written once, then yours.
app/sign-in/	The sign-in page.
lib/laravel.ts	The one place that calls Laravel.
lib/site.ts	The app’s name, text and theme.
components/	The tables, forms and fields.
policies/	Optional: hide buttons by role.
.env.local	NEVELA_API_URL, the address of the Laravel API.
.nevela.json	The dashboard version the app is on, a fingerprint of every file in it, and the history of updates. It is how an update knows which files you changed. Commit it.
.nevela/	Backups of files an update replaced, and new versions of files you had changed. It ignores itself in git. Appears after the first update.

See The web app for how these fit together.

The Nevela package

The generator, the commands and the code behind the REST API are a Composer package, nevela/laravel. It is installed into apps/api/vendor like any other dependency, and updated the same way:

php nevela upgrade

That also updates the dashboard files you have not changed. See Updating.

If your app has a packages/nevela-laravel folder instead, it was created with --bundled-package, or before a matching release existed. Composer installs the package from that folder. Treat it as a dependency and don’t edit it.

What is not there

There is no routes/api.php. Nevela registers its own routes under /api, from routes/nevela.php, so the app does not need one. If you want Laravel’s usual API routes file as well, run php artisan install:api; the two work side by side.

The root

File	What it does
nevela	The launcher: php nevela resource …, php nevela upgrade and the rest, without cd apps/api. See Commands.
package.json	Shortcuts for people who prefer their package manager: pnpm dev is php nevela dev.
.gitignore	Keeps vendor, node_modules, .env files and build output out of git.

Where your code goes

You want to	Put it
Add a scope, an accessor or a relationship of your own	In the model, outside the generated block
Change who may do what	In the policy
Change the table after the first migration	In a new migration
Add an API endpoint	In routes/nevela.php, below the generated block
Change a dashboard page’s layout	In the page under app/dashboard/<slug>/
Change a field’s type or add a field	In the descriptor JSON, then run nevela:generate

Regeneration and your code explains what is and is not rewritten.