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Laravel HTML Minify Middleware

A lightweight and efficient Laravel middleware package that automatically minifies HTML responses, reducing page size and improving load times. The package intelligently removes unnecessary whitespace, comments, and optimizes your HTML output while preserving functionality.

Features

• Automatic HTML Minification: Minifies HTML responses on-the-fly with zero configuration required
• Smart Detection: Only processes HTML responses, automatically skipping JSON, AJAX requests, and other non-HTML content
• Safe Minification: Preserves content in sensitive elements like <pre>, <textarea>, and <script> tags
• Framework-Aware: Compatible with Livewire, Knockout.js, and other JavaScript frameworks
• Configurable Transformers: Choose which transformations to apply or create custom ones
• Performance Optimized: Minimal overhead with efficient regex-based transformations
• Laravel 10, 11, and 12 Support: Works seamlessly with modern Laravel versions

What Gets Minified?

The package includes three built-in transformers:

1. Remove Comments: Strips HTML comments while preserving framework-specific comments (Livewire, Knockout.js)
2. Remove Whitespace: Eliminates unnecessary whitespace between tags and multiple spaces
3. Trim Scripts: Removes extra whitespace from within <script> tags

Before Minification:

After Minification:

Requirements

• PHP 8.2 or higher
• Laravel 10.x, 11.x, or 12.x

Installation

Install the package via Composer:

The package will automatically register its service provider.

Publish Configuration

Publish the configuration file to customize the transformers:

This will create a config/minify-html.php file with the following default configuration:

Usage

Global Middleware

To minify all HTML responses in your application, add the middleware to the global middleware stack in bootstrap/app.php (Laravel 11+):

For Laravel 10, add to app/Http/Kernel.php:

Route Middleware

To apply minification to specific routes or route groups, register the middleware with an alias:

Laravel 11+ (bootstrap/app.php):

Laravel 10 (app/Http/Kernel.php):

Then apply it to specific routes:

Conditional Minification

The middleware automatically determines if a response should be minified based on several conditions:

• ✅ Request method is GET or HEAD
• ✅ Response contains HTML (checks Accept header)
• ❌ Request is JSON
• ❌ Request is AJAX (XMLHttpRequest)
• ❌ Request is a precognitive request
• ❌ Response has no DOCTYPE declaration in the first 100 characters

This ensures that only actual HTML page responses are minified, avoiding issues with API responses or partial HTML fragments.

Configuration

Customizing Transformers

You can customize which transformers are applied by modifying the config/minify-html.php file:

Disabling Specific Transformers

Remove or comment out any transformer you don't want to use:

Creating Custom Transformers

You can create your own HTML transformers by implementing a simple transform method:

Then add it to your configuration:

Example: Uppercase Title Transformer

Built-in Transformers Explained

RemoveComments

Removes HTML comments while preserving special comments needed by frameworks:

RemoveWhitespace

Intelligently removes whitespace while preserving content in:

• <pre> tags (preformatted text)
• <textarea> tags (form inputs)
• <script> tags (JavaScript code)

The transformer:

1. Temporarily hides protected elements
2. Removes multiple spaces, tabs, and newlines
3. Removes spaces between tags (> < becomes ><)
4. Restores protected elements

TrimScripts

Removes leading and trailing whitespace from within <script> tags without affecting functionality:

Performance Benefits

HTML minification can reduce your HTML file size by 10-30% on average, depending on your code formatting:

• Faster Page Loads: Smaller HTML files download quicker
• Reduced Bandwidth: Lower data transfer costs
• Improved SEO: Faster page loads contribute to better search rankings
• Better Mobile Experience: Crucial for users on slower connections

Example size reduction:

• Before: 45 KB
• After: 32 KB
• Savings: 28.9% reduction

Framework Compatibility

Livewire

The package preserves Livewire comments and attributes, ensuring full compatibility:

Inertia.js

Works seamlessly with Inertia.js responses as they are JSON and automatically skipped.

Alpine.js

Alpine.js directives and attributes are preserved:

Troubleshooting

HTML Not Being Minified

1. Check your response type: Ensure the response has an Accept: text/html header
2. Verify middleware is registered: Confirm the middleware is in your global or route middleware
3. Check request method: Only GET and HEAD requests are processed
4. DOCTYPE declaration: Make sure your HTML includes <!DOCTYPE html> early in the response

Broken Layout or Functionality

1. Whitespace-dependent CSS: If your layout relies on whitespace between inline elements, add those elements to the ignoreElements array in a custom transformer
2. Template literals in scripts: Complex JavaScript might need special handling
3. Pre-formatted content: Ensure <pre> and <textarea> tags are being preserved

Debugging

Temporarily disable transformers one by one to identify which transformation is causing issues:

Testing

Run the package tests:

Run tests with coverage:

Run static analysis:

Fix code style:

Changelog

Please see CHANGELOG for more information on what has changed recently.

Contributing

Please see CONTRIBUTING for details.

Security Vulnerabilities

Please review our security policy on how to report security vulnerabilities.

Credits

• Mark van Eijk
• All Contributors

License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.