Metadata

Attach free-form context — who invited whom, a role label, an import source — to a connection’s JSON meta column, with no side table to maintain:

Connections::between($user, $team)
    ->withMeta(['invited_by' => $admin->id, 'role' => ['label' => 'owner']])
    ->connect();

$connection->meta('role.label');           // 'owner' (dot access)
$connection->meta('missing', 'fallback');  // 'fallback'

// Re-connecting merges meta by default; replaceMeta() overwrites instead.
Connections::between($user, $team)->withMeta(['note' => 'hi'])->connect();          // merge; perms + expiry kept
Connections::between($user, $team)->withMeta(['note' => 'hi'])->replaceMeta()->connect();

// The trait verb takes meta too.
$user->connectTo($team, ['view'], now()->addMonth(), ['source' => 'import']);

• meta($key, $default) reads with dot notation and returns the default when the key is missing.
• Re-connecting merges the staged meta over the stored meta at the top level — permissions and expiry are kept; replaceMeta() overwrites the meta instead.
• A connect() without withMeta() leaves the stored meta untouched.
• withMeta() can be called several times on one builder — each call merges into the staged bag.
• connectAll() and SyncTarget items passed to sync() accept meta too.
• The raw meta attribute is the full array, or null when nothing was stored.