Quickstart

This guide builds an admin for a blog: a Post that belongs to a User. At the end you have a list with search and sorting, create and edit forms, a detail page and a link to the author, without writing any frontend code.

It assumes Lathe is installed and you can sign in at /lathe. If not, follow Installation first.

Step 1: the model and its table

Lathe works on your Eloquent models, so start with plain Laravel:

php artisan make:model Post -m

In the new migration, add the columns:

Schema::create('posts', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->id();
    $table->foreignId('user_id')->constrained()->cascadeOnDelete();
    $table->string('title');
    $table->string('status')->default('draft');
    $table->text('body')->nullable();
    $table->timestamp('published_at')->nullable();
    $table->timestamps();
});

Give the model its relation and casts:

class Post extends Model
{
    protected $fillable = ['user_id', 'title', 'status', 'body', 'published_at'];

    protected function casts(): array
    {
        return ['published_at' => 'datetime'];
    }

    public function user(): BelongsTo
    {
        return $this->belongsTo(User::class);
    }
}

Then run php artisan migrate.

Step 2: the Resource

A Resource tells Lathe how to show a model. Generate one:

php artisan lathe:resource Post

It writes app/Lathe/Resources/Post.php and a policy, app/Policies/PostPolicy.php. Lathe finds every Resource in app/Lathe/Resources, so Posts is already in the sidebar.

Step 3: the fields

Open the Resource and describe the post:

namespace App\Lathe\Resources;

use Lathe\Field\Field;
use Lathe\Http\Requests\LatheRequest;
use Lathe\Resources\Resource;
use Lathe\Resources\ResourceDefinition;

class Post extends Resource
{
    protected function configure(ResourceDefinition $definition): ResourceDefinition
    {
        return $definition->model(\App\Models\Post::class)
            ->title('title')
            ->searchable(['title']);
    }

    public function fields(LatheRequest $request): array
    {
        return [
            Field::id()->sortable(),
            Field::text('Title')->required()->rules('max:255')->sortable(),
            Field::belongsTo('Author', 'user', User::class),
            Field::select('Status')->options(['draft', 'published'])->default('draft')->required(),
            Field::markdown('Body')->nullable(),
            Field::dateTime('Published at')->nullable()->sortable(),
        ];
    }
}

title('title') names the column that stands for a post in links and pickers. searchable() turns on the search box. The Fields page lists every field type.

Step 4: who may do what

Lathe denies every action the policy has no method for. The generated policy allows viewing only, so add the rest:

public function create(Authenticatable $user): bool
{
    return true;
}

public function update(Authenticatable $user, Post $post): bool
{
    return true;
}

public function delete(Authenticatable $user, Post $post): bool
{
    return true;
}

// The Author field links a post to a user, which needs its own ability: add, then the relation name.
public function addUser(Authenticatable $user, Post $post): bool
{
    return true;
}

Without addUser(), saving the form fails with "You are not authorized to relate this resource." Return your own rules here, such as $post->user_id === $user->id. See Policies.

Step 5: open the panel

Open /lathe/resources/posts. Press "Create Post", fill the form and choose the author (a picker that searches as you type once there are many users), then save. You land on the detail page; the list shows the post, sorted and searchable.

Next steps

• Add filters and lenses: Filters, Lenses.
• Act on many posts at once: Actions.
• Put numbers on a dashboard: Dashboards.

What you see

The sidebar lists Posts. The list shows each post's id, title, author, status and date, with a search box and sortable columns, and "Create Post" opens a form with the author picker.