Laravel Mediatheque Laravel Package

Product Decisions This Supports

• Feature delivery: Enables image URLs for media without building custom controllers or route logic. The resolver supports med_…, med_…/{handle}, and med_…/{handle}/{index} routes for media image files.
• Caching/CDN strategy: Uses the first 8 hex characters of the file checksum as a version token, supporting cache-busting and immutable URL patterns.
• Private media handling: Private media resolve to private disk sources, supporting access-controlled image delivery decisions.
• Data lifecycle behavior: Deleted media do not resolve, reducing broken or stale public URLs.
• Build vs buy: For teams already using laravel-image 2 and a media package, use the built-in resolver instead of maintaining custom URL-generation endpoints.
• Use cases: User avatars, product/catalog images, private customer uploads, multi-disk media storage, CDN-backed image delivery, and cache-safe image URL generation.
• Roadmap signal: The package is investing in laravel-image 2 integration and resolver interoperability, including registration even when another provider registers resolvers first.

When to Consider This Package

Consider adoption when:

• The application uses Laravel with laravel-image 2 and stores images through the associated media model.
• You need stable public or private image URL resolution for media records.
• You want automatic resolver registration rather than custom route/controller wiring.
• Checksum-based URL versioning is useful for CDN or browser caching.
• You need deleted media to stop resolving and private media to resolve through private sources.
• The team can evaluate an alpha release (v2.0.0-alpha.2) and tolerate pre-stable behavior.

Look elsewhere when:

• The application is not using laravel-image 2 or the relevant media package.
• You require a production-stable release with no alpha-risk review.
• You need image transformations, resizing, or optimization as the primary capability; those belong to laravel-image or a CDN/image service.
• You need signed URLs, complex authorization policies, or non-image media URL handling beyond this resolver.
• You already have a mature custom media URL pipeline with requirements this resolver does not cover.

How to Pitch It (Stakeholders)

For executives: This release reduces custom engineering for media image URLs by integrating directly with laravel-image 2. It supports faster delivery of image-heavy features, improves cache safety through checksum-based versions, and handles private and deleted media more consistently. The main caveat is that this is an alpha release, so adoption should be scoped and validated before production rollout.

For engineering: The resolver auto-registers when laravel-image 2 is installed, even if another provider registers resolvers first. It maps media identifiers to image files, uses the first 8 checksum characters as a version token, resolves the file’s source as the disk, skips deleted media, and routes private media through private sources. Integration effort is low for teams already on the stack, but alpha stability and route-conflict behavior should be tested.