Laravel is outdated

This API uses a version of Laravel that is very old (21/12/2015). It should be upgraded to at least 5.5 (LTS) in order to receive security upgrades.

I can't say for sure how hard the upgrade will be but I don't expect any major issues. The code could also be updated to use some of the modern Laravel features such as gates to make it more readable.

Start by locating the dependency declarations and confirming the current Laravel version, then review the upgrade path to Laravel 5.5 and run the existing API test suite. Done means the API runs on at least Laravel 5.5, security updates are available, and the existing behavior remains covered by passing tests.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.