php 64 lines · 8 steps

How an Auditable trait logs Eloquent changes in Laravel

A reusable Laravel trait hooks model lifecycle events to write an audit trail of every create, update, and delete.

Explained by highlit

Laravel Intermediate traits model-events polymorphic-relations audit-logging reusability

1<?php
2 
3namespace App\Models\Concerns;
4 
5use App\Models\AuditLog;
6use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
7use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
8 
9trait Auditable
10{
11    public static function bootAuditable(): void
12    {
13        static::created(fn (Model $model) => $model->recordAudit('created', [], $model->auditableAttributes()));
14 
15        static::updated(function (Model $model) {
16            $changes = $model->getChanges();
17 
18            unset($changes['updated_at']);
19 
20            if (empty($changes)) {
21                return;
22            }
23 
24            $original = array_intersect_key($model->getOriginal(), $changes);
25 
26            $model->recordAudit('updated', $original, $changes);
27        });
28 
29        static::deleted(fn (Model $model) => $model->recordAudit('deleted', $model->auditableAttributes(), []));
30    }
31 
32    protected function auditableAttributes(): array
33    {
34        return array_diff_key(
35            $this->attributesToArray(),
36            array_flip($this->auditExcluded())
37        );
38    }
39 
40    protected function auditExcluded(): array
41    {
42        return property_exists($this, 'auditExclude')
43            ? array_merge(['password', 'remember_token'], $this->auditExclude)
44            : ['password', 'remember_token'];
45    }
46 
47    protected function recordAudit(string $event, array $old, array $new): void
48    {
49        AuditLog::create([
50            'auditable_type' => $this->getMorphClass(),
51            'auditable_id' => $this->getKey(),
52            'event' => $event,
53            'old_values' => array_diff_key($old, array_flip($this->auditExcluded())),
54            'new_values' => array_diff_key($new, array_flip($this->auditExcluded())),
55            'user_id' => Auth::id(),
56            'ip_address' => request()->ip(),
57        ]);
58    }
59 
60    public function audits()
61    {
62        return $this->morphMany(AuditLog::class, 'auditable')->latest();
63    }
64}

01 / 01

STEP 01

Walkthrough

Space play ←→ step click any line

Three takeaways

1Eloquent's boot{TraitName} convention lets a trait register model event listeners automatically when the model boots.
2Comparing getChanges against getOriginal captures exactly what a field changed from and to, without hand-written diffing.
3Filtering sensitive keys in one place keeps secrets like passwords out of every audit record consistently.

Related explainers

php

<?php
 
class NameParser
{

Parsing a full name into components in PHP

string-parsing arrays normalization

Intermediate 8 steps

php

<?php
 
namespace App\Services\Checkout;

Validating coupons with Laravel's Pipeline

pipeline chain of responsibility transactions

Intermediate 7 steps

php

<?php
 
namespace App\Services;

How a password strength validator works in PHP

validation regular-expressions data-driven

Intermediate 8 steps

php

<?php
 
namespace App\Services;

Building a cached daily leaderboard in Laravel

caching aggregation eager-loading

Intermediate 9 steps

php

<?php
 
final class RotatingFileLogger
{

How a rotating file logger works in PHP

logging file-rotation io

Intermediate 9 steps

php

class TwoFactorController extends Controller
{
    public function show(Request $request): View|RedirectResponse
    {

Two-factor auth challenge flow in Laravel

authentication two-factor middleware

Intermediate 10 steps

Share this explainer

Here's the card — post it anywhere.

How an Auditable trait logs Eloquent changes in Laravel — share card

Made with highlit — turn any snippet into a walkthrough like this in about a minute.

Explain your code