---
title: "Installation — Approvals for Laravel | Roundly"
description: "Install via Composer, publish and run the seven publish-only migrations, and optionally publish the config."
url: https://roundly-consulting.com/open-source/docs/approvals-for-laravel/installation
language: en
---

[All packages](https://roundly-consulting.com/open-source.md)

[Approvals for Laravel](https://roundly-consulting.com/open-source/docs/approvals-for-laravel.md)

# Installation

Require the package. The service provider, the Approvals facade alias and the global approvals() helper are auto-discovered — nothing to register:

```bash
composer require roundly-consulting/approvals-for-laravel

php artisan vendor:publish --tag="approvals-migrations"
php artisan migrate
```

## Publish-only migrations

The migrations are not loaded automatically — php artisan migrate creates nothing until you have published them. The seven files land in database/migrations with timestamps that preserve their order, so migrate creates the four tables and applies each schema change after the table it alters:

| # | Migration | Effect |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | `0001_create_approvals_table` | The approvals decision ledger. |
| 2 | `0002_create_approval_requests_table` | Multi-approver approval\_requests. |
| 3 | `0003_add_v11_columns_to_approvals_table` | Adds decided\_by (delegation), weight and approval\_request\_stage\_id. |
| 4 | `0004_add_staging_to_approval_requests_table` | Adds staged, reject\_on\_stage\_rejection and workflow. |
| 5 | `0005_create_approval_request_stages_table` | The approval\_request\_stages table for staged pipelines. |
| 6 | `0006_create_approval_delegations_table` | The approval\_delegations table. |
| 7 | `0007_change_approval_request_id_to_bigint` | On PostgreSQL with key\_type uuid, turns approvals.approval\_request\_id into a bigint; a no-op everywhere else. |

Do the models that give or receive approvals use UUID or ULID keys? Set key\_type before you migrate — it types every polymorphic id column (see Models & schema).

## Upgrading from 1.0.0

Version 1.0.1 adds migration 0007. Publish it — the migrations you already published stay as they are — and migrate. It only acts on PostgreSQL with key\_type uuid, where every decision on a request failed under 1.0.0; everywhere else it does nothing:

```bash
php artisan vendor:publish --tag="approvals-migrations"
php artisan migrate
```

## MySQL: migrate failed with SQLSTATE 1071

Up to 1.1.0, 0001\_create\_approvals\_table failed on MySQL 8 with utf8mb4 (SQLSTATE 1071, “Specified key was too long; max key length is 3072 bytes”): its approvals\_actor\_approvable\_status\_index came to 3076 bytes. Version 1.1.1 fixes the migration in place — the index now covers actor\_id, actor\_type, approvable\_id and approvable\_type, and status keeps its own index. MySQL does not roll DDL back, so the failed run left an empty approvals table behind. To recover, update the package, republish the migrations over your copies, drop that table and migrate:

```bash
composer update roundly-consulting/approvals-for-laravel
php artisan vendor:publish --tag="approvals-migrations" --force
php artisan db                   # then: DROP TABLE approvals;  (empty, left by the failed run)
php artisan migrate
```

Every other install — PostgreSQL, or MySQL on utf8mb3, where the old 0001 ran — needs nothing. It keeps the five-column index under the same name, which serves the same queries, and no later migration touches it.

## Config (optional)

The package runs with zero host configuration. Publish the config only when you want to change a default:

```bash
php artisan vendor:publish --tag="approvals-config"
```

The only publish tags are approvals-migrations and approvals-config — the package ships no views or translations.

## Next steps

- Add GivesApprovals to the model that decides and HasApprovals to the model that is decided on.
- Add RequiresApproval to anything that needs sign-off from several approvers.
- Record your first decision with the Approvals facade.

## Show your open-source love

This package is free and MIT-licensed. If it saves you time, a one-off donation or a Patreon membership keeps it maintained, tested and documented.

[More ways to support, including crypto](https://roundly-consulting.com/support-us.md)

By donating, you agree to our [donation terms](https://roundly-consulting.com/donation-terms.md).

[Support our open source work (opens in a new tab)](https://donate.stripe.com/dRmeVe8FX5PF1Qd9pXcEw00) [Join us on Patreon (opens in a new tab)](https://www.patreon.com/cw/roundly)

## Want this built into your product?

We integrate our packages into custom Laravel and AI builds. Tell us what you're working on and we'll reply within 48 hours.

[Get a quote in 48 hours](https://roundly-consulting.com/contact.md) [Browse all packages](https://roundly-consulting.com/open-source/docs/approvals-for-laravel.md)