Laravel Request Analytics Laravel Package

Getting Started

1. Install the package via Composer:

   composer require me-shaon/laravel-request-analytics
   

2. Run the interactive installer for zero-config setup:

   php artisan request-analytics:install
   

   This handles config, migrations, assets, and views in one step.
3. Access the dashboard at /analytics (or your custom pathname from config).
4. Start tracking: By default, all web and API requests are captured—no middleware changes needed beyond auto-registered middleware.

First use case: After installing, visit the dashboard, make a few test requests (e.g., browse pages or hit /api/test), and observe real-time data like page views, unique visitors, and top referrers.

Implementation Patterns

• Traffic Segmentation
  Filter what to capture using config:

  • Disable API tracking for performance-critical endpoints: 'capture.api' => false
  • Exclude bots to focus on human traffic: 'capture.bots' => false
  • Skip internal/dev traffic via skip_ips (e.g., ['127.0.0.1', '10.0.0.0/8'])

• Privacy-First Tracking
  Enable IP anonymization ('anonymize_ip' => true) and configure data retention (pruning.days) to comply with GDPR/CCPA. Use skip_referrers to ignore spam or internal tools.

• Scalability & Performance

  • Enable queuing for high-traffic apps: 'queue.enabled' => true
  • Register the pruning job in routes/console.php (Laravel 11+) or Kernel.php (Laravel 10):

    $schedule->command('model:prune', [
        '--model' => \MeShaon\RequestAnalytics\Models\RequestAnalytics::class,
    ])->monthly();
    

• Custom Access Control
  Implement CanAccessAnalyticsDashboard in your User model to restrict dashboard access:

  public function canAccessAnalyticsDashboard(): bool
  {
      return $this->role === 'admin' || $this->can('view-analytics');
  }
  

• Programmatic Data Access
  Use the built-in /api/v1/analytics/* endpoints for integrations (e.g., dashboard widgets, internal reporting tools). Requires OAuth/Bearer token auth (configure via api middleware).

Gotchas and Tips

• Middleware Conflicts
  Ensure request-analytics.access is placed after authentication/auth middleware. If using custom middleware, add it before request-analytics.access.

• Geolocation Provider Gotchas

  • IP-API’s free tier throttles at 45 req/min—disable geolocation or use MaxMind if high volume.
  • MaxMind requires either a valid license_key (web service) or the database file at database_path (requires manual download from MaxMind).

• Dashboard Auth Pitfalls
  If the dashboard returns 403, confirm your User model implements CanAccessAnalyticsDashboard. Forgot to run migrations? Dashboard will show "No data" or 500 errors.

• Caching & Stale Data
  Cache TTL is 5 minutes by default (cache.ttl). For debugging, temporarily set to 0. Clear cache via Cache::forget('shaon.request-analytics.*').

• Migration Pitfalls
  If you change the table name via config after running migrations, re-publish the migration (don’t rename manually). The package uses a dedicated table (request_analytics), so don’t assume shared analytics tables.

• Testing & Local Dev
  Use skip_ips to avoid polluting analytics with local/dev traffic. Example:

  'skip_ips' => [
      '127.0.0.1',
      '::1',
      '192.168.1.0/24', // Local LAN
  ]
  

• Extensibility

  • Publish views to customize dashboard UI: php artisan vendor:publish --tag="request-analytics-views"
  • Override middleware via config/request-analytics.php → 'middleware.web', 'middleware.api'
  • Extend bot detection by implementing custom logic in middleware before request-analytics.capture.