Installation and setup.

Laravel Approval requires PHP 8.3 or 8.4 and Laravel 12 or 13.

The order matters during installation. Configuration values decide the table names and actor key types used by the published migration.

1. Install the package

composer require byrcsc/laravel-approval

Laravel discovers the package and its Approval facade automatically.

2. Publish the configuration

php artisan vendor:publish --tag="approval-config"

This command writes config/approval.php.

Set the model used for requesters, approvers, and other actors:

APPROVAL_USER_MODEL=App\Models\User

Set the key type used by that model before publishing the migration:

APPROVAL_USER_KEY_TYPE=uuid

The setting applies to requester, approver, delegate, actor, and uploader columns. Changing it after data exists requires an application migration.

The model under approval uses a separate approvable_id column. The published migration creates this column as unsignedBigInteger. Edit that migration when your approvable models use another key type.

3. Publish and run the migration

php artisan vendor:publish --tag="approval-migrations"
php artisan migrate

The migration creates eight related tables. Publish the configuration first so the migration uses the table names and actor key type you selected.

If you change table names after migrating, create an application migration to rename the existing tables.

4. Verify the installation

Run the status command:

php artisan approval:status

A new installation reports zero requests in every state. A successful response confirms that Laravel can resolve the package and query its tables.

Optional settings

These environment variables control common behavior:

The workflows and stages, notifications, and SLAs and escalation pages explain the remaining settings when you need them.

Optional notification files

Publish these files only when you need to change notification text or email markup:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag="approval-translations"
php artisan vendor:publish --tag="approval-views"

See notification content for the published files and available placeholders.

Optional escalation schedule

Deadlines are stored without a scheduler, but reminders and escalation require the sweep command. Add it to routes/console.php when your workflows use deadlines:

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schedule;

Schedule::command('approval:escalate')->everyFifteenMinutes();

What to read next

• Quick start to create a workflow and complete an approval.
• Workflows and stages to configure approval rules.
• Troubleshooting if the status command cannot read the package tables.