Input Mask Bundle Laravel Package

Product Decisions This Supports

• Form UX roadmap prioritization: Informs whether masked input (phone, date, currency, SSN/tax ID, postal codes) is a near-term differentiator or table stakes. This package is a reference point for how that capability gets wired into server-rendered form classes, not a turnkey answer.
• Build vs. buy (vs. borrow): Demonstrates a low-effort integration pattern — Symfony FormType extensions that attach Inputmask data attributes to rendered inputs. For a Laravel team, the realistic decision is "borrow the pattern" (a Blade component / FormRequest rule pairing) rather than "buy the dependency."
• Framework-fit decision: The package is a Symfony bundle, not a Laravel package. This is a hard signal for any Laravel roadmap item: it does not drop into composer require + service provider registration without adaptation. Treat it as prior art, not an install candidate.
• Feature-level scoping: Useful for estimating the true cost of masked inputs — the mask itself is trivial; the work is validation parity (server-side rules matching the client mask), locale variants, paste/autofill behavior, and accessibility.
• Vendor/tech-debt risk assessment: With 8 stars, 0 dependents, and a last release in June 2017, this is a clear "do not adopt as a dependency" data point for architecture reviews and dependency-approval workflows.
• Legacy modernization sequencing: If the org still runs Symfony 2/3 applications, this informs whether to patch masks in place during a stabilization phase or defer to the eventual re-platform.

When to Consider This Package

Consider (narrowly) when:

• You maintain a legacy Symfony 2.x/3.x application already using RobinHerbots/Inputmask and jQuery, and you want masks declared on form types rather than duplicated in templates.
• You need a reference implementation to copy: it shows the ergonomic shape of exposing mask options as first-class form-type configuration.
• The scope is a short-lived internal tool where dependency longevity is irrelevant and the code will be vendored or forked.

Look elsewhere when:

• You are on Laravel. There is no first-party fit; you would be porting Symfony Form internals. Prefer a Blade/Alpine component plus a FormRequest with a matching regex rule, or a maintained JS mask library.
• You need maintained code. A 2017 last release with a single-digit star count and zero dependents means no security patching, no PHP 8+ compatibility guarantees, and no Symfony 5/6/7 support.
• jQuery is not already a dependency. Adding jQuery solely for masks is a poor trade against vanilla or Alpine-based options.
• Accessibility and mobile are requirements. Inputmask's behavior with screen readers, IME, and paste needs independent verification regardless of package choice.
• You need masking beyond form rendering — API payload normalization, imports, or non-HTML surfaces. This package does not address the server-side half of the problem.

How to Pitch It (Stakeholders)

To executives: This is a small, unmaintained Symfony bundle that adds masked input fields to server-rendered forms. It is not a candidate for adoption — eight stars, zero downstream dependents, and no release since 2017 represent unacceptable maintenance risk. Its value to us is as a design reference for a capability our users expect (formatted phone, date, and currency entry), which we can deliver in roughly a sprint using our existing Laravel stack rather than adopting a dependency.

To engineering: Read it, don't require it. It is a clean illustration of attaching Inputmask configuration to form definitions instead of scattering it across templates — a pattern worth mirroring in a Blade component with a paired FormRequest validation rule so client and server agree on format. The non-obvious cost is not the mask; it is validation parity, locale variants, paste/autofill handling, and accessibility. Recommend a spike to evaluate a maintained alternative (IMask or Cleave.js) against Inputmask before committing, and record the decision in our dependency-approval log with the 2017 last-release date as the rationale for not vendoring this bundle.