Laragear / TokenAction

Use tokens to accept or reject actions a limited number of times.

Token Action

Use tokens to accept or reject actions a limited number of times.

use Laragear\TokenAction\Facades\Token;

$token = Token::until('tomorrow');

return "Confirm the invite using this code: $token";

Use them for one-time actions like confirming invites or voting, which after consumed are no longer valid.

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Installation

Fire up Composer and require this package in your project.

compose require laragear/token-action

That's it.

How it works

Tokens are persisted in your application Cache using a randomly generated key and a default prefix.

By default, Token Action will use the default Laravel cache. You may set a custom cache using the TOKEN_ACTION_STORE environment variable, for example, to use a persistent cache (like database, file or redis) instead of ephemeral ones like memcache or array.

TOKEN_ACTION_STORE=file

Tokens have a number of "tries" available. When a token reaches 0 tries, is deleted from the cache.

Creating Tokens

Tokens can be created using the until() method of the Token facade, along with the moment in time it should expire. You may use an amount of minutes, a \DateTimeInterface like a Carbon instance, or a string to parse by strtotime().

use Laragear\TokenAction\Facades\Token;

// Create a token for 10 minutes
$token = Token::until(10);

// Create a token for tomorrow
$token = Token::until('tomorrow');

// Create a token for a specific moment of time
$token = Token::until(now()->addHour());

You will receive a Laragear\TokenAction\Token instance, already persisted in the database, with a random ID accessible as the id property.

You may use the ID string to, for example, send it in email or to be part of a URL parameter. The Token instance is castable to the ID string, so you can safely output it as text if you need to.

use Laragear\TokenAction\Facades\Token;

$token = Token::until('tomorrow');

return route('party.invite', [
    'party' => 420,
    'user_id' => 10,
    'token' => (string) $token,
]);

// https://myapp.com/party/420/invite?user_id=10&token=e9f83d...

Multiple-use tokens

Tokens are single use by default, but you can create tokens that can be consumed a limited number of times using the tries() method along with the number of tries.

use Laragear\TokenAction\Facades\Token;

$token = Token::tries(2)->until('tomorrow');

Tokens can later be consumed more than once.

Payloads

Tokens can be saved with a payload through the with() method, like an array or a string.

use Laragear\TokenAction\Facades\Token;

$token = Token::with(['cool' => true])->until('tomorrow');

You may also add an Eloquent Model or Eloquent Collection as a payload. These are serialized using their primary key and without relations to avoid hitting cache size constraints.

use Laragear\TokenAction\Facades\Token;
use App\Models\Tour;
use App\Models\Party;

// Use a single model
$token = Token::with(Party::find(420))->until('tomorrow');

// Use a collection
$token = Token::with(Tour::limit(10)->get())->until('tomorrow');

After you retrieve the token, the payload will be included as the payload property.

use Laragear\TokenAction\Facades\Token;

$token = Token::find('e9f83d...');

if ($token) {
    $party = $token->payload->party->name;
    
    return "You confirmed the invitation to $party";
}

return 'You need to be invited the first place.';

Important

Token payloads are read-only. If you need to change the payload, consider cloning the data.

Retrieving tokens

The most straightforward way to use Tokens is to call the consume() method of the Token facade. If the token ID exist, has not expired, and has at least 1 try left, it will be returned as a Token instance, otherwise it will return null.

use Laragear\TokenAction\Facades\Token;

$token = Token::consume('e9f83d...');

if ($token) {
    return 'You are confirmed your invitation to the party!'.
}

If you want to fail if the token is not found, use the consumeOrFail(), which returns an HTTP 404 (Not Found) exception.

use Laragear\TokenAction\Facades\Token;

Token::consumeOrFail('e9f83d...');

return 'You are confirmed your invitation to the party #420';

Finding a token

If you need to retrieve a token without consuming it, use the find() method of the Token facade. If the token exists, and has tries, you will receive a Laragear\TokenAction\Token instance, otherwise null will be returned.

After the token is retrieved, you should use the consume() method to actually consume the token. If the token has many tries, consuming it once will subtract one from the number of tries.

use Laragear\TokenAction\Facades\Token;

$token = Token::find('e9f83d...');

if ($token?->consume()) {
    return 'Assistance confirmed!';
}

return 'You are not invited';

If you want to find a token or fail by returning an HTTP 404 (Not found) exception, use the findOrFail() method with the token id.

use Laragear\TokenAction\Facades\Token;

$token = Token::findOrFail('e9f83d...');

$token->consume();

return 'Assistance confirmed!';

Route binding

If you want to retrieve a token as part of your route action, use the token as route key to bind it. In your route action you should type hint the Token as $token.

As with models, if the token doesn't exist or has expired, an HTTP 404 (Not Found) exception will be thrown.

use App\Models\Party;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;
use Laragear\TokenAction\Token;

Route::get('party/{party}/invitation/{token}', function (Party $party, Token $token) {
    return view('party.confirm')->with([
        'party' => $party,
        'token' => $token,
    ]);
})

If the token route key is already used by your application, you can change in the configuration.

Deleting tokens

The only way to delete a token is knowing its ID. If you have a Token instance, you can use the delete() method.

use Laragear\TokenAction\Facades\Token;

$token = Token::find('e9f83d...');

if ($token) {
    $token->delete();
}

You may also use the destroy() method of the Token facade with the ID of the token.

use Laragear\TokenAction\Facades\Token;

Token::destroy('e9f83d...');

Cache Store

You can change the cache store to use for managing tokens at runtime with the store() method.

use Laragear\TokenAction\Facades\Token;

$partyToken = Token::store('redis')->find('e9f83d...');

$dateToken = Token::store('memcached')->find('e9f83d...');

Alternatively, you can change the default cache store to use.

Middleware

This package comes with two middlewares, token.validate and token.consume.

The token.validate middleware checks if a token exists, but doesn't consume it. This is great, for example, to show a view with a form as long the token has enough tries and has not expired.

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;
use App\Models\Party;

// Show the form to confirm the invitation.
Route::get('{party}/confirm', function (Party $party) {
    return view('party.confirm')->with('party', $party);
})->middleware('token.validate');

On the other hand, the token.consume middleware automatically consumes a token from the parameters URL once a successful response is returned. In other words, if the response is successful (HTTP 2XX) or a redirection (HTTP 3XX), the token is consumed.

This should be used, for example, when receiving a form submission from the frontend.

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Models\Party;

// Show the form to confirm the invitation.
Route::get('{party}/confirm', function (Party $party) {
    // ...
})->middleware('token.validate');

// Handle the form submission.
Route::post('{party}/confirm', function (Request $request, Party $party) {
	$party->confirmInviteForUser($request->user());
	
	return back();
})->middleware('token.consume');

Important

These middleware work over the query URL exclusively. If you have set the token outside the query URL, you should check that manually in your route action.

Token parameter Key

Both token.validate and token.consume middleware try to find the token in the token URL parameter. If the token resides in another key, you can point it out as an argument.

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Models\Party;

Route::get('{party}/confirm', function (Party $party) {
	// ...
})->middleware('token.validate:token-action');

Route::post('{party}/confirm', function (Request $request, Party $party) {
	// ...
})->middleware('token.consume:token-action');

Consuming more than once

When using the token.consume middleware, tokens are consumed exactly 1 time. You may change it by setting a number as last middleware argument.

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use App\Models\Party;

Route::post('{party}/confirm', function (Request $request, Party $party) {
	// ...
})->middleware('token.consume:2');

ID Generator

By default, a token ID is an ULID, created by Str::ulid(). You can change it for anything by setting the Token::$generator static property the boot() method of your AppServiceProvider.

namespace App\Providers;

use Illuminate\Support\ServiceProvider;
use Illuminate\Support\Str;
use Laragear\TokenAction\Token;

class AppServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
    public function boot()
    {
        Token::$generator = fn() => Str::random(48);
    }
}

Configuration

To further configure the package, publish the configuration file:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Laragear\TokenAction\TokenActionServiceProvider" --tag="config"

You will receive the config/token-action.php config file with the following contents:

return [
    'default' => env('TOKEN_ACTION_STORE'),
    'prefix' => env('TOKEN_ACTION_PREFIX', 'token-action'),
    'middleware' => [
        'validate' => 'token.validate',
        'consume' => 'token.consume',
    ],
    'bound' => 'token',
]

Cache

return [
    'default' => env('TOKEN_ACTION_STORE'),
    'prefix' => env('TOKEN_ACTION_PREFIX', 'token-action'),

The default key sets which cache store from the application to use. When it's not set, it will use the default set in the application, which on fresh installations is file.

The prefix keys is the string used to prefix all keys for the Tokens generated by library.

Instead of changing these values directly in the configuration file, you should use the TOKEN_ACTION_STORE and TOKEN_ACTION_PREFIX environment variables, respectively.

TOKEN_ACTION_STORE=memcache
TOKEN_ACTION_PREFIX=my-custom-prefix

Important

Ensure you set a fault-tolerant and persistent cache for your Tokens. Using a volatile cache store will prune old tokens even if these should still be valid. A good option is the file store, but you may use database for maximum reliability, or redis compatible store with persistence.

Middleware aliases

return [
    'middleware' => [
        'validate' => 'token.validate',
        'consume' => 'token.consume',
    ],
]

Both middleware aliases are configured here. If you have other middleware with the same aliases, you may change them here. Alternatively, you can always set the middleware in your route by pointing the middleware class.

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;
use Laragear\TokenAction\Http\Middleware\TokenValidateMiddleware;

Route::get('invite', function () {
    // ...
})->middleware(TokenValidateMiddleware::class)

Route binding key

return [
    'bound' => 'token',
]

This library registers the token string as route key to create an instance of Token based on the string id received. While this usually doesn't bring problems, you may have already a Model or another library using that route key for its own class. Here you can change it for non-conflicting key, like tokenAction.

Laravel Octane Compatibility

• There only singleton using a stale application instance is the Token Store.
• There are no singletons using a stale config instance.
• There are no singletons using a stale request instance.
• There are no static properties written during a request.

The Token Store, and its Cache Store instance stored inside, are not meant to be changed during the application lifetime.

Apart from that, there should be no problems using this package with Laravel Octane.

Security

If you discover any security related issues, please email [e-mail] instead of using the issue tracker.

Token swapping

Users may swap an invalid token with a valid one in the URL to bypass token verification. To avoid this, you can either:

• Use the Token payload to validate the data before proceeding.
• Use a signed route to avoid changing the URL parameters.

Depending on the action being used with the Token, one could better than the other. For example, if you expect high request volume, the signed route could be great to not hit the application cache or database. On the other hand, the Token payload can be a great solution if you need complex or private information not suited for a URL Query and always get correct data.

License

This specific package version is licensed under the terms of the MIT License, at time of publishing.

Laravel is a Trademark of Taylor Otwell. Copyright © 2011-2024 Laravel LLC.