anil / comments
A Laravel package providing a full-featured, framework-agnostic commenting system for any Eloquent model.
Maintainers
Requires
- php: ^8.2|^8.3|^8.4|^8.5
- erusev/parsedown: ^1.7
- illuminate/database: ^11.0|^12.0|^13.0
- illuminate/http: ^11.0|^12.0|^13.0
- illuminate/pagination: ^11.0|^12.0|^13.0
- illuminate/queue: ^11.0|^12.0|^13.0
- illuminate/routing: ^11.0|^12.0|^13.0
- illuminate/support: ^11.0|^12.0|^13.0
- spatie/laravel-honeypot: ^4.0
Requires (Dev)
- larastan/larastan: ^3.0|^4.0
- laravel/pint: ^1.22
- orchestra/testbench: ^9.0|^10.0|^11.0
- pestphp/pest: ^2.0|^3.0|^4.0
README
A full-featured commenting system for Laravel. Attach comments to any Eloquent model with threaded replies, reactions, guest commenting, approval workflows, and a framework-agnostic UI — all in one package.
Features
- Comment on any Eloquent model (polymorphic)
- Threaded replies with configurable nesting depth
- Reactions system (like/dislike, or any custom types)
- Guest commenting with honeypot spam protection
- Comment approval workflow
- Soft deletes (opt-in)
- Pagination (top-level comments)
- Rate limiting
- Authorization via Laravel gates/policies
- Events dispatched on create, update, and delete
- Framework-agnostic UI (no Bootstrap or Tailwind required)
- Gravatar avatars with color-coded initials fallback
- 13 supported locales
- Full REST API
- Support for multiple User models and non-integer IDs
- N+1 query optimized
Screenshots
Guest user (guest commenting enabled — name and email fields shown):
Logged-in user (comment form without guest fields, reply button visible):
Logged-out user (guest commenting disabled — authentication prompt shown):
Requirements
- PHP 8.2+
- Laravel 11, 12, or 13
Installation
composer require anil/comments php artisan migrate
Setup
1. Add Commenter trait to your User model
use Anil\Comments\Commenter; class User extends Authenticatable { use Notifiable, Commenter; }
2. Add Commentable trait to any model you want to comment on
use Anil\Comments\Commentable; class Post extends Model { use Commentable; }
3. Render the comments component in your view
@comments(['model' => $post])
That's it. The package auto-detects the authenticated user and renders the full comment UI.
Blade Component Options
@comments([ 'model' => $post, // required — the commentable model 'approved' => true, // show only approved comments (default: all) 'perPage' => 10, // paginate top-level comments 'maxIndentationLevel' => 3, // override max reply nesting (default: config value) 'reactionsEnabled' => true, // override config 'reactionTypes' => ['like', 'dislike'], // override config 'sort' => 'latest', // 'latest' or 'oldest' ])
Pagination
Pagination applies to top-level comments only. A parent comment and all of its replies count as one "page unit" — so perPage => 2 shows two parent comments plus all their children.
Nesting depth
By default replies nest up to level 3:
- 0
- 1
- 2
- 3
Replies beyond the max depth are shown at the deepest level. Override per-component with maxIndentationLevel or globally via config (max_depth).
Configuration
Publish the config file:
php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Anil\Comments\ServiceProvider" --tag=config
Key options in config/comments.php:
| Key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
model |
Comment::class |
Custom Comment model |
reaction_model |
CommentReaction::class |
Custom reaction model |
controller |
WebCommentController::class |
Custom controller |
routes |
true |
Register package routes |
load_migrations |
true |
Auto-load package migrations |
approval_required |
false |
Require admin approval before comments are visible |
guest_commenting |
true |
Allow unauthenticated users to comment |
soft_deletes |
false |
Use soft deletes instead of hard deletes |
max_depth |
3 |
Maximum reply nesting level |
sort |
'latest' |
Default comment sort ('latest' or 'oldest') |
reactions.enabled |
true |
Enable the reactions system |
reactions.types |
['like', 'dislike'] |
Allowed reaction types |
rate_limiting.enabled |
true |
Enable rate limiting on comment submission |
rate_limiting.max_attempts |
10 |
Max submissions per window |
rate_limiting.decay_minutes |
1 |
Rate limit window in minutes |
middleware |
['web'] |
Middleware applied to comment routes |
permissions |
Array | Gate → policy method mappings |
validation.* |
Array | Override validation rules for each action |
response_status |
Array | HTTP status codes for create/update/delete |
response_messages |
Array | Response message strings |
Publishing Assets
# Views php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Anil\Comments\ServiceProvider" --tag=views # Migrations php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Anil\Comments\ServiceProvider" --tag=migrations # Translations php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Anil\Comments\ServiceProvider" --tag=translations # All at once php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Anil\Comments\ServiceProvider" --tag=comments
Authorization
The package registers Laravel gates backed by CommentPolicy:
| Gate | Default rule |
|---|---|
create-comment |
Any authenticated user |
edit-comment |
Comment author only |
delete-comment |
Comment author or user with is_admin = true |
reply-to-comment |
Any authenticated user (cannot reply to own comment) |
You can override the gate-to-policy mappings in config/comments.php under permissions, or publish and modify CommentPolicy directly.
Reactions
Reactions are enabled by default. Each user can have one reaction per comment. Sending the same reaction type again removes it (toggle). Sending a different type switches it.
Configure types in config/comments.php:
'reactions' => [ 'enabled' => true, 'types' => ['like', 'dislike'], ],
Any string values are valid reaction types.
Guest Commenting
When guest_commenting is enabled, unauthenticated users can submit comments with a guest_name and guest_email. Honeypot spam protection (via spatie/laravel-honeypot) is automatically applied.
Disable guest commenting to show a login prompt instead:
'guest_commenting' => false,
Events
The package dispatches the following events (all implement SerializesModels for queued listeners):
| Event | Fired when |
|---|---|
Anil\Comments\Events\CommentCreated |
A comment is created |
Anil\Comments\Events\CommentUpdated |
A comment is edited |
Anil\Comments\Events\CommentDeleted |
A comment is deleted |
Register listeners in your EventServiceProvider as normal.
REST API
All routes are prefixed with /comments and named with comments.*.
| Method | URI | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| POST | /comments |
comments.store |
Create a comment |
| PUT | /comments/{comment} |
comments.update |
Edit a comment |
| DELETE | /comments/{comment} |
comments.destroy |
Delete a comment |
| POST | /comments/{comment} |
comments.reply |
Reply to a comment |
| POST | /comments/{comment}/react |
comments.react |
Toggle a reaction |
POST /comments
{
"commentable_type": "App\\Models\\Post",
"commentable_id": "1",
"message": "Great post!"
}
Guest fields (required when unauthenticated and guest commenting is enabled):
{
"guest_name": "Jane Doe",
"guest_email": "jane@example.com"
}
PUT /comments/{comment}
{
"message": "Updated comment text."
}
POST /comments/{comment} (reply)
{
"message": "Reply text."
}
POST /comments/{comment}/react
{
"type": "like"
}
Returns:
{
"reaction_counts": { "like": 3, "dislike": 1 },
"user_reaction": "like"
}
Queryable Methods (Commentable trait)
These methods are available on any model using the Commentable trait:
$post->comments(); // all comments $post->approvedComments(); // only approved $post->latestComments(5); // 5 most recent $post->commentsWithReplies(); // top-level + eager-loaded replies $post->totalComments(); // count $post->commentsByUser($userId, $commenterType); // filter by user $post->commentsInDateRange($start, $end); // date range $post->commentsWithAttributes(['approved' => true]); $post->commentsWithRelations(['commenter']); Post::mostCommented(5); // static — top 5 most commented
Lifecycle Hooks
You can define these methods on your Comment model (after publishing and extending) or on your commentable model to run custom logic around comment operations:
| Method | Trigger |
|---|---|
afterCreate() |
After a comment is created |
afterUpdate() |
After a comment is updated |
beforeDelete() |
Before a comment is deleted |
afterDelete() |
After a comment is deleted |
afterReply() |
After a reply is created |
The service layer calls these hooks when they exist — no base implementation is required.
Localization
The package ships with translations for 13 locales:
ar, ca, de, en, es, fr, in, it, ja, nl, np, pt, ru
Publish translations to customize or add new locales:
php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Anil\Comments\ServiceProvider" --tag=translations
Custom Controller
To extend or replace the controller, set the controller key in config:
'controller' => \App\Http\Controllers\MyCommentController::class,
Your controller must implement Anil\Comments\CommentControllerInterface or extend Anil\Comments\CommentController.
License
MIT — see LICENSE.