Soft Deletes#

AuditChain auto-detects when a model uses Laravel's SoftDeletes trait and captures additional events accordingly. No configuration required.

Auto-Detection#

When your model uses SoftDeletes, AuditChain automatically registers listeners for restored and forceDeleted events alongside the standard created, updated, and deleted events:

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\SoftDeletes;
use GrayMatter\AuditChain\Concerns\HasAuditTrail;
use GrayMatter\AuditChain\Contracts\Auditable;

class Document extends Model implements Auditable
{
    use HasAuditTrail, SoftDeletes;
}

Captured Events#

Soft deletes record deleted — the same event name as a regular delete. The difference is that the model still exists in the database. The restored and forceDeleted events only fire on models with SoftDeletes.

Full Lifecycle Example#

$document = Document::create(['title' => 'Report Q4']);
// audit log: event=created

$document->update(['title' => 'Report Q4 (Final)']);
// audit log: event=updated

$document->delete();
// audit log: event=deleted (soft delete)

$document->restore();
// audit log: event=restored

$document->forceDelete();
// audit log: event=forceDeleted (permanent)

Works with Both Modes#

SoftDeletes detection works identically with HasActivityLog (light mode) and HasAuditTrail (full mode). In full mode, all soft delete events are included in the cryptographic hash chain.