When deploying a Laravel application, it is recommended to remove any unnecessary dependencies, especially dev-dependencies, to reduce the size of the application and improve performance. However, regular dependencies should not be removed as they are required for the application to function properly.
As for the vendors folder, it should not be removed as it contains all the necessary dependencies for the application to run. In fact, it is recommended to run "composer install" on the server after deploying the application to ensure that all dependencies are installed correctly.
To disable APP_DEBUG when deploying, you can set the APP_DEBUG environment variable to false in your server's configuration file or in the .env file on the server.
Here is an example of how to set the APP_DEBUG environment variable in the .env file:
APP_DEBUG=false
Overall, it is important to follow best practices when deploying a Laravel application to ensure that it is secure and performs well. Here are some resources that may be helpful:
- Laravel Deployment Documentation: https://laravel.com/docs/8.x/deployment
- Laravel Best Practices: https://github.com/alexeymezenin/laravel-best-practices