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Nova Detached Actions Laravel Package
datomatic/nova-detached-actions
Detach Laravel Nova actions from resources and run them from a dedicated page or menu item, with no row selection required. Great for global tasks like imports, exports, or cleanup jobs, keeping resource toolbars and index views uncluttered.
A Laravel Nova tool to allow for placing actions in the Nova toolbar detached from the checkbox selection mechanism.
Frequently asked questions about Nova Detached Actions
- How do I install datomatic/nova-detached-actions?
- Install it with Composer using composer require datomatic/nova-detached-actions, then register the tool in your NovaServiceProvider. You then define your action classes as usual and attach them to the resource index toolbar so they render detached from the checkbox selection mechanism. A Nova-fluent developer can typically have a working detached action spiked in about half a day, and rollback is just composer remove plus deleting the action classes.
- Which Laravel Nova versions does nova-detached-actions support?
- The April 2025 v3.0.0 release targets Nova 5, which is the most recent compatibility signal. Because Nova is closed-source and version-locked, the first thing to verify is the package's laravel/nova constraint against your pinned Nova version. With only around 11 stars and no dependents, confirm compatibility locally rather than assuming it from the ecosystem.
- How do detached actions differ from standard Nova actions?
- Standard Nova actions require you to select rows before running them, while this package places actions in the Nova toolbar so they run with no row selection at all. It is an additive extension that reuses Nova's native action pipeline, including field definitions, confirmation modals, authorizedToRun(), response handling, and shouldQueue. That makes it ideal for resource-independent operations rather than anything semantically tied to a specific selection.
- What kinds of tasks are detached actions best suited for?
- They fit global, whole-dataset operations such as imports, full-dataset exports, sync triggers, cache rebuilds, report generation, and maintenance or cleanup commands. Anything that only makes sense against selected rows should stay a standard Nova action. The package is designed to keep resource toolbars and index views uncluttered while still surfacing these global tasks in the admin panel.
- Do detached actions support authorization, confirmation modals, custom fields, and queued execution?
- Yes, the package routes through Nova's native action pipeline, so authorizedToRun(), confirmation modals, custom fields, response handling, and shouldQueue-based queued execution behave as they do for standard actions. You should still verify each of these explicitly for every action you detach. In particular, confirm that a toolbar button cannot bypass policy checks, since that would be a privilege-escalation surface.
- Why does my detached action fail or behave unexpectedly when it uses $models?
- Detached actions run without a selection context, so an action written against $models expecting selected resources will fail or, worse, silently operate on an unintended implicit scope. This is a code-review discipline issue rather than a package bug. Rewrite such actions to be genuinely resource-independent, or keep them as standard Nova actions tied to row selection.
- Does the package add database migrations or change my application's schema?
- No. The package introduces no migrations, no schema changes, no background services, and no domain-model footprint. Its blast radius is confined to the Nova admin surface, so it cannot affect public routes or APIs unless the wrapped action itself does. That keeps adoption a convention decision about how you surface whole-dataset operations rather than an infrastructure commitment.
- Are detached action runs recorded in Nova ActionEvent history?
- Nova records standard action runs in its ActionEvent history, and since this package reuses the native action pipeline it should follow the same path, but you should verify it in your own environment before relying on it. Audit and incident forensics are a legitimate concern for privileged toolbar buttons. Test a detached run and confirm it appears in the action event log on your pinned Nova version.
- What are the maintenance and production risks of using this package?
- Adoption risk is high because there is effectively no ecosystem validation, and maintainer risk is high given a single maintainer with no SLA. The most likely breakage vector is a Nova major upgrade, especially if toolbar placement touches Nova's frontend or undocumented placement behaviour, and the failure mode is silent non-rendering rather than a thrown exception. The MIT license helps: the package is forkable and vendorable, which materially de-risks the maintainer exposure.
- Can I replace nova-detached-actions with native Nova standalone actions?
- Nova has been improving native standalone and toolbar actions, so check whether the gap this package fills still exists on your pinned Nova version. If native support covers your use case, you avoid the dependency entirely. If it does not, this package remains a small, additive option whose feasibility should be proven locally with a short spike and a documented rollback path.
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