---
title: "Migrating a package — Package Toolkit for Laravel | Roundly"
description: "Move an existing hand-wired package onto the toolkit in four steps — provider, key types, helpers, quality gate."
url: https://roundly-consulting.com/open-source/docs/package-toolkit-for-laravel/migrating
language: en
---

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[Package Toolkit for Laravel](https://roundly-consulting.com/open-source/docs/package-toolkit-for-laravel.md)

# Migrating a package

Moving an existing package onto the toolkit is mechanical — four steps.

## 1\. Extend PackageServiceProvider

Extend PackageServiceProvider instead of a hand-wired provider and move the mergeConfigFrom / loadX / publishes / commands tail into configurePackage(). A typical hand-wired provider:

```php
use Illuminate\Support\ServiceProvider;

final class CommentsServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
    public function register(): void
    {
        $this->mergeConfigFrom(__DIR__.'/../config/comments.php', 'comments');
    }

    public function boot(): void
    {
        $this->loadTranslationsFrom(__DIR__.'/../resources/lang', 'comments');

        if ($this->app->runningInConsole()) {
            $this->publishes([
                __DIR__.'/../config/comments.php' => config_path('comments.php'),
            ], 'comments-config');

            $this->publishes([
                __DIR__.'/../resources/lang' => $this->app->langPath('vendor/comments'),
            ], 'comments-translations');

            $this->commands([PruneCommentsCommand::class]);
        }
    }
}
```

becomes a single declaration with the same publish tags:

```php
use RoundlyConsulting\PackageToolkit\Package;
use RoundlyConsulting\PackageToolkit\PackageServiceProvider;

final class CommentsServiceProvider extends PackageServiceProvider
{
    public function configurePackage(Package $package): void
    {
        $package
            ->name('comments')
            ->hasConfigFile()                               // same comments-config tag
            ->hasTranslations()                             // same comments-translations tag
            ->hasCommands([PruneCommentsCommand::class]);
    }
}
```

If the package used to auto-load its migrations, note that the toolkit publishes them instead: tell hosts to publish and migrate, and load the migrations explicitly in the package’s own TestCase.

## 2\. Use KeyType, the macros and DatabaseDriver

Delete the package’s local \*KeyType enum and driver magic strings; use KeyType with the schema macros, and DatabaseDriver:

```php
// Before — driver magic strings and a hard-coded key column
if (DB::connection()->getDriverName() === 'pgsql') {
    // …
}
$table->unsignedBigInteger('author_id')->index();

// After — DatabaseDriver and the host's configured key type
if (DatabaseDriver::current()->isPgsql()) {
    // …
}
$table->ownerKey('author_id', KeyType::fromConfig('comments.key_type'));
```

## 3\. Replace local helper copies

Replace any local LikeEscaper, config-guard or model-resolver copies with the toolkit’s Support helpers — LikeEscaper, Config and ModelResolver.

## 4\. Run the quality gate

Run the package’s tests and static analysis, then CI:

```bash
composer test
composer analyse
```

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