Activity log

daravel_activitylog records who changed what in your models, and any other activity you log by hand, in the activity_log table of spatie/laravel-activitylog v4. A Laravel application using Spatie and a Daravel application can share the table: each reads the activities the other wrote, with their subjects, causers and batches.

dart pub add daravel_activitylog

// bootstrap/app.dart
import 'package:daravel_activitylog/daravel_activitylog.dart';

Application createApp() => Application.configure(basePath: basePath)
    .withActivityLog()
    .withMigrations([...migrations, const CreateActivityLogTable()])
    .withModels(models)
    // ...
    .create();

CreateActivityLogTable creates the table of Spatie's three v4 migrations (create_activity_log_table, add_event_column, add_batch_uuid_column) with their column order and index names, and does nothing when the table exists, so a database that ran Spatie's migrations keeps it. Spatie v5 changed the table (attribute_changes, no batch_uuid); this package follows v4 (4.x), which Laravel 12 supports alongside v5.

Logging model changes#

A model mixes in LogsActivity, says what to record, and lists ActivityLogObserver among its observers (Daravel has no boot hooks to attach it for you):

final class Assessment extends Model with LogsActivity {
  static final ModelDefinition<Assessment> definition =
      ModelDefinition<Assessment>(
        table: 'assessments',
        factory: Assessment.new,
        fillable: ['title', 'score', 'status'],
        observers: [ActivityLogObserver<Assessment>()],
      );

  @override
  ModelDefinition<Assessment> get modelDefinition => Assessment.definition;

  static ModelQuery<Assessment> query() => definition.query();

  @override
  LogOptions get activitylogOptions => LogOptions.defaults()
      .logOnly(['title', 'score', 'status'])
      .logOnlyDirty()
      .dontSubmitEmptyLogs()
      .useLogName('assessments');
}

Saving a change writes one row, as Spatie writes it:

final exam = (await Assessment.query().find(42))!;
await exam.update({'score': 95, 'status': 'graded'});

{
  "log_name": "assessments",
  "description": "updated",
  "event": "updated",
  "subject_type": "App\\Models\\Assessment",
  "subject_id": 42,
  "causer_type": "App\\Models\\User",
  "causer_id": 7,
  "properties": {
    "attributes": {"score": 95, "status": "graded"},
    "old": {"score": 60, "status": "in_progress"}
  }
}

created stores attributes, updated adds old, deleted stores only old, and a soft-deleting model also records restored. The values are read back from the database after the change (Spatie's fresh()), so defaults the database filled in are logged; dates are written as Laravel serializes them (2026-10-28T07:30:00.000000Z), enums as stored.

ActivityLogObserver(recordEvents: [...], doNotRecordEvents: [...]) replaces or trims the events (Spatie's $recordEvents and $doNotRecordEvents). model.disableLogging() stops one instance, and overriding tapActivity(activity, eventName) changes an activity before it is saved.

As in Laravel, a model you just created does not hold the defaults the database gave it, so its updates compare those columns with null until it is loaded again (await model.refresh()). Set them when you create the model to keep such entries out of the log.

The activity is written in the model's transaction: a rollback removes it with the change it describes, and the log never shows a change that did not happen.

Logging by hand#

await activity('security')
    .performedOn(examSession)
    .causedBy(user)
    .withProperties({'ip': request.ip, 'tab_switches': 3})
    .event('locked')
    .log(':causer.name locked :subject.title from :properties.ip');

:subject.*, :causer.* and :properties.* in the description are replaced by those values, as Spatie does. causedByAnonymous(), withProperty(), createdAt() and tap((activity) => ...) work as in Spatie.

Causers#

The causer is the authenticated user of the request (the guard named by ACTIVITY_LOGGER_AUTH_GUARD, the request's guard otherwise), when that user is a model. In a command or a job there is none, unless you choose one:

await ActivityLog.causedBy(admin, () async {
  await importStudents(file); // every activity inside is caused by admin
});

causedBy replaces Spatie's CauserResolver::setCauser(), and ActivityLog.withoutLogs(() async { ... }) its withoutLogs(). Both last for the callback only: what Spatie keeps in singletons is scoped to a zone here, so one request never switches logging off for the requests beside it.

Batches#

await LogBatch.within((uuid) async {
  await session.update({'status': 'finished'});
  await score.update({'total': 90});
});

Every activity inside shares one batch_uuid, and a batch opened inside another keeps the outer UUID. LogBatch.using(uuid, ...) continues a batch elsewhere, for example in a job the request dispatched.

Reading the log#

final history = await exam.activities().latest().take(10).get();
for (final entry in history) {
  final who = await entry.causer();
  print('${who?['name']} ${entry.description} at ${entry.createdAt}');
  print(entry.changes); // {attributes: {...}, old: {...}}
}

await user.actions().get();                 // with CausesActivity on User
await Activity.query().inLog('security').get();
await Activity.query().causedBy(user).forEvent('updated').get();
await Activity.query().forBatch(uuid).get();
await Activity.query().with_('causer').get(); // eager loading

subject() and causer() load the model a *_type column names. Without reflection, Daravel finds it among the models of withModels(...) or the morph map (Relation.morphMap); rows written by Laravel store class names such as App\Models\User, which match a model's morphClass. getExtraProperty('a.b') reads a nested property.

Cleaning up#

dartisan activitylog:clean              # older than 365 days
dartisan activitylog:clean security --days=30

// bootstrap/commands.dart
import 'package:daravel_activitylog/commands.dart';

final List<CommandFactory> commands = [...activitylogCommands];

// the scheduler
schedule.command('activitylog:clean').daily();

In production the command needs --force, as Spatie's asks for confirmation.

Configuration#

The first three are Spatie's variables; the others are settings Spatie keeps in config/activitylog.php.

Sharing the table with Laravel#

bench/interop/activitylog.sh runs Laravel 12 with spatie/laravel-activitylog 4.10 and Daravel on one database. Daravel reads Laravel's created and updated activities, a hand-written activity with its subject, causer and batch; Laravel reads Daravel's, and a model created by Daravel logs the same keys and date format as one created by Laravel.

Not ported: Spatie's change pipes (addLogChange), its global disableLogging()/enableLogging() switches (use withoutLogs), and causers given as an id rather than a model.

Laravel equivalents#

More of Laravel that this works with, and the API to look up on pub.dev.