This is Laravel Activitylog Tutorial for Beginners. Tracking user actions is an important feature in modern web applications. Whether you want to know who updated a product, deleted a customer, or logged in, activity logs provide valuable information.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use the Spatie Laravel Activitylog package to record activities in a Laravel application.

By the end of this guide, you’ll be able to:

• Install Laravel Activitylog
• Configure the package
• Log custom activities
• Automatically log model events
• View activity logs
• Customize logged data

Prerequisites

Before starting, you should have:

• PHP 8.1 or later
• Laravel 10, 11, or later
• Composer
• Basic knowledge of Laravel models and migrations

What is Laravel Activitylog?

Laravel Activitylog is a package that records activities happening inside your application.

Examples include:

• User logged in
• Product created
• Order updated
• Customer deleted
• Profile changed

Instead of creating your own logging system, this package handles it for you.

Step 1 — Install the Package

Run the following command:

composer require spatie/laravel-activitylog

Step 2 — Publish the Configuration

Publish the configuration and migration files.

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Spatie\Activitylog\ActivitylogServiceProvider"

This creates:

config/activitylog.php

and a migration file.

Step 3 — Run the Migration

Create the activity log table.

php artisan migrate

A table called:

activity_log

will be created.

Step 4 — Understanding the Database Table

The table stores information such as:

Step 5 — Logging a Simple Activity

Suppose a user creates a product.

use Spatie\Activitylog\activity;

activity()
    ->log('Product created');

This creates a new activity entry.

Step 6 — Add a Log Name

Organize logs by category.

activity('products')
    ->log('Product created');

Now the log belongs to the products category.

Step 7 — Log the Authenticated User

When a logged-in user performs an action:

activity()
    ->causedBy(auth()->user())
    ->log('Updated profile');

The package records:

• User ID
• User model
• Description

Step 8 — Attach a Subject

You can associate an activity with a model.

activity()
    ->performedOn($product)
    ->log('Product updated');

Now the log is linked to the product.

Step 9 — Add Extra Properties

Store additional information.

activity()
    ->withProperties([
        'price' => 500,
        'category' => 'Electronics'
    ])
    ->log('Product created');

These values are stored as JSON.

Step 10 — Log Model Changes Automatically

Instead of manually logging every action, you can let the package do it automatically.

Example Product model:

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Spatie\Activitylog\Traits\LogsActivity;
use Spatie\Activitylog\LogOptions;

class Product extends Model
{
    use LogsActivity;

    protected $fillable = [
        'name',
        'price',
        'stock'
    ];

    public function getActivitylogOptions(): LogOptions
    {
        return LogOptions::defaults()
            ->logOnly([
                'name',
                'price',
                'stock'
            ]);
    }
}

Now Laravel automatically logs:

• Created
• Updated
• Deleted

Step 11 — Log Only Dirty Attributes

Sometimes you only want to record fields that actually changed.

public function getActivitylogOptions(): LogOptions
{
    return LogOptions::defaults()
        ->logOnly([
            'name',
            'price'
        ])
        ->logOnlyDirty();
}

Example:

Old value:

Price = 500

New value:

Price = 700

Only the changed field is logged.

Step 12 — Skip Empty Logs

Prevent logs when nothing has changed.

public function getActivitylogOptions(): LogOptions
{
    return LogOptions::defaults()
        ->logOnlyDirty()
        ->dontSubmitEmptyLogs();
}

Step 13 — Customize the Description

Provide meaningful descriptions.

public function getActivitylogOptions(): LogOptions
{
    return LogOptions::defaults()
        ->setDescriptionForEvent(
            fn(string $eventName) => "Product has been {$eventName}"
        );
}

Possible results:

Product has been created

Product has been updated

Product has been deleted

Step 14 — Retrieve Activity Logs

Fetch all logs.

use Spatie\Activitylog\Models\Activity;

$activities = Activity::latest()->get();

Step 15 — Display Activity Logs

Example Blade view:

@foreach($activities as $activity)

{{ $activity->description }}

{{ $activity->created_at }}

@endforeach

Step 16 — Get Logs for a Specific Model

Retrieve logs related to a particular product.

$product->activities;

Step 17 — Get the User Who Performed the Action

$activity->causer;

Example:

John Doe

Step 18 — Access the Subject

Retrieve the related model.

$activity->subject;

Example:

Product #25

Step 19 — Read Extra Properties

$activity->properties;

Retrieve a specific value.

$activity->properties['price'];

Step 20 — Delete Old Logs

You can remove old logs manually.

Activity::where('created_at', '<', now()->subMonths(6))
    ->delete();

Or schedule a cleanup using Laravel’s task scheduler if your application generates many logs.

Example Controller

public function store(Request $request)
{
    $product = Product::create([
        'name' => $request->name,
        'price' => $request->price,
        'stock' => $request->stock,
    ]);

    activity('products')
        ->performedOn($product)
        ->causedBy(auth()->user())
        ->withProperties([
            'price' => $product->price
        ])
        ->log('Product created');

    return back();
}

Best Practices

• Log only meaningful events.
• Avoid storing sensitive information such as passwords or API keys.
• Use descriptive log messages.
• Use log categories for better organization.
• Clean up old logs periodically.
• Log only changed attributes when possible.

Common Errors

Table not found

Run:

php artisan migrate

Nothing is logged

Check that:

• The package is installed.
• The migration has been executed.
• The LogsActivity trait is added to your model (for automatic logging).
• Manual logging code is being executed.

Changes are not recorded

Ensure:

• The model uses the LogsActivity trait.
• getActivitylogOptions() is implemented correctly.
• The changed attributes are included in logOnly().

Summary

You learned how to:

• Install Laravel Activitylog.
• Publish the configuration.
• Run migrations.
• Log activities manually.
• Log model events automatically.
• Track users and models.
• Store additional properties.
• Retrieve and display activity logs.
• Optimize logging with dirty attributes and cleanup.

With these fundamentals, you can build an effective audit trail that helps monitor user actions and data changes in your Laravel applications.