darvis/livewire-honeypot

darvis/livewire-honeypot

darvis/livewire-honeypot stops automated form spam in Livewire components and plain Laravel forms without a CAPTCHA. It adds a hidden bait field that only bots fill in, and refuses a form that is submitted within a few seconds of loading. No cookies, no JavaScript, no third-party service.

Features

• Hidden bait field with a generated name such as referral_3f9a, a neutral label and ignore attributes for password managers, so browser autofill does not block real visitors
• Time trap: a minimum time between loading and submitting, 5 seconds by default
• A start time the client cannot change: locked properties in Livewire, a token signed with APP_KEY in plain forms
• One Blade component, <x-honeypot />, for Livewire and plain forms; it also shows the error message
• Livewire class components, single-file and multi-file components, and form objects
• SpamBlocked event to log or count blocked submissions
• Works with a strict Content Security Policy through a nonce
• English, Dutch, German, French and Spanish messages

Requirements

• PHP 8.2 or higher
• Laravel 11, 12 or 13
• Livewire 3 or 4 (Composer installs it with the package, also when you only protect plain forms)

Installation

composer require darvis/livewire-honeypot

There is nothing to publish and no migration to run. The application needs an APP_KEY. See Installation for a way to check that it works.

Environment variables

Everything works without extra settings. These are the variables you are most likely to use:

A typical .env for a short form:

HONEYPOT_MINIMUM_FILL_SECONDS=3
HONEYPOT_MAXIMUM_FILL_SECONDS=3600

Run php artisan config:clear after a change, or php artisan config:cache again on the server. See Configuration and events for the config file itself.

Quick start

app/Livewire/ContactForm.php:

<?php

namespace App\Livewire;

use Darvis\LivewireHoneypot\Traits\HasHoneypot;
use Livewire\Component;

class ContactForm extends Component
{
    use HasHoneypot;

    public string $email = '';

    public function submit(): void
    {
        $this->validate(['email' => 'required|email']);
        $this->validateHoneypot();

        // Process the form here.

        $this->reset('email');
        $this->resetHoneypot();
    }
}

resources/views/livewire/contact-form.blade.php:

<form wire:submit="submit">
    <input type="email" wire:model="email">
    <x-honeypot />
    <button type="submit">Send</button>
</form>

Submit within five seconds, or with the hidden field filled in, and the form shows a validation error instead of running the rest of submit(). A form that posts to a controller works too: see Plain forms and controllers.

Documentation

Full documentation: https://arviddejong.github.io/livewire-honeypot/

• Installation: requirements, the steps, and how to check that it works
• Livewire forms: a complete contact form, single-file and multi-file components, form objects
• Plain forms and controllers: a Blade form with a controller, expiry, key rotation, JavaScript forms
• Configuration and events: the settings, translations, Content Security Policy, the SpamBlocked event
• Testing your forms: test a protected component or controller in your application
• How it works: the checks, why the field is hidden this way, and what a honeypot does not stop
• Troubleshooting: real visitors are blocked, nothing is blocked, and every error message
• Compared to alternatives: spatie/laravel-honeypot and CAPTCHA services
• Your honeypot may be blocking real visitors: the autofill problem
• Honeypot autofill test: test your browser and check your own form
• FAQ: short answers

Laravel Boost

The package ships a Laravel Boost guideline and skill. Run php artisan boost:install, or php artisan boost:update --discover in a project that already uses Boost.

Testing

composer test      # Pest
composer lint      # Pint, check only; composer format fixes
composer analyse   # Larastan

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md.

Support the package

If darvis/livewire-honeypot saves you time, a star on GitHub or a favourite on Packagist helps other developers find it.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Security

Found a way around the honeypot? Report it privately, as described in SECURITY.md.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.