Artisan is a command-line interface (CLI) included with the framework. Artisan provides a number of helpful commands for common tasks in the development process, such as migrating databases, seeding databases, generating boilerplate code for controllers and models, running jobs, and more.

Artisan is a powerful tool that simplifies various development tasks and automates repetitive processes. You can run Artisan commands using the terminal or command prompt. Some common Artisan commands include:

1. php artisan migrate: Runs pending migrations to create or update database tables.

2. php artisan make:controller MyController: Generates a new controller class.

3. php artisan make:model MyModel: Creates a new Eloquent model class.

4. php artisan db:seed: Seeds the database with test data.

5. php artisan serve: Starts a development server for your Laravel application.

6. php artisan make:job MyJob: Generates a new job class.

You can also create custom Artisan commands to extend its functionality based on your project's specific needs. Custom commands are useful for automating tasks unique to your application.

To view a list of all available Artisan commands, you can use the php artisan list command. Additionally, you can get more information about a specific command by using php artisan help command-name.