apurba-labs/laravel-iam

Laravel IAM (Identity & Access Management) package with hierarchical permissions, wildcard support, and SaaS-ready design.

v1.5.0 2026-05-13 20:43 UTC

Requires

• php: ^8.1
• illuminate/support: ^10.0|^11.0|^12.0|^13.0

Requires (Dev)

• doctrine/dbal: ^4.0
• orchestra/testbench: ^8.0|^9.0
• phpunit/phpunit: ^10.0

MIT

• authorization
• laravel
• saas
• permissions
• rbac
• access-control
• iam

README

A powerful, context-aware Identity and Access Management (IAM) system for Laravel. Inspired by AWS IAM, built for modern SaaS architectures.

Quick Example

IAM::can($user, 'inventory.approve', $branchId);
IAM::can($user, 'post.edit')
IAM::usersWithPermission('approval.finance.approve')
IAM::usersWithRole('manager')
IAM::rolesForUser($user)
IAM::permissionsForUser($user)

Example:
IAM::rolesForUser(auth()->user())

Use cases:
profile screens 
admin UI 
audit ordebug

Example:
IAM::permissionsForUser(auth()->user())

Use cases:
effective permission display
debug tools
admin dashboards
policy introspection

Installation

Install the package via composer:

composer require apurba-labs/laravel-iam

Run migrations:

php artisan migrate

Key Features

• Contextual Scopes: Assign roles to users for specific branches or tenants.
• Wildcard Logic: Support for resource.*, *.action, and *.* overrides.
• Action Aliasing: Built-in manage capability (grants all actions for a resource).
• Developer Friendly: Dynamic Resource & Action registration.
• Performance First: Built-in caching for permission resolution.

⚖️ Design Philosophy: Contextual Authority

Most RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) packages treat permissions as "Global Flags." In modern SaaS and Enterprise applications, authority is rarely that simple.

Laravel IAM is built on the principle that power is Contextual. A user might be a Manager in the Dhaka Branch but only a Viewer in the Chittagong Branch. Our engine resolves this complexity using a prioritized hierarchy we call the Four Levels of Truth.

🧠 The "Four Levels of Truth"

When you check a permission like invoice.approve, the engine doesn't just look for a string match. It evaluates authority from the broadest scope to the most specific to ensure maximum flexibility and security.

🔑 Permission Hierarchy: "Context-Aware RBAC"

Level	Type	Example	Description
1	Global	*.*	Full Access: Absolute power across all resources and actions.
2	Resource	invoice.*	Module Control: Full authority over a specific resource.
3	Action	*.approve	Action Specialist: Specific action allowed system-wide.
4	Atomic	invoice.approve	Task Specific: One specific action on one resource.

Performance Note: The engine uses a "Fast-Pass" strategy. If Level 1 or 2 is satisfied, the resolution exits immediately, ensuring that administrative accounts experience zero latency during authorization checks.

🧱 Architectural Design Patterns

Laravel IAM is not just a collection of scripts; it is a structured engine built using industry-standard patterns to ensure scalability and maintainability.

🗄️ Registry Pattern

We use a Registry Pattern for Resource and Action management. This decouples your application's domain logic from the database, allowing you to register permissions dynamically via Service Providers without hitting the database on every boot.

🛡️ Singleton & Manager Pattern

The IAMManager acts as a Singleton within the Laravel Service Container. This ensures a single source of truth for authorization checks during a request lifecycle, enabling efficient memory usage and consistent caching.

🔌 Facade & Proxy Pattern

By providing a Facade, we offer a clean, expressive API (IAM::can()). Internally, this proxies calls to the underlying PermissionResolver, shielding the developer from the complexity of the hierarchical resolution logic.

🔍 Strategy Pattern

The PermissionResolver employs a Strategy Pattern to evaluate permissions. It switches between "Global," "Wildcard," and "Atomic" strategies to find the fastest path to an authorization decision.

🛠 Usage

1. Setup your Model

Implement the Authorizable contract and add the HasRoles trait to your User model. This unlocks the relationship and authority checks.

use ApurbaLabs\IAM\Traits\HasRoles;
use ApurbaLabs\IAM\Contracts\Authorizable;

class User extends Authenticatable implements Authorizable {
    use HasRoles;
}

2. Registering Resources & Actions

Define your application's domain in AppServiceProvider.php. This populates the internal registry used for the "Four Levels of Truth" engine.
Register your modules in `AppServiceProvider.php`:

use ApurbaLabs\IAM\Facades\IAM;

public function boot(): void
{
    IAM::registerResources([
        'expense' => 'Expense Approval',
        'requisition' => 'Requisition',
    ]);

    IAM::registerActions([
        'view',
        'create',
        'approve',
        'reject',
    ]);
}

Default Actions

The IAM system includes a set of built-in default actions.
If you do not explicitly register actions, these defaults will be used automatically.

Default Actions

• create
• read
• update
• delete
• list

Workflow Actions

• publish
• approve
• reject
• refund

Special Actions

• manage → Grants all actions for a resource
• * (wildcard) → Full system-level access

Custom Actions

If needed, you can override defaults:

IAM::registerActions([
    'submit',
    'approve',
    'archive',
]);

💡 Tip: Default actions are recommended for most use cases and ensure consistency across modules.

3. Sync Permissions

Run:

php artisan iam:sync-permissions

This will generate permissions like:

• expense.view
• expense.approve
• requisition.create

💡 This approach allows fully dynamic and scalable permission management.

4. Authorization Logic

#### Via Facade
The Facade is the most flexible way to check authority, especially for multi-tenant or scoped applications.

// Global Check (Is this user an Admin anywhere?)
IAM::can($user, 'inventory.view');

// Contextual Check (Is this user a Manager specifically for Branch 101?)
IAM::can($user, 'inventory.approve', 101);

#### Via Middleware

Perfect for protecting API routes. The middleware automatically looks for an X-Scope-ID header to evaluate contextual permissions.

// Single permission check
Route::middleware('iam:inventory.view')->get('/inventory', ...);

// Multiple permissions (OR logic)
Route::middleware('iam:payroll.edit|payroll.manage')->post('/payroll', ...);

5. UI Integration (Blade Magic)

We’ve provided expressive Blade directives to keep your templates clean. No more messy @if blocks.
#### Permission Checks
{{-- Checks if the user can approve in the current branch context --}}
@iam('invoice.approve', 101)
    <button class="btn-success">Approve Invoice</button>
@else
    <span class="text-muted">Read-only Access</span>
@endiam

Role Checks

@{{-- Check for a role in a specific scope --}}
@role('manager', 101)
    <div class="badge">Branch Manager</div>
@endrole

Global UI logic

{{-- If you omit the second argument, the system checks for Global authority (where scope_id is null):}}
@role('admin')
    <nav>System Settings</nav>
@endrole

### 6. Workflow Resolution
Need to find who to notify? Use the resolver to find users with specific authority within a specific scope.
```PHP
// Returns a collection of Users who can approve invoices for Branch 101
$approvers = IAM::usersWithPermission('invoice.approve', 101);

Roadmap

We are committed to making Laravel IAM the standard for contextual authorization. Here is what's coming next:

v0.3.0 - The "Developer Experience" Update

• Custom Middleware Aliases: Support for @iam:invoice.view,scope_id directly in routes.
• Policy Integration: Seamless bridge between IAM::can and Laravel's native Gate and Policy system.
• Audit Logs: A built-in observer to log every permission change for compliance.

v0.4.0 - The "Admin UI" Update

• Blade Component Library: Pre-built Tailwind components for Role/Permission management.
• Visual Permission Matrix: A console command to generate a table of who-can-do-what across scopes.

v1.0.0 - Stability & Performance

• Caching Layer: Redis integration for high-performance permission resolution.
• API Documentation: Comprehensive documentation site with real-world use cases.
• Stable Release: Long-term support (LTS) version.

## 🌟 Support the Project

If this package saved you time or simplified your authorization logic:

👉 Give it a **⭐ Star on GitHub**

Your support helps grow the project and bring more advanced features to the community 🚀
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📄 License
The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.