README

A reusable, contract-driven WhatsApp-style chat tool for Laravel Nova.

The package never assumes a single shared chat_messages table. Each project plugs in its own host model (a "topic"), its own message model, and its own author models. Everything connects through three small interfaces.

Drop the captured PNG at docs/screenshots/overview.png and the image above resolves automatically. See docs/screenshots/README.md for the capture spec.

Requirements

• PHP ^8.3
• Laravel Nova ^5.0

Installation

composer require asciisd/nova-chat
php artisan vendor:publish --tag=nova-chat-config
php artisan migrate

The package ships its own auto-loaded migration for the nova_chat_blocked_participants table that backs admin moderation — no vendor:publish step is required for it.

Register the tool in app/Providers/NovaServiceProvider.php:

public function tools(): array
{
    return [
        new \Asciisd\NovaChat\NovaChat,
    ];
}

Build the Vue bundle inside the package:

cd vendor/asciisd/nova-chat
npm install
npm run build

(If you're consuming via a path repo / monorepo, build inside the package source directory once and rebuild when you change Vue files.)

How it works

The package provides three interfaces. Implement them on your models — the package never references domain classes directly.

1. The host model (the "thread")

use Asciisd\NovaChat\Contracts\Chattable;
use Asciisd\NovaChat\Concerns\HasChat;

class Signal extends Model implements Chattable
{
    use HasChat;

    public function chatMessages(): HasMany
    {
        return $this->hasMany(SignalMessage::class);
    }

    public function chatTitle(): string     { return $this->title; }
    public function chatSubtitle(): ?string { return strtoupper($this->order_type); }
    public function chatBadge(): ?string    { return $this->status?->value; }
}

2. The message model

use Asciisd\NovaChat\Contracts\ChatMessage;
use Asciisd\NovaChat\Concerns\AsChatMessage;

class SignalMessage extends Model implements ChatMessage
{
    use AsChatMessage;

    protected $fillable = ['signal_id', 'body', 'attachments', 'read_at', 'is_from_admin', 'author_type', 'author_id'];
    protected $casts    = ['attachments' => 'array', 'read_at' => 'datetime', 'is_from_admin' => 'bool'];

    public function chattable(): BelongsTo
    {
        return $this->belongsTo(Signal::class, 'signal_id');
    }
}

is_from_admin is auto-derived

You do not need to set is_from_admin yourself when inserting messages — the AsChatMessage trait fills it from the author at insert time:

// From admin Nova UI (the package's own POST endpoint does this):
$signal->chatMessages()->create([
    'author_type' => $admin->getMorphClass(), 'author_id' => $admin->id,
    'body' => 'reply', 'is_from_admin' => true,   // explicit — kept
]);

// From your custom user-side endpoint:
$signal->chatMessages()->create([
    'author_type' => $user->getMorphClass(), 'author_id' => $user->id,
    'body' => 'question',                          // no is_from_admin → derived from $user->isChatAdmin()
]);

The trait only auto-derives when is_from_admin is not in the assigned attributes, so any value you explicitly pass is kept. Cost: one extra SELECT against the author table per creating event.

Required columns on your message table

Recommended optional: reference (ulid), attachments (json).

Recommended for moderation (required if you want soft-delete via the admin endpoint): deleted_at ($table->softDeletes()), deleted_by_type / deleted_by_id ($table->nullableMorphs('deleted_by')), and deletion_reason (text nullable). Without deleted_at + the SoftDeletes trait on your message model, DELETE /messages/{id} returns a 422 with an actionable error.

Recommended indexes: (fk, created_at) and (fk, is_from_admin, read_at).

A reference migration is shipped in database/stubs/chat_messages_table.stub, and you can scaffold a fresh one in seconds:

php artisan nova-chat:make-table
# prompts for table name, host model class, and FK column
# writes database/migrations/<timestamp>_create_<table>_table.php

Pass arguments to skip the prompts:

php artisan nova-chat:make-table order_messages --host="App\\Models\\Order"

3. Author models (Admin / User / Customer / …)

use Asciisd\NovaChat\Contracts\ChatParticipant;
use Asciisd\NovaChat\Concerns\AsChatParticipant;

class Admin extends Authenticatable implements ChatParticipant
{
    use AsChatParticipant;

    public function isChatAdmin(): bool { return true; }
}

class User extends Authenticatable implements ChatParticipant
{
    use AsChatParticipant; // isChatAdmin() defaults to false
}

4. Register the topic in config/nova-chat.php

'admin_guard' => 'admin',

'morph_map' => [
    'admin'  => \App\Models\Admin::class,
    'user'   => \App\Models\User::class,
    'signal' => \App\Models\Signal::class,
],

'topics' => [
    'signal' => [
        'model'         => \App\Models\Signal::class,
        'message_model' => \App\Models\SignalMessage::class,
        'label'         => 'Signals',
        'icon'          => 'currency-dollar',
        'default'       => true,
    ],
],

'poll_interval_ms' => [
    'sidebar' => 4000,
    'thread'  => 3000,
],

Add more topics any time — the sidebar grows a tab switcher automatically.

API surface (admin auth required)

All routes live under /nova-vendor/nova-chat/ and are protected by Nova's API middleware (which resolves the configured admin_guard):

Moderation

Two admin abilities, both opt-in via config('nova-chat.moderation'):

• Block a participant globally. Admins click "Block author" from any message bubble. The block is stored in the package-owned table nova_chat_blocked_participants and exposed on every ChatParticipant via $user->isChatBlocked(). The package's admin POST endpoint is unaffected (it only authors messages on behalf of admins) — your user-side write endpoint MUST gate on isChatBlocked() to actually enforce the block:

  if ($user->isChatBlocked()) {
      abort(403, 'You have been blocked from chatting.');
  }

• Soft-delete a user message. Add use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\SoftDeletes; to your message model and migrate a deleted_at column (the stub does this for new tables). Admins can then click "Delete message" on any bubble; the row is soft-deleted with deleted_by_* and deletion_reason recorded for audit. Admins continue to see the row grayed-out via withTrashed(); the consumer's user-side endpoint naturally hides it through the SoftDeletes global scope.

Both abilities can be turned off without a code change:

'moderation' => [
    'allow_block'  => false,
    'allow_delete' => false,
],

Laravel Boost integration

This package ships AI guidelines and skills for Laravel Boost:

• resources/boost/guidelines/nova-chat.md — high-level conventions, always loaded when Boost detects the package.
• resources/boost/skills/nova-chat-development/SKILL.md — on-demand integration playbook (six-step walkthrough for adding a new Chattable host, troubleshooting matrix, API contract).

Run php artisan boost:install (or boost:update --discover after composer require) to publish them into the consuming app.

v1 caveats

• Polling only. No Reverb/Pusher. Default cadence: sidebar 4 s, thread 3 s. Polling pauses while the tab is hidden.
• Text only. The attachments JSON column is preserved in the schema but not exposed in the v1 UI.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.