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Laravel Visits Laravel Package
awssat/laravel-visits
Laravel Visits lets you track and count visits to Eloquent models, pages, or any item with a simple, cache-friendly API. It supports unique visits, IP and user-agent filtering, custom events, and fast stats for dashboards and analytics.
📊 Laravel Visits is a counter that can be attached to any model to track its visits using Redis or Eloquent. (with tags, IP protection and caching)
Frequently asked questions about Laravel Visits
- How do I install and set up awssat/laravel-visits in Laravel?
- Install it with Composer, publish the package configuration and migrations, choose Redis or Eloquent as the driver, then add the package trait to the models you want to count. Run the migrations if you use Eloquent mode, and verify your Laravel and PHP constraints before committing. The package is mechanically simple to integrate, but you should define what counts as a visit and a unique visit first.
- Does Laravel Visits support Redis and Eloquent as drivers?
- Laravel Visits supports Redis and Eloquent as backing stores. Redis mode fits read-heavy, high-write counters, while Eloquent mode fits lower-volume use cases where database correctness is preferred. You can choose the driver per environment through configuration.
- How do I track unique visits and prevent duplicate IP counts?
- The package supports unique visits and IP protection with configurable IP de-duplication. You configure IP behavior and tags, but you must decide whether IPs are stored raw, hashed, or only used transiently for dedupe. Confirm your privacy and retention posture before enabling IP-based uniqueness.
- Can I attach visit counters to any Eloquent model?
- Yes. Laravel Visits is designed around a trait that can be attached to Eloquent models, so articles, listings, profiles, and similar entities can carry visit counters. The package uses a polymorphic visit table in Eloquent mode, so review indexes and growth on that table. For non-model pages or items, you can still use the package's counter approach with appropriate keys or tags.
- What Laravel and PHP versions does laravel-visits support?
- The package is MIT and community-supported, so there is no vendor SLA. Check its composer.json, README, and repository tags for supported Laravel, PHP, and Redis versions before upgrading. The provided assessment warns that future-dated release metadata should be validated against actual tags and changelog.
- How does caching work in Laravel Visits?
- Laravel Visits includes caching to keep visit counts fast for dashboards and popular-item displays. Caching improves read performance but can introduce staleness, so define acceptable freshness for each use case. For Redis-backed counters, also consider eviction and loss scenarios.
- Can I use tags to group and count visits?
- Tags let you group and count visits beyond a single model, such as categories or page groups. Plan your tag taxonomy and cardinality because unbounded tag-key growth is an operational risk. Use tags deliberately rather than as a substitute for audited analytics.
- Is Laravel Visits suitable for high-traffic production apps?
- It can work in production for display-only popularity or engagement counters, but it is a tactical package rather than an audited analytics platform. Watch for counter drift under concurrency, Eloquent row contention on hot models, Redis eviction, cache staleness, and unbounded polymorphic table growth. A bounded pilot on one non-critical model is a safer first step than broad adoption.
- How do I test visit tracking without polluting production data?
- Use a test database or isolated Redis namespace and reset counters between tests so visit data does not leak across runs. Set the driver and cache configuration explicitly in your testing environment, and assert both raw and unique visit behavior if both matter. Because counts can drift, include tests for your expected counting semantics and reconciliation approach.
- What are alternatives to awssat/laravel-visits for analytics?
- Alternatives include building your own event or log pipeline with aggregate tables, using a broader Laravel analytics package, or adopting a dedicated product analytics service. Laravel Visits is best treated as a simple counter accelerator, not a replacement for audited analytics, billing, or funnel analysis. Wrapping it behind an internal VisitCounter interface can reduce lock-in if you may swap later.
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