Observers

Name: Observers Description: Centralised classes that react to Eloquent model lifecycle events. Used for side effects that should always fire regardless of where a model is mutated — such as notifications, cache invalidation, and audit logging. Compatible Agents: general-purpose, backend Tags: app/Observers/**/*.php, laravel, php, backend, observer, eloquent, model-events

Rules

• Observer classes live in app/Observers/
• Naming: PascalCase with an Observer suffix, named after the model they observe: UserObserver, InvoiceObserver
• Only define the event methods you actually need — do not scaffold empty methods
• Register observers in AppServiceProvider using the observe() method
• Use observers for side effects tied to model lifecycle events that should always fire
• Never put business logic that should be explicitly controlled in an observer — use an Action instead

Examples

namespace App\Observers;

use App\Models\User;
use App\Notifications\WelcomeNotification;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Cache;

class UserObserver
{
    public function created(User $user): void
    {
        $user->notify(new WelcomeNotification());
    }

    public function updated(User $user): void
    {
        Cache::forget("user:{$user->id}");
    }

    public function deleted(User $user): void
    {
        Cache::forget("user:{$user->id}");
    }
}

// Registration in AppServiceProvider
use App\Models\User;
use App\Observers\UserObserver;

public function boot(): void
{
    User::observe(UserObserver::class);
}

Available lifecycle events:

Anti-Patterns

• Using an observer for side effects specific to one particular action (use the Action directly instead)
• Scaffolding empty observer methods for all lifecycle events when only one is needed
• Putting complex orchestration inside an observer (use a Service)
• Using an observer for validation (use Form Requests)
• Using an observer for authorization (use Policies)
• Relying on observers when you need fine-grained control over when side effects fire

References

• Laravel Observers
• Related: Models/SKILL.md — Eloquent model conventions
• Related: Events/SKILL.md — alternative for decoupled side effects