Laravel Footprint

👣 User footprint (browsing history) feature for Laravel Application.

Features

• 🎯 Passive Tracking - Automatically record user browsing history via middleware
• 🔄 Update on Revisit - Same object revisits update the existing record, keeping the list fresh
• 📸 Data Snapshot - Save title, image, and metadata at browse time (survives object deletion)
• 🔒 Multi-Guard Support - Works with web session, Sanctum, JWT, and custom guards
• ⚡ Async Recording - Supports after-response dispatch or queue jobs
• 🧩 Polymorphic - Track any Eloquent model (Product, Post, Article, etc.)

Installation

composer require tomeet/laravel-footprint

Publish Configuration & Migrations

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Tomeet\Laravel\Footprint\FootprintServiceProvider"

Run Migrations

php artisan migrate

Configuration

// config/footprint.php
return [
    'uuids' => false,
    'user_model' => App\Models\User::class,
    'user_foreign_key' => 'user_id',
    'footprint_table' => 'footprints',
    'footprint_model' => \Tomeet\Laravel\Footprint\Footprint::class,

    // Supported authentication guards
    'guards' => ['web', 'api', 'sanctum'],

    'middleware' => [
        'enabled' => true,
        'auto_attach_web' => false,
        'auto_attach_api' => false,
        'web_route_patterns' => ['products.show', 'posts.show'],
        'api_route_patterns' => ['api.products.show', 'api.posts.show'],
        'except_routes' => ['admin.*', 'api.auth.*'],
        'auth_only' => true,
        'async' => 'afterResponse', // afterResponse | queue | sync
    ],

    'queue' => [
        'enabled' => true,
        'connection' => env('QUEUE_CONNECTION', 'sync'),
        'queue' => 'default',
    ],

    'route_parameters' => [
        'products.show' => 'product',
        'posts.show' => 'post',
        'api.products.show' => 'product',
        'api.posts.show' => 'post',
    ],

    'prune' => [
        'enabled' => true,
        'days' => 30,
    ],
];

Setup

1. Add Footprinter trait to your User model

use Tomeet\Laravel\Footprint\Traits\Footprinter;

class User extends Authenticatable
{
    use Footprinter;
}

2. Add Footprintable trait to models you want to track

use Tomeet\Laravel\Footprint\Traits\Footprintable;

class Product extends Model
{
    use Footprintable;

    // Optional: customize snapshot metadata
    public function getFootprintMeta(): array
    {
        return [
            'price' => $this->price,
            'original_price' => $this->original_price,
            'category_id' => $this->category_id,
        ];
    }
}

Usage

Automatic Tracking via Middleware (Recommended)

Route-level middleware

// routes/web.php
Route::middleware(['auth', 'footprint'])->group(function () {
    Route::get('/products/{product}', [ProductController::class, 'show'])->name('products.show');
});

// routes/api.php
Route::middleware(['auth:sanctum', 'footprint'])->group(function () {
    Route::get('/products/{product}', [ProductController::class, 'show'])->name('api.products.show');
});

Auto-attach via configuration

// config/footprint.php
'middleware' => [
    'auto_attach_web' => true,
    'auto_attach_api' => true,
    'route_patterns' => ['*.show'],
],

Manual Tracking (when middleware is disabled)

// config/footprint.php
'middleware' => ['enabled' => false]

// In your controller
public function show(Product $product)
{
    auth()->user()?->recordFootprint($product);
    return response()->json($product);
}

API

User (Footprinter)

$user = User::find(1);

// Record a footprint manually
$user->recordFootprint($product);

// Get paginated footprints
$user->footprintPaginate(20);

// Get recent footprints
$user->recentFootprints(10);

// Get footprint items as a query builder
$user->getFootprintItems(Product::class)->where('status', 'active')->get();

// Check if user has viewed an object
$user->hasFootprinted($product);

// Get specific footprint record
$user->getFootprintOf($product);

// Clear all footprints
$user->clearFootprints();

// Clear footprints by type
$user->clearFootprintsByType(Product::class);

// Attach has_footprinted status to a collection (avoids N+1)
$products = Product::paginate(20);
$user->attachFootprintStatus($products);

Model (Footprintable)

$product = Product::find(1);

// Get all footprints for this product
$product->footprints;

// Get users who viewed this product
$product->footprinters;

// Count unique viewers
$product->uniqueFootprintersCount();

// Total footprint records
$product->totalFootprintsCount();

// Check if a specific user viewed
$product->hasBeenFootprintedBy($user);

// Get recent viewers
$product->recentFootprinters(10);

JSON API Example

class FootprintController extends Controller
{
    public function index(Request $request)
    {
        $footprints = $request->user()->footprintPaginate(20);

        return response()->json([
            'data' => $footprints->map(fn ($fp) => [
                'id' => $fp->id,
                'title' => $fp->title,
                'image' => $fp->image,
                'meta' => $fp->meta,
                'viewed_at' => $fp->viewed_at->toIso8601String(),
                'viewed_at_human' => $fp->viewed_at->diffForHumans(),
                'is_available' => $fp->footprintable !== null,
                'footprintable' => $fp->footprintable?->only(['id', 'price']),
            ]),
            'meta' => [
                'current_page' => $footprints->currentPage(),
                'last_page' => $footprints->lastPage(),
                'per_page' => $footprints->perPage(),
                'total' => $footprints->total(),
            ],
        ]);
    }
}

Pruning Old Records

// app/Console/Kernel.php
protected function schedule(Schedule $schedule): void
{
    $schedule->command('model:prune', [
        '--model' => [\Tomeet\Laravel\Footprint\Footprint::class],
    ])->daily();
}

Or manually:

php artisan model:prune --model="Tomeet\Laravel\Footprint\Footprint"

Why Middleware Instead of Manual Calls?

Footprint is designed to not require any code changes in your controllers.

Related Packages

• overtrue/laravel-favorite - User favorite feature
• overtrue/laravel-follow - User follow feature
• overtrue/laravel-like - User like feature

License

MIT