Laravel History Logger

history-logger is a Laravel package that tracks model changes and stores JSON snapshots for each event in history_logs.

It helps developers by giving a built-in model history layer without writing repetitive audit logic in every project.

Key benefits:

• Automatic logging on model events (created, updated, deleted)
• Full data snapshot per entry for easier debugging and traceability
• Actor tracking (actor_type, actor_id) to know who changed what
• Built-in maintenance commands for pruning and clearing history data
• Optional ready-to-use history viewer page for fast inspection

Requirements

• PHP 8.0+
• Laravel 8.75, 9.x, 10.x, 11.x, 12.x

Installation

composer require fouadfawzi/history-logger

Publish Package Files

Publish config:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="FouadFawzi\HistoryLogger\HistoryLoggerServiceProvider" --tag="history-logger-config"

Publish migrations:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="FouadFawzi\HistoryLogger\HistoryLoggerServiceProvider" --tag="history-logger-migrations"

Migration publishing behavior:

• multi_tenant=false: main migrations are always included.
• multi_tenant=true + disable_main_db_in_multi_tenant_mode=false (default): main + tenant migrations.
• multi_tenant=true + disable_main_db_in_multi_tenant_mode=true: tenant migrations only.

Optional explicit tags:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="FouadFawzi\HistoryLogger\HistoryLoggerServiceProvider" --tag="history-logger-migrations-main"
php artisan vendor:publish --provider="FouadFawzi\HistoryLogger\HistoryLoggerServiceProvider" --tag="history-logger-migrations-tenant"

Optional: publish views:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="FouadFawzi\HistoryLogger\HistoryLoggerServiceProvider" --tag="history-logger-views"

Run migrations:

php artisan migrate

Basic Usage

Add the trait to any model:

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use FouadFawzi\HistoryLogger\Traits\LogsHistory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Order extends Model
{
    use LogsHistory;

    // Per-model cap: keep only latest 1000 entries for this model.
    protected int $loggerMaxEntries = 1000;
}

Now created, updated, and deleted events are logged automatically.

Who Made The Change (Actor)

The package can store who performed each change:

• actor_type (for example App\Models\User)
• actor_id (for example 5)

By default, actor tracking is enabled and uses the current authenticated user. If an action runs from CLI/queue/system without an authenticated user, actor fields stay null.

Excluding Model Columns

You can exclude specific columns per model using a protected array:

protected array $historyLoggerExcluded = [
    'updated_at',
    'internal_note',
];

You can also set global exclusions in config/history-logger.php:

'excluded_columns' => ['created_at'],

Accessing History

Each model using the trait gets a historyLogs() relation:

$order = Order::find(1);
$logs = $order->historyLogs()->latest()->get();

The package also ships with a static query helper class:

use FouadFawzi\HistoryLogger\Support\HistoryLog;

Get all logs (optional date range):

$all = HistoryLog::list();

$betweenDates = HistoryLog::list(
    startDate: '2026-01-01 00:00:00',
    endDate: '2026-01-31 23:59:59'
);

Get logs by filters (model, actor, startDate, endDate are all optional):

// Only model logs
$userLogs = HistoryLog::getBy(model: App\Models\User::class);

// Model + actor (recommended actor format)
$userLogsByAdmin = HistoryLog::getBy(
    model: App\Models\User::class,
    actor: ['type' => App\Models\Admin::class, 'id' => 7]
);

// Model + actor (positional actor format is also supported)
$userLogsByAdminPositional = HistoryLog::getBy(
    model: App\Models\User::class,
    actor: [App\Models\Admin::class, 7]
);

// Actor + date range
$actorLogs = HistoryLog::getBy(
    actor: ['type' => App\Models\User::class, 'id' => 5],
    startDate: now()->subWeek(),
    endDate: now()
);

Actor filter rules:

• actor can be null, ['type' => SomeClass::class], or ['type' => SomeClass::class, 'id' => 5].
• If actor id is provided, actor type is required.

Configuration Options

Main config file: config/history-logger.php

Useful options:

'events' => ['created', 'updated', 'deleted'],
'track_actor' => true,
'actor_guard' => null,
'max_entries' => 10000000,
'excluded_columns' => [],
'ignored_models' => [],
'multi_tenant' => false,
'disable_main_db_in_multi_tenant_mode' => false,
'only_tenant_mode' => false,
'tenant_migration_path' => database_path('migrations/tenant'),
'table_name' => 'history_logs',
'pivot_table_name' => 'history_loggables',

Global Max Entries

Use max_entries to set a hard cap for the total number of rows in history_logs.

'max_entries' => 10000000,

When this limit is reached, the package removes the oldest entries first, then inserts the newest one.
This keeps the table size from ever growing above the configured limit.

Per-Model Max Entries

For model-level caps, define this property on the model:

protected int $loggerMaxEntries = 1000;

When this model class reaches 1000 history entries (for example all User logs), each new log entry removes the oldest one for that model class.

If you already use loggerMAxEntries naming in your codebase, it is also supported.

Multi-Tenant Mode

If your app is multi-tenant:

1. Publish config.
2. Set:

'multi_tenant' => true,
'disable_main_db_in_multi_tenant_mode' => false, // default: keep publishing main
'only_tenant_mode' => false,
'tenant_migration_path' => database_path('migrations/tenant'),

3. Publish migrations again with the same tag:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="FouadFawzi\HistoryLogger\HistoryLoggerServiceProvider" --tag="history-logger-migrations"

4. Run tenant migrations using your tenant workflow.

If you want to skip publishing main DB migrations when multi-tenant mode is enabled:

'multi_tenant' => true,
'disable_main_db_in_multi_tenant_mode' => true, // publish tenant migrations only
'only_tenant_mode' => false,

only_tenant_mode controls migration loading for php artisan migrate:

'only_tenant_mode' => true, // load tenant migration directory

Optional History Viewer Route

This package ships with a simple Blade page to inspect history entries from the browser.

1. Enable the route and map your model alias in config/history-logger.php:

'route' => [
    'enabled' => true,
    'prefix' => 'history-logger',
    'middleware' => ['web', 'auth'], // recommended
    'model_map' => [
        'orders' => App\Models\Order::class,
        'users' => App\Models\User::class,
    ],
],

2. Make sure the mapped model uses the LogsHistory trait.

3. Open:

/history-logger/orders/1

Where:

• orders is the key from model_map
• 1 is the model ID

4. Optional: publish and customize the Blade view:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="FouadFawzi\HistoryLogger\HistoryLoggerServiceProvider" --tag="history-logger-views"

Published view location:

resources/views/vendor/history-logger/history.blade.php

Maintenance Commands

Prune logs for a model class:

php artisan history-logger:prune "App\\Models\\User" --max=1000

This keeps only the latest 1000 history entries for App\Models\User and deletes older rows. If related history_logs rows become orphaned, they are removed too. --max is optional. If omitted, the command uses the model property loggerMaxEntries (if defined).

Clear all history rows and reset auto-increment:

php artisan history-logger:clear --force

--force skips the confirmation prompt and executes the delete immediately.

Quick end-to-end logger test:

php artisan history-logger:test "App\\Models\\User" --email="[email protected]" --iterations=3 --show=5

Test date filters quickly:

php artisan history-logger:test-dates --start="2026-03-01 00:00:00" --end="2026-03-31 23:59:59"

With model + actor filters:

php artisan history-logger:test-dates \
  --model="App\\Models\\User" \
  --actor-type="App\\Models\\User" \
  --actor-id=5 \
  --start="2026-03-01 00:00:00" \
  --end="2026-03-31 23:59:59" \
  --preview=10

License

MIT