Installation

This guide covers installing and configuring Converse in your Laravel application.

Requirements

• PHP 8.2 or higher
• Laravel 11.0 or higher
• A database supported by Laravel (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, SQL Server)

Installation

Install the package via Composer:

composer require elliottlawson/converse

Run the migrations:

php artisan migrate

That's it! Converse is now installed with sensible defaults.

Upgrading from Earlier Versions

If you installed Converse before version 0.1.5, run:

php artisan converse:upgrade-uuid

This command:

• Adds the UUID column to your existing messages table
• Automatically generates UUIDs for all existing messages

Configuration (Optional)

Publishing the Config File

If you need to customize settings, you can publish the config:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=converse-config

This creates config/converse.php where you can customize:

Table Names

If you need custom table names, update the config before running migrations:

// config/converse.php
'tables' => [
    'conversations' => 'chat_conversations',
    'messages' => 'chat_messages',
    'message_chunks' => 'chat_message_chunks', 
    'message_attachments' => 'chat_attachments',
],

Model Classes

Override the default models if needed:

'models' => [
    'conversation' => \App\Models\CustomConversation::class,
    'message' => \App\Models\CustomMessage::class,
],

Storage Settings

Configure where attachments are stored:

'attachments' => [
    'disk' => env('CONVERSE_DISK', 'local'),
    'path' => env('CONVERSE_PATH', 'conversations'),
],

Broadcasting

Configure real-time broadcasting:

'broadcasting' => [
    'enabled' => env('CONVERSE_BROADCASTING_ENABLED', true),
    'queue' => env('CONVERSE_BROADCAST_QUEUE', null),
],

Environment Variables

Available environment variables:

# Attachment storage
CONVERSE_DISK=s3
CONVERSE_PATH=ai-conversations

# Auto-cleanup (days)
CONVERSE_PRUNE_DAYS=90

# Broadcasting
CONVERSE_BROADCASTING_ENABLED=true
CONVERSE_BROADCAST_QUEUE=broadcasting

Publishing Migrations (Advanced)

If you need to modify the database schema:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=converse-migrations

Then edit the migrations in database/migrations/ before running them.

Service Provider

Laravel automatically discovers the ConverseServiceProvider. It handles:

• Configuration registration
• Migration loading
• Event listener setup

No manual registration is needed.

Troubleshooting

Migration Errors

• Table already exists: You may have conflicting table names. Use custom table names in the config.
• JSON column errors: Ensure your database version supports JSON columns.
• Foreign key errors: Check that referenced tables exist.

Configuration Issues

# Clear config cache
php artisan config:clear

# Clear all caches
php artisan optimize:clear

Class Not Found

# Regenerate autoload files
composer dump-autoload

# Clear compiled classes
php artisan clear-compiled

Next Steps

• Continue to Setup to create your first conversation
• Learn about the Conversation Model
• Explore Message Types