Laravel Settings

Type-safe, cached application settings stored in the database with a simple key-value API.

Requirements

• PHP 8.2+
• Laravel 11 or 12

Installation

composer require philiprehberger/laravel-settings

Publish and run the migration:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=settings-migrations
php artisan migrate

Optionally publish the config file:

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

Configuration

config/settings.php:

return [
    'table' => 'settings',

    'cache' => [
        'enabled' => true,
        'key'     => 'app_settings',
        'ttl'     => 3600,          // seconds; null = forever
    ],

    'defaults' => [
        // 'app.timezone' => 'UTC',
    ],
];

Usage

use PhilipRehberger\Settings\Facades\Settings;

// Store a value (type is auto-detected)
Settings::set('app.name', 'My Portal');
Settings::set('pagination.per_page', 25);
Settings::set('feature.dark_mode', true);
Settings::set('allowed.ips', ['127.0.0.1', '10.0.0.1']);

// Retrieve
Settings::get('app.name');                         // 'My Portal'
Settings::get('missing.key');                      // null
Settings::get('missing.key', 'fallback');          // 'fallback'

// Explicit type override
Settings::set('items.count', '10', 'int');         // stored and retrieved as int

// Check existence
Settings::has('app.name');                         // true

// Remove
Settings::forget('app.name');

// Get all settings
Settings::all();                                   // Collection<string, mixed>

// Get all settings in a group (keys prefixed with 'mail.')
Settings::all('mail');

// Remove everything
Settings::flush();

Increment / Decrement

Settings::set('login.count', 0);

Settings::increment('login.count');          // 1
Settings::increment('login.count', 5);       // 6
Settings::decrement('login.count', 2);       // 4

// Works with floats
Settings::set('balance', 10.0);
Settings::increment('balance', 1.5);         // 11.5

// Creates the key if it doesn't exist
Settings::increment('new.counter');           // 1
Settings::decrement('new.gauge');             // -1

Bulk Operations

// Set multiple values at once
Settings::setMany([
    'app.name'   => 'My Portal',
    'app.locale' => 'en',
    'app.debug'  => false,
]);

// Get multiple values at once
$values = Settings::getMany(['app.name', 'app.locale', 'app.debug']);
// ['app.name' => 'My Portal', 'app.locale' => 'en', 'app.debug' => false]

Type Casting

Values are automatically cast back to their original type on retrieval.

PHP type	type column	Round-trips correctly
string	string	Yes
int	int	Yes
float	float	Yes
bool	bool	Yes (true/false)
array	array	Yes (JSON encoded)
— explicit	json	Yes (JSON encoded)

Settings::set('enabled', true);
Settings::get('enabled'); // (bool) true

Settings::set('rate', 0.19);
Settings::get('rate'); // (float) 0.19

Settings::set('tags', ['php', 'laravel']);
Settings::get('tags'); // (array) ['php', 'laravel']

Default Fallback Chain

When a key is not found in the database, Settings::get() resolves in this order:

1. config('settings.defaults.<key>') — static config defaults
2. The $default argument passed to get()

// config/settings.php
'defaults' => [
    'app.timezone' => 'UTC',
],

// Returns 'UTC' even if nothing is stored in the DB
Settings::get('app.timezone', 'Europe/London');

Group Filtering

A "group" is everything before the first dot in the key name.

Settings::set('mail.host', 'smtp.example.com');
Settings::set('mail.port', 587);
Settings::set('app.name', 'My App');

Settings::all('mail');
// Collection {
//   'mail.host' => 'smtp.example.com',
//   'mail.port' => 587,
// }

Per-User Settings

Each user's settings are stored with a user_id and cached independently.

Settings::setForUser($userId, 'theme', 'dark');
Settings::getForUser($userId, 'theme');         // 'dark'
Settings::hasForUser($userId, 'theme');         // true
Settings::forgetForUser($userId, 'theme');
Settings::allForUser($userId);
Settings::allForUser($userId, 'mail');          // filtered by group
Settings::flushForUser($userId);

Per-user settings are completely isolated from global settings. Two users can have different values for the same key, and both are independent from any global value stored without a user_id.

Cache

All settings are cached as a single serialized Collection under one key (default: app_settings). This means every read after the first is served from the cache. Any write (set, forget, flush) immediately invalidates the cache so the next read re-hydrates from the database.

Disable caching entirely in config/settings.php:

'cache' => [
    'enabled' => false,
],

Artisan Commands

# List all settings
php artisan settings:list

# List settings in a group
php artisan settings:list --group=mail

# Get a single setting
php artisan settings:get app.name

# Set a setting (type auto-detected)
php artisan settings:set app.name "My Portal"

# Set with explicit type
php artisan settings:set pagination.per_page 25 --type=int
php artisan settings:set tax.rate 0.19 --type=float
php artisan settings:set feature.enabled true --type=bool
php artisan settings:set allowed.ips '["127.0.0.1"]' --type=array

Database Schema

Column	Type	Notes
id	bigint unsigned	Primary key
key	varchar	Unique per user_id scope
value	text	Serialized value
type	varchar(20)	`string
group	varchar(100)	Nullable, indexed, derived from key
user_id	bigint unsigned	Nullable, indexed, for per-user scopes
created_at	timestamp
updated_at	timestamp

API

Method	Description
Settings::set(string $key, mixed $value, ?string $type)	Store a value (type auto-detected)
Settings::get(string $key, mixed $default)	Retrieve a value with optional default
Settings::has(string $key): bool	Check if a key exists
Settings::forget(string $key)	Remove a key
Settings::all(?string $group): Collection	Get all settings, optionally filtered by group
Settings::flush()	Remove all settings
Settings::getMany(array $keys): array	Retrieve multiple settings at once
Settings::setMany(array $values): void	Store multiple settings at once
Settings::increment(string $key, int|float $amount): int|float	Increment a numeric setting
Settings::decrement(string $key, int|float $amount): int|float	Decrement a numeric setting
Settings::setForUser(int $userId, string $key, mixed $value)	Store a per-user value
Settings::getForUser(int $userId, string $key, mixed $default)	Retrieve a per-user value
Settings::hasForUser(int $userId, string $key): bool	Check per-user key existence
Settings::forgetForUser(int $userId, string $key)	Remove a per-user key
Settings::allForUser(int $userId, ?string $group): Collection	Get all per-user settings
Settings::flushForUser(int $userId)	Remove all per-user settings

Development

composer install
vendor/bin/phpunit
vendor/bin/pint --test
vendor/bin/phpstan analyse

Support

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License

MIT