In this tutorial I'll explain how I wrote an admin login that only requires a username and password. It took me ages to figure out how to do it because I couldn't find any tutorials that didn't use Breeze or something similar so I may as well pass on my barely passable knowledge in an unprofessional way. Is it safe? Maybe?? I haven't been able to break into my own website yet so it's not completely unsafe... (if there's any issues please find my contact information above) But anyway...

Step 1: create the admin model

php artisan make:model Admin -m

This will create the admin model along with a migration.

Step 2: edit the migration

In the database/migrations/xxx_create_admins_table.php file add

public function up(): void
{
    Schema::create('admins', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->id();
        $table->string('username')->unique();
        $table->string('password');
        $table->rememberToken();
        $table->timestamps();
    });
}

then run

php artisan migrate

Note: I'm not sure if the rememberToken() is needed but I don't want to break anything so you can try if you want to.

Step 3: edit the admin model

In the app/models/Admin.php file add

class Admin extends Authenticable
{
    public $fillable = ['username', 'password'];
}

and add

use Illuminate\Foundation\Auth\User as Authenticable;

at the top Make sure you add extends Authenticable it's important.

Step 4: add guards and providers

In the config/auth.php file add

'admins' => [
    'driver' => 'eloquent',
    'model' => App\Models\Admin::class,
],

into

'providers' => [
    //..
],

then add

'admin' => [
    'driver' => 'session',
    'provider' => 'admins',
],

into

'guards' => [
    //..
],

Step 5: create the admin controller

php artisan make:controller AdminController

Step 6: edit the admin controller

In the app/Http/Controllers/AdminController.php file add

public function showLoginForm()
{
    return view('admin.login');
}

public function login(Request $request)
{
    $credentials = $request->only('username', 'password');

    if (Auth::guard('admin')->attempt($credentials)) {
        // Authentication passed...
        return redirect()->intended('/');
    }

    // Authentication failed...
    return redirect()->back()->withInput($request->only('username'));
}

public function logout()
{
    Auth::logout();

    return redirect('/admin/login');
}

make sure to add

use Auth;

at the top

Step 7: create the middleware

php artisan make:middleware AdminAuth

Step 8: edit the admin auth middleware

In the app/Http/middleware/AdminAuth.php file add

public function handle(Request $request, Closure $next): Response
{
    if (Auth::guard('admin')->check()) {
        return $next($request);
    } else {
        return redirect()->route('admin.login');
    }
}

make sure to add

use Auth;

at the top

Step 9: add routes

In the routes/web.php file add

Route::get('/admin/login', [AdminController::class, 'showLoginForm'])->name('admin.login');
Route::post('/admin/login', [AdminController::class, 'login'])->name('admin.login.submit');
Route::post('/admin/logout', [AdminController::class, 'logout'])->name('admin.logout');

make sure to add

use App\Http\Controllers\AdminController;

at the top

Step 10: create login page

In the resources/views folder create a folder called admin and inside the admin folder a file called login.blade.php.

Step 11: edit the login page

In the login.blade.php file you just created add

<form method="POST" action="{{ route('admin.login.submit') }}">
@csrf
    <input type="text" name="username" value="{{ old('username') }}" required autofocus placeholder="Username">
    <input type="password" name="password" required placeholder="Password">
    <button type="submit">Login</button>
</form>

Note: Make sure to add the @csrf.

Step 12: apply middleware to routes you want to protect

In the routes/web.php file add

Route::middleware(AdminAuth::class)->group(function () {
    //Routes you want to protect
});

make sure to add

use App\Http\Middleware\AdminAuth; 

at the top

Step 13: add admin user

In your prefered database client add a new row into the admins table. The username should be, well, the username but the password should use the bcrypt() function. To get your encrypted password run

php artisan tinker

and run

bcrypt("password")

and copy what's in between the double quotes. Insert the row and you should be all set.

Conclusion

And that's it, as said before I don't know how secure this is so use at your own risk.