Attachments for Laravel

Turn any field on your Eloquent models into attachments with automatic file management and cleanup.

Features

• 🎯 Simple API - Easy-to-use casts for single and multiple attachments
• 🔄 Automatic Cleanup - Automatically delete files when models are deleted
• 🔗 URL Generation - Generate public and temporary URLs for attachments
• 📦 Multiple Storage Disks - Support for any Laravel filesystem disk
• 🗂️ Organized Storage - Automatic folder organization with customizable paths
• 🔒 Type Safe - Full type hints and IDE autocomplete support

Requirements

• PHP 8.3 or higher
• Laravel 12.0 or higher

Installation

You can install the package via Composer:

composer require aniftyco/laravel-attachments

Publish the configuration file (optional):

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=attachments-config

Usage

Migrations

Add attachment columns to your migrations using the provided Blueprint macros:

use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;

return new class extends Migration {
    /**
     * Run the migrations.
     */
    public function up(): void
    {
        Schema::create('users', function (Blueprint $table) {
            $table->id();
            $table->string('name');
            $table->string('email')->unique();

            // Single attachment
            $table->attachment('avatar');

            // Multiple attachments
            $table->attachments('photos');

            $table->timestamps();
        });
    }
};

The attachment() and attachments() macros automatically create nullable JSON columns for storing attachment data.

Adding Attachments to Models

To add attachments to your Eloquent models, use the provided cast classes.

Single Attachment

Use the AsAttachment cast to handle a single attachment:

use NiftyCo\Attachments\Casts\AsAttachment;

class User extends Model
{
    protected function casts(): array
    {
        return [
            'avatar' => AsAttachment::class,
        ];
    }
}

To set an image as an attachment on your model:

use NiftyCo\Attachments\Attachment;

class UserController
{
    public function store(UserStoreRequest $request, User $user)
    {
        $user->avatar = Attachment::fromFile($request->file('avatar'), folder: 'avatars');

        $user->save();

        // ...
    }
}

Multiple Attachments

Use the AsAttachments cast to handle multiple attachments:

use NiftyCo\Attachments\Casts\AsAttachments;

class Post extends Model
{
    protected function casts(): array
    {
        return [
            'images' => AsAttachments::class,
        ];
    }
}

To attach multiple attachments to your model:

use NiftyCo\Attachments\Attachments;

class PostController
{
    public function store(PostStoreRequest $request, Post $post)
    {
        // Create from multiple files at once
        $post->images = Attachments::fromFiles($request->file('images'), folder: 'posts');

        // Or add files one at a time
        foreach ($request->file('images') as $image) {
            $post->images->attach($image, folder: 'posts');
        }

        $post->save();
    }
}

Working with Attachments

Accessing Attachment Properties

$attachment = $user->avatar;

$attachment->name();      // File name
$attachment->disk();      // Storage disk name
$attachment->folder();    // Folder path
$attachment->path();      // Full path (folder/name) - alias for name()
$attachment->size();      // File size in bytes
$attachment->mimeType();  // MIME type
$attachment->extname();   // File extension (e.g., 'jpg')
$attachment->extension(); // Alias for extname()
$attachment->url();       // Public URL

Generating URLs

// Public URL (for public disks)
$url = $user->avatar->url();

// Temporary URL (for private disks)
$url = $user->avatar->temporaryUrl(now()->addHours(1));

// Or use minutes
$url = $user->avatar->temporaryUrl(60); // 60 minutes

File Operations

// Check if file exists
if ($user->avatar->exists()) {
    // File exists
}

// Get file contents
$contents = $user->avatar->contents();

// Download file
return $user->avatar->download();
return $user->avatar->download('custom-filename.jpg');

// Get human-readable file size
$size = $user->avatar->readableSize(); // "1.5 MB"

// Delete attachment
$user->avatar->delete();

Working with Multiple Attachments

// Count attachments
$count = $post->images->count();

// Loop through attachments
foreach ($post->images as $image) {
    echo $image->url();
}

// Add a new attachment
$post->images->attach($file, folder: 'posts');

// Remove an attachment
$post->images = $post->images->filter(fn($img) => $img->name() !== 'old.jpg');
$post->save();

Automatic File Cleanup

The package provides automatic file cleanup when models are deleted or attachments are replaced.

Model Deletion Cleanup

To enable automatic cleanup when a model is deleted, add the HasAttachmentCleanup trait to your model:

use NiftyCo\Attachments\Concerns\HasAttachmentCleanup;

class User extends Model
{
    use HasAttachmentCleanup;

    protected function casts(): array
    {
        return [
            'avatar' => AsAttachment::class,
        ];
    }
}

Now when you delete a user, their avatar file will be automatically deleted:

$user->delete(); // Avatar file is automatically deleted from storage

Replacement Cleanup

By default, when you replace an attachment with a new one, the old file is automatically deleted:

// Old avatar file is automatically deleted when replaced
$user->avatar = Attachment::fromFile($newFile, folder: 'avatars');
$user->save();

Disabling Automatic Cleanup

You can disable automatic cleanup globally in the configuration file:

// config/attachments.php

return [
    // Disable cleanup when models are deleted
    'auto_cleanup' => false,

    // Disable cleanup when attachments are replaced
    'delete_on_replace' => false,
];

Configuration

The package comes with sensible defaults, but you can customize the behavior by publishing and editing the configuration file:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=attachments-config

Available configuration options:

return [
    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Default Disk
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | The default filesystem disk to use for storing attachments.
    | This should match one of the disks defined in config/filesystems.php
    |
    */
    'disk' => env('ATTACHMENTS_DISK', 'public'),

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Default Folder
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | The default folder path where attachments will be stored.
    | You can override this per-attachment when creating them.
    |
    */
    'folder' => env('ATTACHMENTS_FOLDER', 'attachments'),

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Automatic Cleanup
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | When enabled, attachment files will be automatically deleted from storage
    | when the parent model is deleted. Requires the HasAttachmentCleanup trait.
    |
    */
    'auto_cleanup' => env('ATTACHMENTS_AUTO_CLEANUP', true),

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Delete on Replace
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | When enabled, the old attachment file will be automatically deleted
    | when it's replaced with a new attachment.
    |
    */
    'delete_on_replace' => env('ATTACHMENTS_DELETE_ON_REPLACE', true),

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Temporary URL Expiration
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | The default expiration time (in minutes) for temporary URLs.
    | This is used when calling temporaryUrl() without an expiration parameter.
    |
    */
    'temporary_url_expiration' => env('ATTACHMENTS_TEMP_URL_EXPIRATION', 60),
];

Testing

Run the test suite:

composer test

Run code style checks:

composer lint

Fix code style issues:

./vendor/bin/pint

Contributing

Thank you for considering contributing to the Attachments for Laravel package! You can read the contribution guide here.

License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.