Nova Astrotranslatable Laravel Package

Product Decisions This Supports

• Localization roadmap for Nova-administered content. This package bridges astrotomic/laravel-translatable models into Laravel Nova, so a PM can commit to "editors manage all locales from the admin panel" without commissioning custom Nova field work. The 3.2.0 minor release is a signal the integration is actively maintained rather than abandoned — relevant when localization is on the roadmap but engineering capacity is not.
• Build vs. buy for translation UI. The alternative is a custom Nova field or a bespoke translation screen. Adopting this package converts a multi-sprint internal tool into a dependency, at the cost of coupling the admin UX to a third-party's release cadence. This is the core trade-off to document in the decision record.
• Scoping multi-locale launch. Because the package assumes the Astrotomic translation schema (per-locale rows / translation tables), the choice effectively ratifies that data model. That is an architecture decision disguised as a UI decision and should be made explicitly, not by default.
• Vendor and maintenance risk tracking. Single-maintainer open-source packages require an owner on our side. A minor version bump with only a changelog link is a reminder that we cannot rely on upstream release notes for impact analysis — we need our own review step.
• Sequencing against Nova upgrades. Nova major versions are the most common source of breakage in Nova field packages. Any planned Nova upgrade should trigger a compatibility check against this package before the upgrade is scheduled.

When to Consider This Package

Adopt when:

• You are already on astrotomic/laravel-translatable and want Nova editing of translations without custom field development.
• The translation editor is a small internal team; the requirements are "edit each locale's fields" rather than workflow, review, or approval states.
• You hold a Nova license (the package is a Nova extension and is unusable without it) and are comfortable pinning the version.
• The number of translatable models is modest enough that a per-field integration is acceptable overhead.

Look elsewhere when:

• You use spatie/laravel-translatable instead — the two ecosystems are not interchangeable, and Spatie publishes its own Nova field. Choosing this package alongside Spatie models is a mismatch.
• You need translation workflow: draft/publish states, reviewer assignment, machine-translation hooks, or translation memory. This is an editing surface, not a TMS.
• You need public-facing or non-Nova translation management (headless content API, external translators, bulk import/export of XLIFF or CSV).
• Your team cannot accept single-maintainer dependency risk, or the admin panel is subject to strict supply-chain review.
• Nova is not in the stack — Laravel-only teams should evaluate a standalone translation UI instead.

On 3.2.0 specifically: semver minor indicates backward compatibility, so no migration work is implied. The published notes are a changelog link only, which means no impact assessment is possible from the release text alone. Before bumping, engineering should read the compare diff (3.1.0...3.2.0) and confirm Nova and Laravel version constraints still match our pinned versions. Treat the upgrade as low-risk but unverified.

How to Pitch It (Stakeholders)

For executives — one paragraph: We are evaluating a small open-source add-on, nova-astrotranslatable, that lets our editors manage translated content directly in the Laravel Nova admin panel instead of us building a custom translation screen. It builds on a translation library we already use, so the alternative is roughly a sprint of internal engineering plus ongoing maintenance. Version 3.2.0 is a routine minor release with no breaking changes, indicating the project is still maintained. The main risk is that it is a single-maintainer package and only works if we stay on Nova and on the Astrotomic translation library — both of which we should treat as deliberate commitments, not incidental ones.

For engineering — the ask: Confirm three things before we adopt or upgrade: (1) our translatable models use astrotomic/laravel-translatable, not Spatie; (2) our Nova version is supported by 3.2.0 — read the 3.1.0...3.2.0 diff since upstream notes are a changelog link only; (3) someone owns watching this dependency. If any answer is no, we stop and reconsider the approach.

Framing to avoid: do not present this as a "translation platform." It is a Nova field integration. Promising workflow, review, or external-translator capability on the back of it would be a commitment the package cannot carry.