Laravel Atlas Drip

A headless, state-driven lifecycle & drip campaign engine for Laravel with zero double-sends, automatic cooldowns, and jitter-proof timing.

Built for Laravel SaaS developers, indie hackers, and engineering teams needing robust, code-defined onboarding and retention drip campaigns without paying $200–$1,000/mo for external SaaS marketing tools (Customer.io, Braze, Iterable).

Table of Contents

• The Problem: Why Naive Drip Logic Fails
• How Laravel Atlas Drip Solves It (Architecture & Flow)
• Campaign State Machine
• The Two-Clock Formula
• Signed Unsubscribe Flow
• Installation
• Configuration
• Defining Campaigns
• Artisan Commands
• Events & Observability
• Running Tests
• License

The Problem: Why Naive Drip Logic Fails

Almost every developer writing scheduled emails starts with this naive approach:

// THE NAIVE PATTERN (DANGEROUS IN PRODUCTION)
User::where('email_verified_at', '<=', now()->subDays(3))->get()->each(function ($user) {
    Mail::to($user)->send(new OnboardingMail());
});

In production, this pattern causes 6 critical failures:

1. The "Catch-Up Blast" (First Deploy Disaster): Deploying this logic to an existing database with 50,000 users causes all 50,000 users to receive Day 3, Day 5, and Day 7 emails simultaneously on the first cron run.
2. The "Cron Lag Compression" Bug: If a queue backs up or cron is paused for 4 days, both Day 3 and Day 5 milestones become overdue. On the next run, the user receives both emails back-to-back.
3. Double-Sends via Race Conditions: In multi-worker setups, two workers pick up the same batch and email the same user twice within milliseconds without atomic database-level deduplication.
4. Cross-Campaign Inbox Bombing: A user triggers Onboarding, Win-Back, and Feature Announcement campaigns on the same day. Without a global cooldown, they receive 3 marketing emails in one afternoon.
5. The Zombie Campaign (Ignored Goal Completion): A user signs up, verifies email, and immediately pays for an annual plan. Three days later, naive cron sends: "Hey! Why haven't you explored our app yet?"
6. Entangled Unsubscribes: Users clicking "unsubscribe" on a marketing drip get opted out of critical transactional emails (password resets, invoices, security alerts) because there is no separate lifecycle opt-out ledger.

How Laravel Atlas Drip Solves It (Architecture & Flow)

Laravel Atlas Drip evaluates recipients through a strict State Machine + Atomic Deduplication + Two-Clock Pipeline:

flowchart TD
    Start(["⏰ Cron: php artisan drip:send"]) --> OptCheck{"1. Opted Out?"}

    OptCheck -->|"Yes"| SkipOpt["🚫 Skip Recipient<br/>(Opt-Out Ledger Active)"]
    OptCheck -->|"No"| CoolCheck{"2. In 48h Cooldown?"}

    CoolCheck -->|"Yes"| SkipCool["🛑 Pause Delivery<br/>(Cross-Campaign Flood Guard)"]
    CoolCheck -->|"No"| EnrollCheck{"3. Qualifies for Enrollment?"}

    EnrollCheck -->|"Exceeds Max Age"| SkipEnroll["🛡️ Reject Enrollment<br/>(First-Deploy Blast Guard)"]
    EnrollCheck -->|"Active / Enrolled"| GoalCheck{"4. Goal Reached?"}

    GoalCheck -->|"Yes (cancelWhen)"| CancelState["🎯 Cancel Campaign<br/>(Terminal State: No Zombies)"]
    GoalCheck -->|"No"| TimingCheck{"5. Step Due? (Two-Clock)"}

    TimingCheck -->|"Not Yet"| WaitTiming["⏳ Wait for Due Date<br/>(Jitter & Lag Guard)"]
    TimingCheck -->|"Due"| DedupeTx{"6. Atomic DB Deduplication"}

    DedupeTx -->|"Key Exists (Race)"| SkipRace["⚡ Skip Silently<br/>(Zero Double-Sends)"]
    DedupeTx -->|"Lock Acquired"| Dispatch["📨 Dispatch Notification / Mailable"]

    Dispatch --> StateUpdate["Advance Campaign State<br/>(Record step & timestamp)"]

Campaign State Machine

Each recipient journey is tracked as an explicit, tamper-proof state machine stored in lad_campaign_states:

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Active: Recipient Enrolls (anchor_at recorded)
    Active --> Active: Step Dispatched (due_at reached, recorded)
    Active --> Cancelled: Goal Reached (cancelWhen evaluates true)
    Active --> Cancelled: Recipient Opts Out (unsubscribe link clicked)
    Active --> Completed: Final Step Dispatched
    Cancelled --> [*]: Permanent Terminal State
    Completed --> [*]: Permanent Terminal State

    note right of Cancelled
        Terminal states NEVER re-enroll
        or restart, preventing zombie emails.
    end note

• active: The recipient is moving through sequential steps.
• completed: All configured steps have been successfully dispatched.
• cancelled: The user reached the campaign's conversion goal (e.g. upgraded to paid plan) or opted out. Terminal states never re-enroll or restart.

The Two-Clock Formula

When evaluating whether a sequential step is due, the engine computes:

due_at = max(anchor_at + offset, previous_step_sent_at + minimum_gap)

flowchart LR
    subgraph ScenarioA["Scenario A: Normal Flow (No Queue Lag)"]
        direction TB
        A1["Day 0: Anchor Verified"] --> A2["Day 3: Step 1 Sent"]
        A2 -->|"Minimum Gap: 2 Days"| A3["Day 5: Step 2 Due & Sent"]
    end

    subgraph ScenarioB["Scenario B: Cron Delay / Queue Lag (Jitter Protection)"]
        direction TB
        B1["Day 0: Anchor Verified"] --> B2["Day 4: Step 1 Sent (1 Day Late)"]
        B2 -.->|"Naive Cron sends immediately on Day 5"| B_Bad["Day 5: Back-to-Back Inbox Bombing!"]
        B2 -->|"Two-Clock Engine: max(Day 5, Day 4 + 2d) = Day 6"| B3["Day 6: Step 2 Safely Sent with Proper Gap"]
    end

Why this matters: If Day 3 email sends on Day 4 due to a queue outage, and Day 5 has a minimumGapDays(2), Step 2 will not send on Day 5. It automatically waits until at least Day 6.

Signed Unsubscribe Flow

Laravel Atlas Drip isolates marketing opt-outs from transactional emails (invoices, password resets, security alerts) with a built-in cryptographic HMAC flow:

sequenceDiagram
    autonumber
    actor User as User
    participant App as Laravel Application
    participant DB as Database

    User->>App: Clicks signed unsubscribe link in email
    App->>App: Validate URL HMAC signature (tamper-proof)
    alt Invalid or Expired Signature
        App-->>User: 403 Forbidden
    else Valid Signature
        App->>DB: Set marketing_emails_opted_out_at = now()
        App->>DB: UPDATE lad_campaign_states SET status='cancelled' WHERE status='active'
        App-->>User: Render clean preference confirmation page
        Note over User,App: Critical transactional emails (password reset, billing) remain active!
    end

Installation

Install the package via Composer:

composer require ismail-rt/laravel-atlas-drip

Publish and run the database migrations:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=lad-migrations
php artisan migrate

Optionally publish the configuration file and views:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=lad-config
php artisan vendor:publish --tag=lad-views

Configuration (config/lad.php)

return [
    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Engine Enabled
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    */
    'enabled' => env('LAD_ENABLED', true),

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Global Inter-Campaign Cooldown (Hours)
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | If a recipient received ANY lifecycle email in the last X hours,
    | subsequent campaign emails are paused to prevent inbox bombing.
    */
    'global_cooldown_hours' => (int) env('LAD_COOLDOWN_HOURS', 48),

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Historical Enrollment Cutoff
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Optional timestamp (e.g. '2026-09-01 00:00:00'). Recipients whose anchor
    | is prior to this date are rejected from enrollment unless a prior notification
    | log proves they were already in the campaign.
    */
    'enrollment_started_at' => env('LAD_ENROLLMENT_STARTED_AT', null),

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Default Recipient Model
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    */
    'recipient_model' => env('LAD_RECIPIENT_MODEL', App\Models\User::class),

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Database Table Names
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    */
    'table_names' => [
        'states' => env('LAD_TABLE_STATES', 'lad_campaign_states'),
        'logs' => env('LAD_TABLE_LOGS', 'lad_notification_logs'),
    ],

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Signed Unsubscribe Routing
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    */
    'routes' => [
        'enabled' => true,
        'prefix' => 'lad',
        'middleware' => ['web'],
    ],
];

Defining Campaigns

Register campaigns in your AppServiceProvider or a dedicated service provider using the fluent builder. You can import any of the available facades (Drip, Lifecycle, or Lad):

use Lad\Facades\Drip;
// Aliases available:
// use Lad\Facades\Lifecycle;
// use Lad\Facades\Lad;

use Lad\Campaign;
use Lad\Step;

// 1. Onboarding Campaign
Drip::register(
    Campaign::make('onboarding')
        ->priority(10) // Lower number = evaluated first
        // Who qualifies for this campaign?
        ->eligible(fn ($user) => $user->hasVerifiedEmail() && !$user->isAdmin())
        // What is the reference time clock?
        ->anchor(fn ($user) => $user->email_verified_at)
        // Maximum age for initial enrollment (failsafe against first-deploy explosions)
        ->maxEnrollmentAgeDays(10)
        // Goal completion: cancel when user achieves desired action
        ->cancelWhen(fn ($user) => $user->properties()->exists())
        // Sequential steps
        ->steps([
            Step::make('day3')
                ->offsetDays(3)
                ->notification(OnboardingReminderNotification::class),

            Step::make('day5')
                ->offsetDays(5)
                ->minimumGapDays(2)
                ->notification(OnboardingTipsNotification::class),

            Step::make('day7')
                ->offsetDays(7)
                ->minimumGapDays(2)
                ->notification(function ($user) {
                    return new OnboardingDiscountNotification(promoCode: 'WELCOME15');
                }),
        ])
);

// 2. Recurring Streak Campaign (e.g., Idle Win-Back)
Drip::register(
    Campaign::make('idle_winback')
        ->priority(20)
        ->eligible(fn ($user) => $user->properties()->exists())
        ->anchor(fn ($user) => $user->last_login_at)
        // Custom instance key isolates recurring streaks
        ->instanceKey(fn ($user) => $user->last_login_at?->utc()->format('Y-m-d-H-i-s'))
        ->cancelWhen(fn ($user) => $user->last_login_at?->gt(now()->subDays(7)))
        ->steps([
            Step::make('idle_reminder')
                ->offsetDays(7)
                ->notification(WeMissYouNotification::class),
        ])
);

Flexible Step Offsets & Gaps

Step timings support days, hours, and minutes:

Step::make('welcome_hour2')
    ->offsetHours(2)
    ->minimumGapHours(1)
    ->notification(QuickStartNotification::class);

Artisan Commands

1. Dispatch Due Emails (drip:send / lad:send)

Schedule this command in routes/console.php to run hourly:

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schedule;

Schedule::command('drip:send')->hourly();

Command options:

# Execute standard dispatch run (any of these aliases works):
php artisan drip:send
php artisan lifecycle:send
php artisan lad:send

# Dry run: preview dispatches without modifying DB or sending emails
php artisan drip:send --dry-run

# Filter to a specific campaign or recipient
php artisan drip:send --campaign=onboarding
php artisan drip:send --recipient=42

2. Inspect Recipient Status (drip:status / lad:status)

Diagnose recipient eligibility, cooldown window, active campaign states, and upcoming step dates:

php artisan drip:status 42

# Aliases:
php artisan lifecycle:status 42
php artisan lad:status 42

Example tabular output:

Status for Recipient #42:
 - Global Cooldown: INACTIVE (Ready)
 - Opted Out: NO
 - Last Notification Sent At: 2026-09-04 10:00:00

+------------+---------+---------------------+-----------+-----------+---------------------+---------+
| Campaign   | Status  | Anchor At           | Last Step | Next Step | Due At              | Is Due? |
+------------+---------+---------------------+-----------+-----------+---------------------+---------+
| onboarding | active  | 2026-09-01 10:00:00 | day3      | day5      | 2026-09-06 10:00:00 | YES     |
+------------+---------+---------------------+-----------+-----------+---------------------+---------+

3. Manually Cancel Campaign (drip:cancel / lad:cancel)

Manually transition campaign states to cancelled for a recipient:

# Cancel all active campaigns for recipient #42
php artisan drip:cancel 42

# Cancel a specific campaign
php artisan drip:cancel 42 onboarding

# Aliases:
php artisan lifecycle:cancel 42
php artisan lad:cancel 42

Events & Observability

Laravel Atlas Drip dispatches standard Laravel events for metrics, analytics, or logging:

Listen to events in your EventServiceProvider or AppServiceProvider:

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Event;
use Lad\Events\StepDispatched;

Event::listen(StepDispatched::class, function (StepDispatched $event) {
    Log::info("Dispatched {$event->campaign->getName()}:{$event->step->getKey()} to #{$event->recipient->id}");
});

Running Tests

Run the complete test suite with Pest:

vendor/bin/pest
# Or via artisan:
php artisan test

License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.