- How do I install Cargo in a Laravel and Statamic app?
- Install it with composer require duncanmcclean/statamic-cargo and let Statamic's addon discovery register the service provider. If the package ships config or publishable assets, run php artisan vendor:publish and select the Cargo tag. Commit the composer.lock change and deploy through your normal pipeline, and check the readme for any version-specific post-install steps.
- Which Statamic and Laravel versions does Cargo support?
- Cargo is distributed on the 1.x line and is built for Statamic sites running on Laravel, but the exact constraints live in the package's composer.json rather than in any marketing copy. Check that file, or run composer why-not duncanmcclean/statamic-cargo, before upgrading Statamic or Laravel majors. If you are on an older Statamic major, install it on a branch first, since fieldtype and addon-bootstrapping APIs have changed between majors.
- What is the difference between Cargo and the Replicator or Grid fieldtypes?
- Replicator and Grid are full-featured fieldtypes for complex, set-based content, while Cargo targets small repeatable lists where that machinery is overkill. Cargo keeps the stored data simple, which makes templates, imports and migrations easier to reason about. If your data needs many set types, nested fields or per-set validation, stick with Replicator or Grid.
- How do I import CSV data into a Statamic collection with Cargo?
- Cargo's import flow lets you bring data in from CSV files, map columns to collection fields, and create or update entries in bulk. That removes the manual copy-paste normally involved in migrations and content refreshes. Always dry-run against a staging site with a representative CSV before pointing it at production content.
- Can I render Cargo field data in Antlers and Blade?
- Yes. In Antlers you loop over the field value like any other list and output the sub-keys you defined, and in Blade you iterate the array returned by the field. Because Cargo stores plain repeatable data, you do not need set-specific accessors or augmentation tricks. Check the readme for the exact variable names shipped with the fieldtype.
- Does Cargo work with blueprints and fieldsets?
- Cargo ships a fieldtype, so you add it to a blueprint or a fieldset exactly like any other field and configure its sub-fields there. Fieldsets let you define the Cargo field once and reuse it across several collections. Existing entries keep their stored data when you edit the field configuration, but renaming sub-keys will orphan the old values.
- How should I test a Cargo import or field change before going live?
- Write a Pest or PHPUnit feature test that seeds a small sample import and asserts the resulting entries, then do a staging run against a copy of real data. Cover duplicate detection, create-versus-update behaviour, missing columns, and entries that already have slugs. Import tooling tends to fail on messy data rather than clean data, so those cases are where the value is.
- Is Cargo safe to use for bulk content updates in production?
- It is, provided you treat a bulk run with the same care as a database migration. Take a backup or snapshot, run it on staging first, and keep the source CSV and column mapping under version control so the run is repeatable. Watch for entries being overwritten rather than created, and re-check search indexes and caches afterwards.
- Who maintains Cargo and how actively is it developed?
- Cargo is authored and maintained by Duncan McClean as an individual open-source project rather than by a large vendor team. Pin the version in composer.json, read the release notes before updating, and be ready to fork or patch if upstream slows down. Check recent commits and issue activity in the repository before making it a hard dependency.
- What are the alternatives to Cargo for importing content or repeatable data in Statamic?
- For repeatable data inside a single field, the built-in Replicator and Grid fieldtypes cover most needs, and Cargo wins mainly when you want something lighter. For bulk content imports, other Statamic import addons or a custom Artisan command using Statamic's entry APIs are the usual options. Compare them on mapping flexibility, create-versus-update behaviour, and maintenance activity.