Activities Without an Actor

Use the user as actor for a person's action and a named party for a system's action. An anonymous activity has no recorded actor: who acted is unknown, including when you deliberately use Storyfeed::anonymous() or by(null).

Choosing an Actor

Event	Actor	Headline
a user places an order	the user	:actor placed :object with :target
a job, command, or integration marks an order paid	a named party	:actor marked :object paid
an order expires without a recorded actor	none	:object expired at :target

Recording the Authenticated User

If you omit by(), Storyfeed uses the authenticated user by default:

app/Http/Controllers/OrderController.php

Fluent Syntax

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use App\Http\Requests\PlaceOrderRequest;
use App\Models\Shop;
use Illuminate\Http\RedirectResponse;
use Storyfeed\Facades\Storyfeed;

class OrderController extends Controller
{
    public function store(
        PlaceOrderRequest $request,
        Shop $shop,
    ): RedirectResponse {
        $order = $shop->orders()->create($request->validated());

        Storyfeed::activity()
            ->action('place', $order)
            ->to($shop)
            ->publish();

        return to_route('orders.show', $order);
    }
}

Named Arguments

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use App\Http\Requests\PlaceOrderRequest;
use App\Models\Shop;
use Illuminate\Http\RedirectResponse;
use Storyfeed\Facades\Storyfeed;

class OrderController extends Controller
{
    public function store(
        PlaceOrderRequest $request,
        Shop $shop,
    ): RedirectResponse {
        $order = $shop->orders()->create($request->validated());

        Storyfeed::record(
            verb: 'place',
            object: $order,
            target: $shop,
        );

        return to_route('orders.show', $order);
    }
}

ES

Erica Sinclair placed Order #1035 with Scoops Ahoy2d ago

Preserving an Actor in Background Work

A job dispatched from an authenticated request carries that user. A job started by a console command or scheduler has no authenticated user. To record the person who acted, pass that user to the event or job and call by():

app/Events/OrderPlaced.php

<?php

namespace App\Events;

use App\Models\Order;
use App\Models\User;
use Storyfeed\Contracts\PublishesToFeed;
use Storyfeed\Facades\Storyfeed;
use Storyfeed\PendingActivity;

class OrderPlaced implements PublishesToFeed
{
    public function __construct(public Order $order, public User $customer) {}

    public function toFeedActivity(): ?PendingActivity
    {
        return Storyfeed::activity()
            ->by($this->customer) // the actor travels on the event
            ->action('place', $this->order)
            ->to($this->order->shop);
    }
}

It records the same activity as the controller above.

Recording a System Actor

Fluent Syntax

Storyfeed::activity()
    ->by('Stripe') 
    ->action('pay', $order)
    ->publish();

Named Arguments

Storyfeed::record(
    verb: 'pay',
    object: $order,
    actor: 'Stripe', 
);

S

Stripe marked Order #1035 paid2d ago

See Publishing From Events for the complete webhook or Sharing an Actor to use one party throughout a job. Parties can also fill other roles.

Recording No Actor

This scheduled command expires unpaid orders without recording an actor. Call Storyfeed::anonymous() to make that choice explicit:

Storyfeed::anonymous() // no actor, even inside Storyfeed::actor()
    ->action('expire', $order)
    ->to($order->shop)
    ->publish();

Order #1040 expired at Scoops Ahoy10h ago

The expire headline omits :actor. See Recording Anonymous Activities for the available APIs and Anonymous Headlines for wording when no actor is recorded.