Ink Laravel Package

title: Frontend Setup (headless) description: Build your own blog frontend using the package's Blade components. navigation: icon: i-lucide-layout

::alert{type="info"} Want a working blog without writing controllers? See Public-routes mode — flip a config flag and you're done. This page covers the headless mode for hosts who want full control. ::

In headless mode the package ships no routes, no controllers, no page views. You wire your own routing and use the provided Blade components.

Create routes

use App\Http\Controllers\BlogController;

Route::prefix('ink')->name('blog.')->group(function () {
    Route::get('/', [BlogController::class, 'index'])->name('index');
    Route::get('/feed', [BlogController::class, 'feed'])->name('feed');
    Route::get('/category/{slug}', [BlogController::class, 'category'])->name('category');
    Route::get('/tag/{slug}', [BlogController::class, 'tag'])->name('tag');
    Route::get('/preview/{post}', [BlogController::class, 'preview'])
        ->name('preview')->middleware('signed');
    Route::get('/{slug}', [BlogController::class, 'show'])->name('show');
});

The route names matter — the package's URL helpers and SEO components check for them via Route::has(...) and fall back gracefully when missing.

Create controller

use Relaticle\Ink\Models\Category;
use Relaticle\Ink\Models\Post;
use Relaticle\Ink\Models\Tag;

final readonly class BlogController
{
    public function index(): View
    {
        $posts = Post::query()
            ->published()
            ->with(['category', 'author', 'seo'])
            ->latest('published_at')
            ->paginate(config('ink.per_page', 12));

        return view('blog.index', compact('posts'));
    }

    public function show(string $slug): View
    {
        $post = Post::query()
            ->published()
            ->with(['category', 'author', 'seo'])
            ->where('slug', $slug)
            ->firstOrFail();

        $relatedPosts = $post->relatedPosts()->get();

        return view('blog.show', compact('post', 'relatedPosts'));
    }

    public function category(string $slug): View
    {
        $category = Category::where('slug', $slug)->firstOrFail();
        $posts = Post::query()
            ->where('category_id', $category->id)
            ->published()
            ->with(['category', 'author', 'seo'])
            ->latest('published_at')
            ->paginate(config('ink.per_page', 12));

        return view('blog.category', compact('category', 'posts'));
    }

    public function tag(string $slug): View
    {
        $tag = Tag::where('slug', $slug)->firstOrFail();
        $posts = Post::query()
            ->whereHas('tags', fn ($q) => $q->where('blog_tags.id', $tag->id))
            ->published()
            ->with(['category', 'author', 'seo'])
            ->latest('published_at')
            ->paginate(config('ink.per_page', 12));

        return view('blog.tag', compact('tag', 'posts'));
    }

    public function preview(Post $post): View
    {
        return view('blog.preview', ['post' => $post->loadMissing(['category', 'author', 'seo'])]);
    }

    public function feed(): Response
    {
        $posts = Post::query()
            ->published()
            ->with(['category', 'author'])
            ->latest('published_at')
            ->limit(20)
            ->get();

        return response()
            ->view('blog.feed', compact('posts'))
            ->header('Content-Type', 'application/rss+xml; charset=UTF-8');
    }
}

Create views

Use the package's Blade components inside your own page templates:

<x-your-layout>
    [@push](https://github.com/push)('head')
        <x-ink::meta-tags :post="$post" />
        <x-ink::feed-link />
    [@endpush](https://github.com/endpush)

    <x-ink::structured-data :post="$post" />

    <x-ink::post-header :post="$post" />
    <x-ink::post-body :post="$post" />
    <x-ink::related-posts :posts="$relatedPosts" />
</x-your-layout>

<x-your-layout>
    [@foreach](https://github.com/foreach)($posts as $post)
        <x-ink::post-card :post="$post" />
    [@endforeach](https://github.com/endforeach)

    {{ $posts->links() }}
</x-your-layout>

<x-ink::feed :posts="$posts" />

Helpers on the Post model

Useful in your views:

$post->readingTime();       // int — minutes
$post->relatedPosts(3);     // Builder of same-category, published, !=$this->id
$post->getUrl();            // route('blog.show', $post->slug) if registered, else fallback

Expected route names

The package checks for these names when generating URLs. If a route is missing, the helper returns #:

Promote to public-routes mode any time

If writing all this gets old, flip the flag in config and delete your controller — the package will register equivalent routes automatically. See Public-routes mode.