Laravel Request Forwarder Laravel Package

Getting Started

1. Check your Laravel version first. As of v2.0.1 the package requires Laravel 11+; Laravel 10 support was dropped because it is EOL. If your app is still on Laravel 10, pin the previous major (composer require <vendor>/<package>:^1.0) and plan the framework upgrade before taking v2.
2. Install and publish.

   composer require <vendor>/<package>:^2.0
   php artisan vendor:publish --provider="<Vendor>\<Package>\<PackageServiceProvider>"
   

   Read composer.json in the package (illuminate/* constraints) and the UPGRADE/CHANGELOG notes before running composer update in a mixed-dependency project — v2.0.1 is a patch release on top of v2.0.0, so the Laravel 10 drop is inherited from the major, not new in the patch.
3. Where to look first: the service provider (what gets bound and whether anything is registered globally), the config file (defaults you will actually want to override in config/<package>.php), and the test helpers/traits — the release note about "log testing" points at the package's testing surface, which is where most day-to-day value lives.
4. First use case: replace brittle assertions on log files with the package's log-testing helper in a feature test — dispatch the job/request, then assert the expected level, message, and context were logged. Verify against your app's actual log channel config, not the package default, on the first run.

Implementation Patterns

• Test-scoped fakes. Install the package's log fake in setUp() and tear it down in tearDown() so state never leaks between tests. Prefer this over reading storage/logs/laravel.log, which is order-dependent and polluted by parallel runs.
• Assert on structure, not formatting. Assert level + message + context keys (Log::assertLogged('error', fn ($message, $context) => ...)) rather than the rendered line. This is exactly the class of assertion that broke across Laravel 11 minors and was fixed in v2.0.1 — formatting-coupled assertions will keep breaking.
• Feature-test integration. Use the helpers in HTTP/job tests where the log write is a side effect of real application flow; keep unit tests free of the fake so you still exercise the real handler at least once (a single smoke test asserting the channel writes to disk).
• CI matrix. Run the suite across the Laravel 11 minors you actually deploy (11.0 → latest). Since v2.0.1 is explicitly a "fix log testing across Laravel 11 versions" release, pin laravel/framework in the matrix rather than floating ^11.0 if you want reproducible log assertions.
• Version pinning workflow. In composer.json, use ^2.0.1 for the package and let the lock file pin the framework. When bumping framework minors, run only the logging-related tests first (php artisan test --filter=Log) to isolate regressions cheaply.
• Extension points. If the shipped assertions don't cover a case (e.g. asserting a specific channel or a daily rotation), wrap them in your own base test case / custom assertion rather than forking — keeps upgrades to v2.x cheap.

Gotchas and Tips

• The Laravel 10 drop is the real breaking change. It landed in v2.0.0 and is only restated by this patch. Treat ^2.0 as "Laravel 11+ only" and audit composer.lock in any package you maintain that depends on this one — a transitive ^2.0 constraint will force your own Laravel 11 floor.
• v2.0.1 is a patch, not a feature release. It fixes CI compatibility and log-testing behavior across Laravel 11 versions. There are no new APIs or deprecations to adopt; the only action item is upgrading the patch and re-running your log tests.
• Log-testing flakiness has several causes — config caching, Monolog handler differences across framework minors, and tests that assert on formatted output. When an assertion fails only in CI: php artisan config:clear, confirm LOG_CHANNEL in phpunit.xml (set it explicitly rather than inheriting .env), and check whether the fake was installed before the code under test booted.
• Debugging a failed assertion: dump the collected entries before asserting. If the fake is empty, the write probably went to a different channel or the logger was resolved before your fake was installed (service-provider boot order, queued jobs running in a different process).
• Don't suppress the framework. Keep at least one non-faked test that writes a real log line; fake-only suites hide misconfigured channels until production.
• Confirm supported versions against composer.json, not the README. Release-note wording about "Laravel 11 versions" is about test compatibility, not a guarantee of every future 11.x — pin and test what you deploy.