Artisan Menu Laravel Package

Product Decisions This Supports

• Build vs. buy for interactive CLI/Artisan UX. Rather than hand-rolling prompt loops for internal tooling, ops scripts, or admin commands, this package supplies optional-argument prompts, command-specific flags, values, and repeatable options out of the box. That converts "write and maintain our own input layer" into "adopt and configure."
• Roadmap for operator-facing tooling. The optional-argument and repeatable-option coverage is the specific capability that makes guided artisan workflows viable for real commands (bulk operations, multi-target deploys, importers) instead of only trivial one-line prompts. This unlocks a roadmap item — "self-service guided commands for support/ops" — that would otherwise require a spike.
• Support-matrix and platform policy. Laravel 5.1 → 13 and PHP 7.1 → 8.5 in one line means a single dependency can serve both a legacy fleet and a current Laravel app. That directly informs whether we consolidate internal packages or keep forked prompt code per app.
• Safe-cancel semantics as a product requirement. Escape-to-cancel during required input is a destructive-action guardrail. It supports decisions about which commands are safe to expose to non-engineering operators without a "are you sure?" wrapper.
• Upgrade sequencing. The PHP floor correction (7.0 → 7.1) and the removal of an accidental PHP 8-only call mean previously "supported" PHP 7.0 environments were never actually working. Any decision that assumed 7.0 compatibility needs revisiting; conversely, 7.1 compatibility is now credible rather than nominal.

When to Consider This Package

Adopt when:

• You have (or must keep) applications spread across old and new Laravel versions and want one prompt dependency rather than per-version implementations.
• You are building internal or operator-facing Artisan commands where arguments, flags, and repeatable options are currently documented in a wiki instead of prompted for.
• You want interactive flows to degrade safely — the Escape-cancel path matters for commands that touch data.
• Your CI already runs a version matrix; the upstream 7.1/5.1 and 8.5/13 test coverage means you are not the first to discover breakage.

Look elsewhere or defer when:

• You are PHP 8.1+ only and want a modern, actively evolving API surface — a broader ecosystem package may give you richer widgets and community momentum, at the cost of legacy reach.
• Your commands are primarily invoked non-interactively (CI, cron, container entrypoints). Prompts must never block; verify every new prompt has a sensible non-TTY fallback before standardising on it.
• You need localisation, theming, or accessibility guarantees beyond basic terminal output.
• Supporting PHP 7.1 imposes real cost on your own CI (old runner images, pinned tooling). The package's compatibility is a gift, not an obligation to keep testing 7.1 yourself.

How to Pitch It (Stakeholders)

For executives: This is a low-cost, low-risk dependency that makes our internal command-line tools self-explanatory instead of tribal knowledge. One release supports everything from our oldest Laravel applications to the newest, so we avoid maintaining parallel versions. The headline user-facing win is that a command can now ask for optional inputs and repeatable targets, and can be cancelled safely mid-entry — fewer half-finished operations and fewer "how do I run this?" tickets. No new infrastructure, no vendor contract.

For engineering: v4.0.0 fills the real gap — prompting for optional arguments, command-specific flags/values, and repeatable options — with Escape-to-cancel safety during required input. It also corrects two integrity issues: the PHP minimum is honestly 7.1 (runtime deps already required it), and an accidental PHP 8-only str_contains call is gone, so 7.1 support is now real rather than aspirational. The test matrix spans PHP 7.1/Laravel 5.1 and PHP 8.5/Laravel 13, which is unusually strong evidence of backwards compatibility. Treat it as a major-version bump: pin it, run the matrix in our own CI, and audit every prompted command for a non-interactive fallback before rollout.