vusys/laravel-nestedset

A modern Laravel implementation of the nested-set model for hierarchical data — strict types throughout, PHPStan level 9, atomic CASE-WHEN mutations, multi-tree scoping, soft-delete cascade, and an opinionated repair toolkit.

$root = Category::create(['name' => 'Root']);
$root->saveAsRoot();

$child = Category::create(['name' => 'Child']);
$child->appendToNode($root)->save();

Category::query()->whereDescendantOf($root->getBounds())->get();
$root->descendants()->orderBy('lft')->get();
$root->refresh()->getSubtreeSize();  // rgt - lft + 1

Why nested set?

The nested-set encoding stores lft and rgt integers on every node so any subtree, ancestor chain, or descendant set is a single BETWEEN query — no recursive CTEs, no N+1 loops. The price is that mutations (insert / move / delete) have to shift many rows to keep the lft/rgt sequence dense, so it's best suited to read-heavy hierarchies: category trees, menu structures, org charts, comment threads.

This package executes every shift as a single CASE WHEN UPDATE, so even a subtree move that touches thousands of rows is one round trip.

Installation

composer require vusys/laravel-nestedset

The service provider auto-registers Blueprint macros and registers a publishable config file:

php artisan vendor:publish \
    --provider="Vusys\NestedSet\NestedSetServiceProvider" \
    --tag=nestedset-config

See the Installation guide for the rest of the setup (migration macros, model trait, scoped trees).

Documentation

Full documentation lives at https://vusys.github.io/laravel-nestedset/.

• Getting Started — Introduction · Installation · Migration · Primary Keys · Model Setup
• Tree Operations — Inserting & Moving · Soft Deletes · Bulk Insertion
• Querying — Tree Queries · Eloquent Relations · In-memory Tree Shaping · Inspection · Scoped Trees
• Aggregates — Overview · Setup · Reading · Declaring · Filtered · Listeners · Recipes · Maintenance · Drift & Limitations
• Maintenance — Tree Repair · Repairing Aggregates · Corruption Reference
• Reference — Configuration · Testing Helpers · Transactions · Production Notes · vs. kalnoy/nestedset

The site is built from the markdown in docs/ — if you spot an error, edit the source and open a PR.

Contributing

Run the full check suite before opening a PR:

composer pint:check    # style
composer rector:check  # automated refactors
composer analyse       # static analysis
composer test          # unit + feature

All four must pass on CI before merge.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.