README

A lightweight, GDPR-compliant cookie consent system with minimal dependencies for Laravel 11 and 12

Perfect for Laravel applications that need a simple, effective, and legally compliant cookie consent solution without the bloat of external JavaScript frameworks.

🎭 Live Demo

Try it before you install it! Check out our interactive demo to see the cookie consent system in action.

🚀 Quick Demo Access

Fastest way - Direct download:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/martinschenk/laravel-cookie-consent/main/demo/index.html
# Then open index.html in your browser

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/martinschenk/laravel-cookie-consent.git
cd laravel-cookie-consent/demo

Open the demo:

Option A: Simply double-click the demo/index.html file

Option B: Serve it locally:

# Using Python (if installed)
python3 -m http.server 8080 --directory demo
# Then open http://localhost:8080

# Or using PHP (if installed)
php -S localhost:8080 -t demo
# Then open http://localhost:8080

The demo showcases:

✅ Cookie consent banner with Accept/Reject/Settings options
✅ Detailed cookie settings modal
✅ Pure vanilla JavaScript (no frameworks!)
✅ Smooth CSS transitions
✅ Consent status tracking
✅ Interactive buttons to test all features

📸 Screenshots

Cookie Consent Banner

Cookie Settings Modal

GDPR Compliance: No Analytics Cookies on Load

Screenshot shows the cookie consent banner with developer tools open, confirming no Google Analytics cookies are loaded before user consent.

✨ Highlights

Zero JavaScript dependencies - Pure vanilla JavaScript, no Alpine.js, no Livewire, no Filament
Pure Vanilla JavaScript - No framework dependencies, works with bare Laravel
Tailwind CSS Styling - Beautiful, responsive design using Tailwind CSS classes
GDPR-compliant - Legally sound implementation with opt-in for all cookie types
Multilingual - German, English, Spanish and Chinese included
Google Analytics Integration - Dynamic loading and removal of GA scripts
Locale Cookie Management - Stores language preferences only with consent
Blade Components - Easy integration into existing Laravel applications
Tailwind CSS - Elegant, customizable design (optional)
Mobile-First - Fully responsive for all devices

💻 Requirements

Laravel: Version 11.x or 12.x required - Laravel Installation
Tailwind CSS: Version 3.x recommended - Tailwind CSS for Laravel Tailwind CSS is recommended but not strictly required - the component will still work with your own CSS, but you'll need to modify the published views to match your styling framework.

Checking Your Installed Versions

Use these commands to verify your installed versions:

# Check Laravel version
php artisan --version

# Check Tailwind CSS version (if installed via npm)
npx tailwindcss --version

# No JavaScript framework version checks needed - uses pure vanilla JavaScript

🧠 How It Works

This plugin provides a lightweight, GDPR-compliant cookie consent system for Laravel 11 and 12 - fully implemented with Blade and pure vanilla JavaScript. It works without any JavaScript framework dependencies - no Alpine.js, Livewire, Inertia, or other external dependencies.

🇪🇺 GDPR Compliance

The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and similar privacy laws worldwide require explicit user consent before storing non-essential cookies. This package implements a fully compliant solution that:

Blocks all non-essential cookies by default
Provides clear opt-in choices for different cookie categories
Allows users to change their preferences at any time
Properly documents consent for compliance purposes

🌐 Google Analytics Integration

The plugin blocks any connection to Google Analytics by default
Only when a user explicitly consents to the "Analytics" category, the GA script (gtag.js) is dynamically inserted into the <head>
Website owners only need to enter their Google Tag ID (G-XXXXXXXXXX) - no additional customization required

🚫 Tracking Prevention When Declined

When analytics consent is declined, the GA script is not loaded
Additionally, the plugin attempts to delete all typical GA cookies, including:
- _ga, _gid, gat*
- __ga*, __gads
Even if some cookies cannot be fully deleted for technical reasons (e.g., HttpOnly), no tracking will occur as the JavaScript is not loaded

Result: Google has no access to user interactions unless consent is given.

🇪🇸 Personal Preferences

The plugin currently stores a single preference: the language setting (locale).

The language is automatically read from the <html lang="..."> attribute
When the user consents to the preferences category, a locale=xx cookie is set (e.g., locale=en), which Laravel can use for automatic language switching
If consent is revoked, the locale cookie is deleted

🔧 Technical Implementation

Component	Technology
UI / Modals	Blade + Tailwind
Logic	Vanilla JavaScript
Consent Storage	localStorage
Cookie Handling	JavaScript (document.cookie)
Language Detection	document.documentElement.lang
GA Activation	document.createElement('script')
GA Blocking	No script inclusion + Cookie deletion

🚀 Installation

composer require martin-schenk/laravel-cookie-consent
php artisan vendor:publish --provider="MartinSchenk\CookieConsent\CookieConsentServiceProvider"

🔧 Configuration

After publishing the package assets, you can configure the cookie consent system in config/cookie-consent.php:

// config/cookie-consent.php
return [
    'google_analytics_id' => '',  // Set your Google Analytics ID here (e.g. 'G-XXXXXXXXXX')

    'cookie_names' => [
        'consent' => 'cookieConsent',
        'locale' => 'locale',
    ],

    'cookie_lifetime' => 31536000,  // 1 year in seconds

    'categories' => [
        'essential' => true,  // Always required
        'analytics' => false, // Optional
        'preferences' => false, // Optional
    ],
];

You can modify the configuration values directly in the published configuration file:

📊 Usage

Include the cookie consent component in your main layout file:

<!-- In your layout file -->
<x-cookie-consent::cookie-consent />

Example Integration

Here's how to integrate the cookie consent component in your Laravel layout:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="{{ str_replace('_', '-', app()->getLocale()) }}">
<head>
    <!-- Your head content... -->
</head>
<body>
    <!-- Your site content... -->

    <!-- Footer with cookie settings link -->
    <footer>
        <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="window.openCookieSettings()">Cookie Settings</a>
    </footer>

    <!-- Cookie Consent Component (Place before closing body tag) -->
    <x-cookie-consent::cookie-consent />
</body>
</html>

Note: The cookie consent component should be placed before the closing </body> tag to ensure all other elements are loaded first. This provides the best user experience.

🔗 Adding a Cookie Settings Link to Your Footer

An important feature is the ability to reopen the cookie settings menu at any time. Here are different implementation options:

Option 1: Direct JavaScript Call

<a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="window.openCookieSettings()" class="text-gray-400 hover:text-teal-400">
    Cookie Settings
</a>

Option 2: For Complex Layouts (e.g., in a Vue or React component)

// Trigger the cookie settings event
document.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent('open-cookie-settings'));

Option 3: Use as a Blade Component

// In any of your Blade files:
<x-cookie-consent::settings-link class="text-gray-400 hover:text-teal-400" />

Practical Example: Typical Footer Implementation

<!-- Footer with legal links -->
<footer class="bg-gray-800 text-white py-6">
    <div class="container mx-auto">
        <div class="flex flex-wrap justify-center gap-4">
            <a href="{{ route('home') }}" class="text-gray-300 hover:text-white">Home</a>
            <a href="{{ route('imprint') }}" class="text-gray-300 hover:text-white">Imprint</a>
            <a href="{{ route('privacy') }}" class="text-gray-300 hover:text-white">Privacy Policy</a>

            <!-- Cookie Settings Link -->
            <a href="javascript:void(0);"
               onclick="window.openCookieSettings()"
               class="text-gray-300 hover:text-white">
                Cookie Settings
            </a>
        </div>
    </div>
</footer>

🌐 Supported Languages

This package comes with translations for:

English (en)
German (de)
Romanian (ro)
Spanish (es)
Chinese (Simplified) (zh_CN)

You can publish the language files to customize them:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="MartinSchenk\CookieConsent\CookieConsentServiceProvider" --tag="cookie-consent-lang"

🎨 Customizing Appearance

The cookie consent component uses Tailwind CSS by default. You can publish the views to customize the appearance:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="MartinSchenk\CookieConsent\CookieConsentServiceProvider" --tag="cookie-consent-views"

💯 Why Choose This Package?

This plugin is the ideal solution for modern Laravel 11/12 projects that want to:

Stay GDPR-compliant ✅
Maintain maximum control ✅
Avoid unnecessary external consent tools ✅
Remain fully customizable and open-source ✅

🔍 Keywords

Laravel cookie consent, GDPR cookie banner, Laravel 11 cookie solution, Laravel 12 cookie solution, cookie consent manager, Laravel GDPR compliance, cookie opt-in system, vanilla JavaScript cookie consent, privacy cookie banner, EU cookie law Laravel, cookie consent popup, minimal cookie notice, lightweight cookie consent, Laravel cookie management, zero dependency cookie consent, no framework cookie banner

👥 Contributing

Contributions are highly welcome and appreciated!

This project is open for contributions, and we would love for you to help make it better. Whether you want to fix a bug, add a new feature, improve the documentation, or just give feedback, your help is welcome.

Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines on how to contribute to this project.

🌱 Good First Issues

Looking for something to work on? Issues labeled with good first issue are a great way to start contributing.

🗺️ Roadmap

We're planning to add the following features in future releases:

Support for additional cookie categories
More styling options and themes
Additional analytics services integration
Cookie expiration management
Support for older Laravel versions

Feel free to pick up any of these tasks or suggest new ones!

☕ Support this project

If this package made your life a little easier, you can buy me a coffee – or make my day by sending a little note:

📬 Send a postcard to: Martin Schenk Calle Hiruela 3, 5-7 28035 Madrid, Spain

Small gestures, big smiles. Danke! 💚

📝 License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.

martin-schenk / laravel-cookie-consent

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