Laravel Route Usage Tracker

A Laravel package for automatically tracking and analyzing route usage statistics with a beautiful Vue.js 3 dashboard and Inertia.js support.

🚨 Beta Release Notice: Version 2.0.0-beta introduces major new features including Vue.js 3 dashboard and Inertia.js support. While stable for testing, please use with caution in production environments.

Description

This package allows you to track how routes are being used in your Laravel applications. It automatically records how many times each route has been accessed, when it was first and last used, and provides comprehensive statistics for performance analysis.

Features

🎯 Core Tracking Features

• ✅ Zero Configuration - Works immediately after installation
• 🚀 Automatic Tracking - Global middleware auto-registered
• 📊 Rich Statistics - Usage count, timestamps, route types and more
• 🎯 Smart Filtering - Configurable ignored routes and methods
• 💻 Artisan Commands - Powerful CLI for viewing statistics
• 🎨 Facade Support - Easy programmatic access

🎨 Dashboard Features (Beta)

• 📱 Vue.js 3 Dashboard - Modern, reactive user interface
• ⚡ Inertia.js Support - Seamless SPA experience
• 🌙 Dark/Light Theme - Automatic theme switching
• 📈 Interactive Charts - Beautiful Chart.js visualizations
• 🔍 Advanced Filtering - Real-time search and filters
• 💾 CSV Export - Export usage data for analysis
• 📊 Real-time Updates - Live statistics and charts
• 🎛️ One Command Setup - Install everything with single command

4. Build assets:

npm run dev  # or npm run build

5. Visit your dashboard (automatically available):

http://your-app.com/route-usage-dashboard

📝 Note: The dashboard route /route-usage-dashboard is automatically registered by the package. No need to manually add routes!

Quick Start Example

# 1. Install the package
composer require nmehroj/route-usage-tracker

# 2. That's it! Visit some pages in your app, then check stats:
php artisan route:usage

Usage

Middleware Registration (Optional)

The package automatically registers a global middleware, but you can also manually control it by adding it to specific route groups in app/Http/Kernel.php:

// For global tracking (already done automatically)
protected $middleware = [
    // ...
    \NMehroj\RouteUsageTracker\Middleware\TrackRouteUsage::class,
];

// Or for specific route groups only
protected $middlewareGroups = [
    'web' => [
        // ...
        \NMehroj\RouteUsageTracker\Middleware\TrackRouteUsage::class,
    ],
    
    'api' => [
        // ...
        \NMehroj\RouteUsageTracker\Middleware\TrackRouteUsage::class,
    ],
];

Automatic Route Tracking

All routes are automatically tracked out of the box. For each route request, the following information is stored:

• Route name
• URL path
• HTTP method (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.)
• Usage count
• First and last usage timestamps

Viewing Statistics

Via Artisan Command

# View all route statistics
php artisan route:usage

# View top 10 most used routes
php artisan route:usage --top=10

# View statistics for a specific date range
php artisan route:usage --from="2023-01-01" --to="2023-12-31"

# Filter by HTTP method
php artisan route:usage --method=POST

# Filter by route type (web, api, admin, dashboard, auth, assets)
php artisan route:usage --type=api

# Combine all parameters
php artisan route:usage --top=5 --method=GET --type=web --from="2024-01-01"

Via Code

Using the Model Directly

use NMehroj\RouteUsageTracker\Models\RouteUsage;

// Get all route statistics
$stats = RouteUsage::all();

// Get top 10 most used routes
$topRoutes = RouteUsage::orderBy('usage_count', 'desc')->take(10)->get();

// Get specific route information
$routeStats = RouteUsage::where('route_name', 'home')->first();

Using the Facade (Recommended)

use NMehroj\RouteUsageTracker\Facades\RouteUsageTracker;

// Get all route statistics
$stats = RouteUsageTracker::all();

// Get top 10 most used routes
$topRoutes = RouteUsageTracker::orderBy('usage_count', 'desc')->take(10)->get();

// Get specific route information
$routeStats = RouteUsageTracker::where('route_name', 'home')->first();

// Use helper methods
$topRoutes = RouteUsageTracker::getTopRoutes(10);
$getStats = RouteUsageTracker::getRoutesByMethod('GET');
$apiRoutes = RouteUsageTracker::getRoutesByType('api');
$summary = RouteUsageTracker::getStatsSummary();

Dashboard with Inertia.js & Vue.js

The package includes a modern, reactive Vue.js 3 dashboard built with Inertia.js for visualizing route usage statistics, similar to Laravel Nightwatch.

Inertia.js Dashboard Installation

🚀 One-Command Setup (Recommended)

php artisan route-usage-tracker:setup

This single command will:

• ✅ Run database migrations
• ✅ Install all required NPM packages (Vue.js 3, Inertia.js, Chart.js, Heroicons, VueUse)
• ✅ Publish dashboard assets
• ✅ Create example configuration files (vite.config.js, app.js)
• ✅ Display next steps

Available Options:

# Skip NPM package installation
php artisan route-usage-tracker:setup --skip-npm

# Skip database migrations
php artisan route-usage-tracker:setup --skip-migration

# Force reinstall packages
php artisan route-usage-tracker:setup --force

# Skip both NPM and migrations
php artisan route-usage-tracker:setup --skip-npm --skip-migration

Manual Installation (Alternative)

1. Ensure Inertia.js is set up in your Laravel application:

Follow the Inertia.js Laravel installation guide if not already installed.

2. Publish dashboard assets:

php artisan route-usage-tracker:publish-dashboard

3. Install required dependencies:

npm install vue@^3.3.0 @inertiajs/vue3 chart.js @heroicons/vue @vueuse/core

4. Update your resources/js/app.js for Inertia.js:

import './bootstrap'
import '../css/app.css'

import { createApp, h } from 'vue'
import { createInertiaApp } from '@inertiajs/vue3'
import { resolvePageComponent } from 'laravel-vite-plugin/inertia-helpers'

const appName = window.document.getElementsByTagName('title')[0]?.innerText || 'Laravel'

createInertiaApp({
    title: (title) => `${title} - ${appName}`,
    resolve: (name) => resolvePageComponent(`./Pages/${name}.vue`, import.meta.glob('./Pages/**/*.vue')),
    setup({ el, App, props, plugin }) {
        return createApp({ render: () => h(App, props) })
            .use(plugin)
            .mount(el)
    },
    progress: {
        color: '#4F46E5',
    },
})

5. Update your vite.config.js:

import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
import laravel from 'laravel-vite-plugin'
import vue from '@vitejs/plugin-vue'

export default defineConfig({
    plugins: [
        laravel({
            input: [
                'resources/css/app.css',
                'resources/js/app.js',
            ],
            refresh: true,
        }),
        vue({
            template: {
                transformAssetUrls: {
                    base: null,
                    includeAbsolute: false,
                },
            },
        }),
    ],
    resolve: {
        alias: {
            '@': '/resources/js',
        },
    },
})

6. Build assets:

npm run build
# or for development
npm run dev

🎉 Automatic Route Registration: The dashboard route /route-usage-dashboard is automatically registered by the package. No manual route configuration needed!

Dashboard Features

• 📊 Real-time Statistics: Live route usage metrics and charts
• 🎨 Dark/Light Theme: Automatic theme switching with system preference
• 📈 Interactive Charts: Beautiful Chart.js visualizations for usage trends
• 🔍 Advanced Filtering: Filter by route type, method, date range, and search
• 📱 Responsive Design: Works perfectly on desktop, tablet, and mobile
• 💾 Export Functionality: Export route data as CSV for further analysis
• ⚡ Fast & Lightweight: Built with Vue.js 3 Composition API for optimal performance

Dashboard Usage

1. Visit the dashboard:

http://your-app.com/route-usage-dashboard

2. Available dashboard endpoints:

• /route-usage-tracker/dashboard - Main dashboard view
• /route-usage-tracker/api/summary - Statistics summary
• /route-usage-tracker/api/routes - Routes with filtering
• /route-usage-tracker/api/daily-usage - Daily usage charts
• /route-usage-tracker/api/type-stats - Route type statistics
• /route-usage-tracker/api/top-routes - Most used routes
• /route-usage-tracker/api/recent-activity - Recent route activity
• /route-usage-tracker/api/export - Export data as CSV

3. Dashboard API parameters:

// Filter routes
fetch('/route-usage-tracker/api/routes?type=api&method=GET&search=user&limit=50')

// Get daily usage for last 7 days  
fetch('/route-usage-tracker/api/daily-usage?days=7')

// Get top 5 routes by type
fetch('/route-usage-tracker/api/top-routes?limit=5&type=web')

// Export filtered data
fetch('/route-usage-tracker/api/export?type=api&from=2024-01-01&to=2024-12-31')

Database Structure

The route_usage table has the following columns:

Configuration

Customizing Tracked Routes

The package automatically ignores common development and debugging routes. To customize which routes are tracked:

Publish the config file first:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="NMehroj\RouteUsageTracker\RouteUsageTrackerServiceProvider" --tag="route-usage-tracker-config"

Then edit config/route-usage-tracker.php to add ignored routes:

'ignored_routes' => [
    'telescope.*',
    'horizon.*',
    'debugbar.*',
    'admin.*',        // Ignore all admin routes
    'api/internal/*', // Ignore internal API routes
],

Practical Examples

1. Dashboard Analytics

use NMehroj\RouteUsageTracker\Models\RouteUsage;

class DashboardController extends Controller
{
    public function index()
    {
        $popularRoutes = RouteUsage::orderBy('usage_count', 'desc')
            ->take(5)
            ->get();
            
        return view('dashboard', compact('popularRoutes'));
    }
}

2. Weekly Usage Report

use NMehroj\RouteUsageTracker\Models\RouteUsage;

// Get current week's statistics
$weeklyStats = RouteUsage::whereBetween('last_used_at', [
    now()->startOfWeek(),
    now()->endOfWeek()
])->orderBy('usage_count', 'desc')->get();

// Generate report
foreach ($weeklyStats as $stat) {
    echo "{$stat->route_name} ({$stat->method}): {$stat->usage_count} hits\n";
}

3. API Usage Analytics

use NMehroj\RouteUsageTracker\Models\RouteUsage;

// Track API endpoint usage
$apiRoutes = RouteUsage::where('route_path', 'like', 'api/%')
    ->orderBy('usage_count', 'desc')
    ->get();

// Find underused endpoints
$underused = RouteUsage::where('usage_count', '<', 10)
    ->where('created_at', '>', now()->subMonth())
    ->get();

Advanced Configuration

Publishing Configuration

To customize the package behavior, publish the configuration file:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="NMehroj\RouteUsageTracker\RouteUsageTrackerServiceProvider" --tag="route-usage-tracker-config"

Then edit config/route-usage-tracker.php:

return [
    // Enable or disable route tracking
    'enabled' => env('ROUTE_USAGE_TRACKER_ENABLED', true),
    
    // Routes that will not be tracked (supports wildcards)
    'ignored_routes' => [
        'telescope.*',
        'horizon.*',
        'debugbar.*',
        '_debugbar/*',
        'livewire.*',
    ],
    
    // HTTP methods that will not be tracked
    'ignored_methods' => ['HEAD', 'OPTIONS'],
    
    // Database settings
    'database_connection' => env('ROUTE_USAGE_TRACKER_DB_CONNECTION', null),
    'table_name' => env('ROUTE_USAGE_TRACKER_TABLE', 'route_usage'),
    
    // Auto cleanup old data
    'auto_cleanup' => [
        'enabled' => env('ROUTE_USAGE_TRACKER_AUTO_CLEANUP', false),
        'days' => env('ROUTE_USAGE_TRACKER_CLEANUP_DAYS', 365),
    ],
];

Environment Variables

You can add these variables to your .env file:

# Control route tracking
ROUTE_USAGE_TRACKER_ENABLED=true

# Auto cleanup settings
ROUTE_USAGE_TRACKER_AUTO_CLEANUP=false
ROUTE_USAGE_TRACKER_CLEANUP_DAYS=365

Requirements

• PHP 8.1 or higher
• Laravel 10.0 or 11.0

Testing

To test the package:

# Install composer dependencies
composer install

# Run tests
composer test

# Or using PHPUnit directly
vendor/bin/phpunit

# Run tests with coverage
composer test-coverage

Performance Considerations

• The package uses efficient database queries with proper indexing
• Middleware has minimal overhead (< 1ms per request)
• Automatic cleanup can be configured to prevent database bloat
• Uses Laravel's built-in caching where possible

Troubleshooting

Routes Not Being Tracked

1. Ensure the package is properly installed: composer show nmehroj/route-usage-tracker
2. Check if middleware is registered: php artisan route:list --middleware
3. Verify database migration ran: Check for route_usage table
4. Check configuration: config('route-usage-tracker.enabled')

Performance Issues

1. Enable auto-cleanup to remove old data
2. Add database indexes if tracking high-volume routes
3. Consider excluding non-essential routes via configuration

Contributing

We welcome contributions! To contribute:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Support

• 📖 Documentation: This README
• 🐛 Bug Reports: GitHub Issues
• 💡 Feature Requests: GitHub Issues
• ❓ Questions: GitHub Discussions

Author

Nmehroj - GitHub

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