versionable

mpociot/versionable is a Laravel package that adds automatic version history to Eloquent models. By adding a single trait to a model, every update stores a snapshot of the previous attributes so you can review the full change history and revert to any earlier state.

It handles the common needs of auditable data: excluding attributes from versioning, capturing the user responsible for a change, restoring soft-deleted or overwritten records, and seeding an initial version for existing data, all with minimal configuration.

What You Get

• A VersionableTrait that enables automatic version tracking on any Eloquent model
• A versions table and migration storing snapshots via a polymorphic relation
• previousVersion() and revert() helpers to roll a model back to an earlier state
• Options to exclude specific attributes and limit how many versions are kept
• Helpers to seed initial versions for pre-existing data (createInitialVersion, initializeVersions)

Common Use Cases

• Maintaining an audit trail of changes to important domain models
• Letting users undo edits by reverting to a previous version of a record
• Recording who made each change for compliance or accountability
• Backfilling version history when adding versioning to an existing app

Under The Hood

Architecture - The package centers on Mpociot\Versionable\VersionableTrait, which hooks Eloquent model events so that updates persist the model’s prior attributes into a Version model. Version stores the versionable type/id polymorphically and can reconstruct the original model via getModel(), while revert() writes those attributes back. A ServiceProvider registers config and migrations.

Tech Stack - PHP >=7.1 and illuminate/support spanning Laravel 5.3 through 13. It ships a migration for the versions table and a config file. Dev tooling uses PHPUnit, Mockery, and Orchestra Testbench for package testing against Laravel.

Code Quality - The code is small and focused, driven by a trait plus a Version model and provider. It includes a tests directory run under PHPUnit with Testbench and historically reported coverage via Codecov and Scrutinizer, indicating attention to correctness across many Laravel versions.

API Design - The developer experience is deliberately minimal: add one trait and versioning just works. Reverting and inspecting history read naturally (previousVersion()->revert(), Version::find(id)->getModel()), and configuration for exclusions and limits stays out of the way until needed.