Why Aegis

A string isn't an email until something validates it. An int isn't money until something tags its currency.

A Value Object fixes that. Its constructor accepts the input and produces a valid instance, or throws. Bad values never reach the rest of the system.

The catch: a Value Object that does its job is around 70 lines of PHP. final readonly class, validation in the constructor, normalization, an equals() method, the Castable block with get/set/compare for Eloquent. Typing that for every string a team wants to harden costs more than the string was costing.

Aegis writes those lines for you. One Artisan command produces the Value Object class with everything wired up, plus a Pest test stub. If you pass --cast=Model.column, it also patches the model. You write the methods that belong to your domain.

About the name

In Greek mythology the aegis was Athena's shield, carried into battle to deflect what shouldn't reach what it protected. The package borrows the name because that's what the constructor of a Value Object does: accepts what's valid and refuses everything else.

Requirements

• PHP 8.3+
• Laravel 13

Installation

composer require harrisrafto/laravel-aegis

The service provider is registered automatically via Laravel's package auto-discovery.

Optional — publish the config to override the default namespace for generated Value Objects:

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

Quick start

Scaffold a Value Object

php artisan make:value-object Email \
    --rule=email \
    --normalize=lower \
    --method=domain:string \
    --cast=Order.email

Generates:

• app/Domain/ValueObjects/Email.php — final readonly, validated, normalized, with the Castable block wired for Eloquent. Implements Stringable and JsonSerializable for the application edges. Contains an empty domain(): string stub for you to fill in.
• tests/Unit/EmailTest.php — test stub awaiting your assertions. Aegis emits a Pest it()->todo() when pestphp/pest is in your vendor/, and a PHPUnit markTestIncomplete() TestCase otherwise.
• app/Models/Order.php — patched to add 'email' => Email::class inside its casts() method, preserving the existing indentation.

Validate with the same Value Object

use Illuminate\Validation\Rule;

public function rules(): array
{
    return [
        'email' => ['required', Rule::valueObject(Email::class)],
    ];
}

Aegis registers valueObject as a macro on Laravel's Illuminate\Validation\Rule, so the call site reads identically to any other built-in rule (Rule::in(...), Rule::unique(...)).

Resolve the validated instance from a FormRequest

use HarrisRafto\Aegis\Concerns\ResolvesValueObjects;

class StoreUserRequest extends FormRequest
{
    use ResolvesValueObjects;

    public function rules(): array
    {
        return [
            'email' => ['required', Rule::valueObject(Email::class)],
        ];
    }
}

// In your controller:
$email = $request->valueObject('email'); // an Email instance, already validated

Scan your codebase for Value Object candidates

php artisan vo:scan

Aegis walks your Eloquent models and migrations, flags column names that match common patterns (email, url, uuid, country_code, slug, ip, status, money), and prints the make:value-object command you'd run for each one. A final line tells you how much of your codebase is already wrapped:

app/Models/Customer.php
  · billing_email   → php artisan make:value-object Email --rule=email --normalize=lower --cast=Customer.billing_email
  · country_code    → php artisan make:value-object CountryCode --rule=regex:/^[A-Z]{2}$/ --normalize=upper --cast=Customer.country_code
  · monthly_amount_cents  candidate — Money column, see cknow/laravel-money

Scanned 3 models, 16 columns total.
7 commands ready, 2 candidates need your input, 1 already wrapped.
Value Object coverage: 6%.

The scanner reads model $fillable, $casts, and casts() declarations, plus any Schema::create blocks in your migrations. It never touches your database. Pass --json for machine-readable output, --no-cast to omit the --cast=Model.column part of each suggestion, or --path and --migrations-path to point at non-standard directories.

Flags

Credits

Built by Harris Raftopoulos for Laravel Live Japan 2026.

YouTube: @harrisrafto

Companion to the talk "Bulletproof Your Laravel Code with Value Objects" and the example repository at harris21/laravel-value-objects-examples.

Based on the Value Object pattern from Eric Evans' Domain-Driven Design and Martin Fowler's Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture.

License

MIT