Followable for Laravel

Polymorphic follows for Eloquent. Any model can be followed and any model can follow, so users can follow venues, artists or each other, and pages can follow too. Models that need approval, such as private accounts, receive follow requests they accept or reject.

Requirements

Installation

composer require x-laravel/followable
php artisan vendor:publish --tag=followable-migrations
php artisan migrate

Publish the config to change the defaults:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=followable-config

Preparing the Models

Implement CanFollow and use Follower on the model that follows. Implement HasFollowers and use Followable on every model that can be followed; only those models are accepted. A model can use both:

use XLaravel\Followable\Concerns\Followable;
use XLaravel\Followable\Concerns\Follower;
use XLaravel\Followable\Contracts\CanFollow;
use XLaravel\Followable\Contracts\HasFollowers;
use XLaravel\Followable\Contracts\RequiresFollowApproval;

class User extends Authenticatable implements CanFollow, HasFollowers, RequiresFollowApproval
{
    use Follower;
    use Followable;

    public function requiresFollowApproval(): bool
    {
        return $this->is_private;
    }
}

class Venue extends Model implements HasFollowers
{
    use Followable;
}

Implement RequiresFollowApproval on followable models that decide whether a new follow waits for approval. Models without it are followed at once.

The follower_id and followable_id columns follow Laravel's morph key type, so set Schema::defaultMorphKeyType('uuid') or 'ulid' before migrating if your models use them. If the followed models mix key types, such as integer and ULID keys, publish the migration and make followable_id a string column.

Configuration

Following

$user->follow($venue);                 // returns the Follow, the existing one when already followed
$user->unfollow($venue);               // removes a follow or withdraws a pending request
$user->isFollowing($venue);            // accepted follows only
$user->hasRequestedToFollow($account);

A model cannot follow itself. Following again keeps the existing follow as it is, so a pending request stays pending.

Follow Requests

When the followed model's requiresFollowApproval() returns true, follow() creates a pending request instead:

$account->followRequests()->paginate();    // followers waiting for approval
$account->hasFollowRequestFrom($user);
$account->acceptFollowRequest($user);      // true when a pending request was accepted
$account->rejectFollowRequest($user);      // true when a pending request was rejected
$account->removeFollower($user);           // removes an accepted follower

Requests are addressed by the follower, so the follow row itself never has to appear in a URL. The Follow model also offers accept(), reject(), isAccepted(), isPending() and the accepted() and pending() scopes.

Listing

$venue->followers()->paginate(20);        // accepted followers of the default follower model
$venue->followers(Page::class)->get();    // followers of another model
$venue->isFollowedBy($user);              // false for null, so a guest can be passed

$user->followings(Venue::class)->get();   // followed venues
$user->sentFollows;                       // every follow and request the user sent
$venue->receivedFollows;                  // every follow and request the venue received

Show counts and the follow state of a whole list in one query:

Venue::query()
    ->withCount('followers')
    ->withFollowedBy($request->user())    // adds is_followed and is_follow_requested
    ->paginate();

Mutual Follows

For models that both follow and are followed:

$user->isMutuallyFollowing($other);       // both follows accepted
$user->mutualFollowers()->paginate();     // followers the user follows back

User::query()
    ->withFollowsBack($request->user())   // adds follows_back: the row follows the given model
    ->paginate();

Deleting and Pruning

When a followed model or a follower is deleted, its follows and requests are deleted with it. Soft-deleted models keep them until they are force deleted.

Deletes that skip model events, such as bulk queries, database cascades or raw SQL, leave follows behind. The package schedules model:prune, daily by default, to remove follows whose followed model or follower no longer exists. Run it by hand with:

php artisan model:prune --model="XLaravel\Followable\Models\Follow"

Pruning skips types that no longer resolve to a model and models on another connection.

Reacting to Follows

Every event carries the Follow and is dispatched after the surrounding transaction commits:

Following a model that is already followed dispatches nothing. Follows removed together with their model or follower, or by pruning, dispatch nothing.

Testing

composer install
composer test
composer analyse

License

Open source software licensed under the MIT license.