Threaded replies

Replies are stored with both their root subject — so flat listings on the post still work — and a parent_id link to the comment they answer. Write one with reply() on the builder, or parent: on the DTO:

use RoundlyConsulting\Comments\Facades\Comments;

$root = Comments::on($post)->as($alice)->body('Great article.')->post();

$reply = Comments::on($post)->as($bob)->reply($root)->body('Agreed.')->post();

$reply->parent_id === $root->id;   // true
$reply->commentable->is($post);    // true — a reply lives on its parent's subject

Comments::on($otherPost)->reply($root)->body('Nope')->post();   // throws InvalidCommentParentException

The subject you pass to Comments::on() is a scope: a parent that belongs to another subject — another id, or another morph type with the same id — throws InvalidCommentParentException rather than moving the reply to the parent’s subject. The same rule applies to a WriteCommentData passed to write().

Reading threads

// Direct children of a comment (every status — filter before showing them publicly):
$comment->replies;

// The comment a reply answers:
$reply->parent;

// The public thread: visible + approved top-level comments, with only visible + approved
// replies eager-loaded (bounded by max_depth). A hidden, pending or visible(false) comment
// never loads, and neither does anything below it:
$post->threadedComments()->get();

// Every root with every reply, for a moderation view:
Comments::for($post)->rootsOnly()->withReplies()->get();

// Only top-level comments:
$post->comments()->whereNull('parent_id')->get();
$post->comments()->roots()->get();

threadedComments() is the public thread. The query’s withReplies() follows the query’s visibility: on a visible() query (in either order) only visible + approved replies load, at every level; without visible() every reply loads, for a moderation view.

Depth limit

A top-level comment is depth 1, its direct reply depth 2, and so on. Replying below comments.max_depth (default 5) throws MaxReplyDepthExceededException — a soft-deleted ancestor still counts towards the depth. threadedComments() and the query’s withReplies() eager-load nested replies level by level down to max_depth, so even a deep thread loads in a fixed number of queries.