---
name: activitylog-development
description: Builds spatie/laravel-activitylog features. Use when logging model events with the LogsActivity trait, configuring LogOptions, logging activities manually, setting causers, or querying and customizing activities.
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: Spatie
---

# Activitylog Development

## Overview
Use spatie/laravel-activitylog to log model events and manual activities to a database table.

## When to Activate
- Activate when working with activity, audit, or change logging in Laravel.
- Activate when code references `LogsActivity`, `CausesActivity`, `HasActivity`, `LogOptions`, the `Activity` model, the `ActivityEvent` enum, or the `activity()` helper.
- Activate when the user wants to record, query, or customize activity log entries.

## Scope
- In scope: model event logging, LogOptions configuration, manual logging, causers, querying activities, custom Activity models and actions, configuration.
- Out of scope: general application logging (`Log` facade), non-Laravel frameworks.

## Key Concepts

- **Activity**: An Eloquent model (`Spatie\Activitylog\Models\Activity`) storing log entries with subject, causer, event, attribute_changes, and properties.
- **Subject**: The model being acted upon (polymorphic `subject_type`/`subject_id`).
- **Causer**: The model that caused the action, typically the authenticated user (polymorphic `causer_type`/`causer_id`).
- **LogOptions**: Fluent configuration object returned by `getActivitylogOptions()` on models using the `LogsActivity` trait.
- **ActivityEvent**: Enum with cases `Created`, `Updated`, `Deleted`, `Restored`.
- **`attribute_changes`** column: stores `{"attributes": {...}, "old": {...}}` for tracked model changes.
- **`properties`** column: stores custom user data set via `withProperties()`.

## Traits

### `LogsActivity`
Add to models to automatically log create/update/delete events. Optionally implement `getActivitylogOptions()` to configure which attributes to track (defaults to logging events without attribute changes).

```php
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Spatie\Activitylog\Models\Concerns\LogsActivity;
use Spatie\Activitylog\Support\LogOptions;

class Article extends Model
{
    use LogsActivity;

    public function getActivitylogOptions(): LogOptions
    {
        return LogOptions::defaults()
            ->logFillable()
            ->logOnlyDirty()
            ->dontLogEmptyChanges();
    }
}
```

### `CausesActivity`
Add to user/causer models. Provides `activitiesAsCauser()` relationship.

### `HasActivity`
Combines `LogsActivity` and `CausesActivity`. Provides `activities()`, `activitiesAsSubject()`, and `activitiesAsCauser()`.

## Manual Logging

```php
use Spatie\Activitylog\Enums\ActivityEvent;

activity()
    ->performedOn($article)
    ->causedBy($user)
    ->event(ActivityEvent::Updated)
    ->withProperties(['key' => 'value'])
    ->log('Article was updated');
```

## LogOptions Methods

| Method | Description |
|--------|-------------|
| `logFillable()` | Log all fillable attributes |
| `logAll()` | Log all attributes |
| `logOnly(array)` | Log specific attributes |
| `logExcept(array)` | Exclude attributes |
| `logOnlyDirty()` | Only log changed attributes |
| `dontLogEmptyChanges()` | Skip logging when no tracked attributes changed |
| `dontLogIfAttributesChangedOnly(array)` | Ignore updates that only change these attributes |
| `useLogName(string)` | Set custom log name |
| `setDescriptionForEvent(Closure)` | Custom description per event |
| `useAttributeRawValues(array)` | Store raw (uncast) values |

## Querying Activities

```php
use Spatie\Activitylog\Models\Activity;
use Spatie\Activitylog\Enums\ActivityEvent;

Activity::forEvent(ActivityEvent::Created)->get();
Activity::causedBy($user)->get();
Activity::forSubject($article)->get();
Activity::inLog('orders')->get();
```

## Setting the causer

Override the causer for a block of code:

```php
use Spatie\Activitylog\Facades\Activity;

Activity::defaultCauser($admin, function () {
    // all activities here are caused by $admin
});

// or set globally for the rest of the request
Activity::defaultCauser($admin);
```

## Disabling Logging

```php
activity()->withoutLogging(function () {
    // no activities logged here
});
```

## Accessing Changes and Properties

```php
$activity = Activity::latest()->first();

// Tracked model changes (set automatically by LogsActivity)
$activity->attribute_changes; // Collection: {"attributes": {...}, "old": {...}}

// Custom user data (set via withProperties)
$activity->properties; // Collection
$activity->getProperty('key'); // single value
```

## Custom Activity Model

Set `activity_model` in `config/activitylog.php` to a class that extends `Model` and implements `Spatie\Activitylog\Contracts\Activity`. Use a custom model for custom table names or database connections.

## Customizing Actions

The package uses action classes (`LogActivityAction`, `CleanActivityLogAction`) that can be extended and swapped via config:

```php
// config/activitylog.php
'actions' => [
    'log_activity' => \App\Actions\CustomLogActivityAction::class,
    'clean_log' => \App\Actions\CustomCleanAction::class,
],
```

Custom action classes must extend the originals. Override protected methods (`save()`, `beforeActivityLogged()`, `resolveDescription()`, etc.) to customize behavior.

## Configuration

Key config options in `config/activitylog.php`:
- `enabled`: Master on/off switch (env: `ACTIVITYLOG_ENABLED`)
- `clean_after_days`: Days to keep records for `activitylog:clean` command
- `default_log_name`: Default log name (string)
- `default_auth_driver`: Auth driver for causer resolution
- `include_soft_deleted_subjects`: Include soft-deleted subjects
- `activity_model`: Custom Activity model class
- `default_except_attributes`: Globally excluded attributes
- `actions.log_activity`: Action class for logging activities
- `actions.clean_log`: Action class for cleaning old activities