Attach a chat to any model with granular read tracking

This package gives your Laravel app a lightweight, backend-only chat system. It supports multiple users per conversation, per-message read tracking, pivot-level read pointers, and optional model attachment via polymorphic relations.

Features

• Multiple participants per conversation
• Per-message read receipts (MessageRead model)
• Fast unread queries via denormalized last_read_message_id on the pivot
• Mute and archive conversations per user
• Attach conversations to any Eloquent model (e.g. a Mission, Order, or Project)
• Widget messages for rich content (e.g. custom Livewire/Vue components)
• Markdown helper with inline-only parsing, autolinks, and safe external links

Requirements

• PHP ^8.1
• Laravel 11, 12, or 13

Installation

composer require elegantly/laravel-conversations

Publish and run migrations:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag="conversations-migrations"
php artisan migrate

Publish the config (optional):

php artisan vendor:publish --tag="conversations-config"

Setup

1. Let users participate in conversations

Add the ParticipateToConversations trait to your User model:

use Elegantly\Conversation\Concerns\ParticipateToConversations;

class User extends Authenticatable
{
    use ParticipateToConversations;
}

2. Attach a conversation to another model (optional)

If you want a conversation tied to, say, a Mission or Project, use HasConversation:

use Elegantly\Conversation\Concerns\HasConversation;

class Mission extends Model
{
    use HasConversation;
}

Usage

Create a conversation

use Elegantly\Conversation\Conversation;

$conversation = new Conversation();
$conversation->save();

// Attach participants
$conversation->users()->sync([$user->id, $user2->id]);

// Optional: attach to a parent model
$conversation->conversationable()->associate($mission);
$conversation->save();

// Optional: set an owner
$conversation->owner()->associate($admin);
$conversation->save();

Send a message

use Elegantly\Conversation\Message;

$message = new Message([
    'content' => 'Hey team, the deployment is live!',
]);

$message->user()->associate(auth()->user());

$conversation->send($message);

When you call send(), the package will:

1. Save the message
2. Update the conversation’s latest_message_id and messaged_at
3. Automatically mark the message as read for the sender

Read status

Mark a message as read

$message->markAsReadBy($user);

// Or force-update the read timestamp
$message->markAsReadBy($user, force: true);

Mark a message as unread

$message->markAsUnreadBy($user);

Check read status

$message->isReadBy($user);
$message->isNotReadBy($user);
$message->isReadByAnyone();
$message->isReadByAll([$user1, $user2]);

// Read timestamp
$message->getReadByAt($user);

Mark everything as read via the pivot (fast denormalized pointer)

$conversation
    ->getConversationUser($user)
    ?->markAsRead($message);

This updates the conversation_user.last_read_message_id column, which makes unread-conversation queries extremely fast.

Query unread / read conversations

Via Conversation scopes (checks MessageRead rows)

use Elegantly\Conversation\Conversation;

// Conversations with unread messages for a user
Conversation::query()->unreadBy($user)->get();

// Conversations fully read by a user
Conversation::query()->readBy($user)->get();

Via the User relationship (denormalized pivot)

// Fast unread queries using the pivot column
$user->denormalizedUnreadConversations()->get();

$user->denormalizedReadConversations()->get();

Query unread / read messages

// Messages inside a conversation
$conversation->messages()->unreadBy($user)->get();
$conversation->messages()->readBy($user)->get();

// Sent by a specific user
$conversation->messages()->byUser($user)->get();

// Not sent by a specific user
$conversation->messages()->notByUser($user)->get();

Mute and archive conversations

Each participant can mute or archive a conversation via the pivot:

// Mute
$conversation->users()->updateExistingPivot($user->id, ['muted_at' => now()]);

// Unmute
$conversation->users()->updateExistingPivot($user->id, ['muted_at' => null]);

// Archive
$conversation->users()->updateExistingPivot($user->id, ['archived_at' => now()]);

// Unarchive
$conversation->users()->updateExistingPivot($user->id, ['archived_at' => null]);

Convenience accessors on the user:

$user->conversationsNotMuted()->get();
$user->conversationsMuted()->get();
$user->conversationsNotArchived()->get();
$user->conversationsArchived()->get();

Widget messages

Sometimes a message is not plain text but a UI component. You can store a widget payload:

$message = new Message();
$message->user()->associate($user);
$message->setWidget('invoice-widget', [
    'invoice_id' => 123,
    'total' => 499.00,
]);

$conversation->send($message);

Helpers on the message:

$message->hasWidget();                 // true
$message->getWidgetComponent();      // 'invoice-widget'
$message->getWidgetProps();            // ['invoice_id' => 123, 'total' => 499.0, 'message' => $message]

Markdown helper

Messages can be rendered as safe inline Markdown:

// On an existing message
$message->toMarkdown();

// Or manually
Message::markdown($rawString);

This uses league/commonmark with inline-only, autolinks, and safe external links.

Configuration

return [
    'model_user' => User::class,
    'model_message' => Message::class,
    'model_conversation' => Conversation::class,
    'model_conversation_user' => ConversationUser::class,
    'model_read' => MessageRead::class,

    // When a User is deleted, also delete his messages
    'cascade_user_delete_to_messages' => false,

    // When a Conversation is deleted, also delete its messages
    'cascade_conversation_delete_to_messages' => false,

    // When the parent model is deleted, also delete the conversation
    'cascade_conversationable_delete_to_conversation' => false,

    'markdown' => [
        'environment' => [
            'allow_unsafe_links' => false,
            'html_input' => 'strip',
            'external_link' => [
                'internal_hosts' => env('APP_URL', '') ?: null,
                'open_in_new_window' => true,
                'html_class' => '',
                'nofollow' => 'external',
                'noopener' => 'external',
                'noreferrer' => 'external',
            ],
        ],
    ],
];

Custom models

You can extend any model and override it in the config. For example, if you need extra casts or methods on Message:

namespace App\Models;

use Elegantly\Conversation\Message as BaseMessage;

class Message extends BaseMessage
{
    protected static function booted(): void
    {
        parent::booted();
        // your logic
    }
}

Then update config/conversations.php:

'model_message' => App\Models\Message::class,

Testing

composer test

Changelog

Please see CHANGELOG for more information on what has changed recently.

Contributing

Please see CONTRIBUTING for details.

Security

Please review our security policy on how to report security vulnerabilities.

Credits

• Quentin Gabriele
• All Contributors

License

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