Due dates and the sweep

The due date is manual: given at creation, set later, or filled at creation by the Contracts\DueDateResolver (default: now plus the nearest category’s default_due_in) — the seam an SLA layer plugs into:

Tickets::for($ticket)->due(now()->addHours(4));   // TicketDueDateChanged; clears both flags
Tickets::for($ticket)->due(null);                 // no due date
Ticket::query()->overdue()->get();                // past due and unresolved (Waiting counts)

$result = Tickets::sweep();   // SweepResult { overdue: 3, dueSoon: 1 }

The sweep

Tickets::sweep() — and php artisan tickets:sweep, every five minutes — walks the unresolved tickets in id-ordered chunks:

• Past the due date → TicketOverdue, an overdue activity entry and the overdue notification.
• Within tickets.due.soon_window (PT4H; off = never) → TicketDueSoon and the due_soon notification (no activity entry).
• Each fires exactly once per due date: a compare-and-set on overdue_notified_at / due_soon_notified_at that also matches the due_at the sweep read, so two concurrent sweeps flag a ticket once and a sweep that read the old date never flags a moved one.
• Moving the due date re-arms both flags. A ticket swept late (already past due) is flagged overdue only.
• The sweep never closes tickets — auto-close is lifecycle:sweep.

$result = Tickets::sweep();   // SweepResult
$result->overdue;             // int — tickets this sweep flagged overdue
$result->dueSoon;             // int — tickets this sweep flagged due soon
$result->total();             // int — both added up

SweepResult counts the tickets this sweep flagged. Waiting tickets still count as overdue. The PHP API accepts a past due date (for imports); the HTTP API requires after:now.

Your own due-date rule

Bind a Contracts\DueDateResolver (dueAt(Ticket): ?CarbonImmutable) through tickets.due.resolver or the container. It is asked when a ticket is created without a due date, on the stored ticket — with its category loaded — before its custom fields, tags and watchers are written.