Editor Stamps

Records which user created and last updated a model.

Two independent pieces, usable together or on their own:

• a trait for your Laravel models, which stamps the authenticated user on save;
• schema helpers for your migrations, which add the columns the trait writes to.

Compatibility

Laravel 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13.

The test suite passes against each of them: 9.52, 10.50, 11.56, 12.67 and 13.26. Laravel 9, 10 and 11 are out of upstream security support, so Composer declines to install them under its default advisory policy; testing against those three means relaxing that policy locally.

Laravel 7 and 8 also work for adding columns, but are not covered.

Installation

composer require konsulting/laravel-editor-stamps

The service provider is auto-discovered. It registers both migration styles, so nothing further is needed.

Usage

The trait

use it in your model:

use Konsulting\Laravel\EditorStamps\EditorStamps;

class Article extends Model
{
    use EditorStamps;
}

While a user is authenticated, created_by is set on create and updated_by on create and update. When no user is authenticated the model is left untouched, so queue jobs, console commands and seeders are unaffected.

Two relations are provided, both resolving against config('auth.providers.users.model'):

$article->creator;   // the user who created it
$article->updater;   // the user who last updated it

Deletes are not stamped. The trait sets updated_by while handling the deleting event but does not save, so a hard delete removes the row and a soft delete writes only deleted_at — Laravel builds that update from an explicit column list. After deleting, updated_by still names whoever last updated the row.

The migration columns

editorStamps() adds unsigned created_by and updated_by integer columns, both defaulting to 0. dropEditorStamps() removes them again. They are available on Laravel's own Blueprint:

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;
use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;

Schema::create('articles', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->increments('id');
    $table->editorStamps();
});

The columns default to 0 rather than being nullable, so existing rows get a concrete value. 0 means "not recorded" and matches no real user.

The Schema facade and Blueprint (legacy)

Earlier versions provided a replacement Schema facade and Blueprint subclass, aliased in config/app.php:

'aliases' => Facade::defaultAliases()->merge([
    'Schema' => \Konsulting\Laravel\EditorStamps\Schema::class,
])->toArray(),

use Konsulting\Laravel\EditorStamps\Blueprint;

Schema::create('articles', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->editorStamps();
});

This still works and is registered alongside the macros, so existing migrations need no conversion. New migrations should prefer Laravel's own Schema and Blueprint above; the subclass exists only for compatibility.

On Laravel 12 and 13 this style requires 1.2.0 or later, which widened the blueprint resolver to accept the Blueprint constructor signature introduced in Laravel 12.

Version notes

Before 1.3.1 the two styles were mutually exclusive, chosen by a Laravel version check: applications using one found the other unavailable. Since 1.3.1 both are always registered. If you are on 1.3.0 and your migrations type-hint Konsulting\Laravel\EditorStamps\Blueprint, upgrade rather than converting them.

Tests

composer install
vendor/bin/phpunit

The suite uses Orchestra Testbench against an in-memory SQLite database, and covers both migration styles, the columns they produce, and the trait.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome and will be fully credited. We will accept contributions by Pull Request.

Please:

• Use the PSR-2 Coding Standard
• Document changes in behaviour, including readme.md