---
title: "Custom kinds — Contacts for Laravel | Roundly"
description: "Register kinds such as whatsapp in config with their own label, icon and validation rules — each keeps its own primary and query scope."
url: https://roundly-consulting.com/open-source/docs/contacts-for-laravel/custom-kinds
language: en
---

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

# Custom kinds

Any stored kind outside the six built-ins — for example a whatsapp kind registered in config — types as Custom and takes its label, icon and rules from contacts.types.<kind>:

```php
// config/contacts.php
'types' => [
    'whatsapp' => [
        'label' => 'WhatsApp',
        'icon' => 'chat-bubble',
        'rules' => ['required', 'string', 'regex:/^\+?[1-9]\d{6,14}$/'],
    ],
],
```

```php
use RoundlyConsulting\Contacts\DataTransferObjects\ContactData;
use RoundlyConsulting\Contacts\Models\Contact;

$contact = $user->addContact(ContactData::fromArray([
    'type' => 'whatsapp',
    'value' => '+421900123456',
    'name' => 'Support',
]));

$contact->kind;         // 'whatsapp'  — the raw kind, as stored
$contact->type;         // ContactType::Custom
$contact->kindLabel();  // 'WhatsApp'
$contact->kindIcon();   // 'chat-bubble'

Contact::query()->ofType('whatsapp')->get();   // this kind only
```

The raw kind is kept alongside the type, so the registered label, icon and validation rules all resolve — the regex above rejects a bad value on addContact(). $contact->kind is what the registry is keyed by; $contact->type stays a ContactType for typing and is Custom for any kind outside the six.

## Kind versus label

kindLabel() is the kind’s display name, distinct from $contact->label — your free-text label for one particular contact (for example Work). An unregistered kind is preserved but falls back to Custom’s label (Other) and icon (identification).

## Independent kinds

Registered kinds are independent: each keeps its own primary contact and its own position sequence, and ofType('whatsapp') scopes to that kind alone — a new whatsapp primary never demotes a telegram one.

## Adding and validating custom kinds

Every entry point keeps the raw kind: the fluent builder’s type('whatsapp'), ContactData::fromArray() with the kind as type, the constructor’s kind argument, or sync('whatsapp', $items) (see Syncing contacts). Pass the kind to ValidContactValue as well, or the registered rules never run:

```php
use RoundlyConsulting\Contacts\DataTransferObjects\ContactData;
use RoundlyConsulting\Contacts\Enums\ContactType;
use RoundlyConsulting\Contacts\Facades\Contacts;
use RoundlyConsulting\Contacts\Rules\ValidContactValue;
use RoundlyConsulting\Contacts\Support\ContactRules;

// The fluent builder keeps the raw kind
Contacts::for($user)->type('whatsapp')->value('+421900123456')->add();

// The constructor form — pin the raw kind next to the Custom type
$user->addContact(new ContactData(ContactType::Custom, '+421900123456', kind: 'whatsapp'));

// Validate a form field against the registered kind's rules
$request->validate([
    'whatsapp' => ['required', new ValidContactValue(ContactType::Custom, 'whatsapp')],
]);

// ...or take the ready rule array for the kind
$request->validate([
    'whatsapp' => ContactRules::forValue(ContactType::Custom, 'whatsapp'),
]);
```

## Overriding built-in kinds

The same registry overrides the six built-ins — set a label, icon or rules for email, phone, address, url, social or custom:

```php
// config/contacts.php — override a built-in kind's label, icon or rules
'types' => [
    'url' => ['label' => 'Homepage', 'icon' => 'link'],
],
```

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