--- title: Stop Reinventing Product Inventory in Every Laravel Project description: Discussion about "Stop Reinventing Product Inventory in Every Laravel Project" on daily.dev - join the developer community canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/stop-reinventing-product-inventory-in-every-laravel-project-4cte18yd7 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Stop Reinventing Product Inventory in Every Laravel Project | daily.dev og:description: Discussion about "Stop Reinventing Product Inventory in Every Laravel Project" on daily.dev - join the developer community og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/stop-reinventing-product-inventory-in-every-laravel-project-4cte18yd7 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/4CTe18yd7.png og:image:alt: Stop Reinventing Product Inventory in Every Laravel Project og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Stop Reinventing Product Inventory in Every Laravel Project **[Laravel Dev](https://daily.dev/sources/laraveldev)** · [@muhanz](https://daily.dev/muhanz) · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Content Every time I started a new Laravel project that needed a product catalog, I ended up writing the same things from scratch: product variants, stock tracking, reservation logic, audit trails. Each time slightly different, each time with bugs I'd already fixed in the previous project. So I built a package to solve this once. ## The Core Problem with Most Catalog Packages Most Laravel e-commerce packages are _full stacks_ — they bundle cart, checkout, payment, and orders alongside the catalog. That's fine if you're building a standard storefront, but it becomes a problem when: - Your order flow lives in a separate service - You already have an ERP or WMS managing stock - You need a custom checkout flow the package wasn't designed for - You just need the catalog layer, not an entire commerce platform `aliziodev/laravel-product-catalog` does one thing: **product catalog with variant-centric inventory**. You own the order flow. ## Variant-Centric Design The key architectural decision: `Product` is a **presentation entity**. `ProductVariant` is the **sellable unit**. ``` // Product is what customers browse $product = Product::create([ 'name' => 'Running Shoes', 'type' => ProductType::Variable, ]); // ProductVariant is what they actually buy $variant = ProductVariant::create([ 'product_id' => $product->id, 'sku' => 'RS-AIR-RED-42', 'price' => 850000, ]); // Stock is tracked per variant, not per product $variant->inventoryItem()->create([ 'quantity' => 100, 'policy' => InventoryPolicy::Track, ]); ``` This means price, stock, weight, and dimensions live on the variant — not on the product. A product with Red/S, Red/M, and Blue/S is three variants, each with their own inventory. ## Pluggable Inventory via Driver Pattern The inventory system is fully swappable. The package ships two built-in drivers: - `database` — stock tracked in `catalog_inventory_items` (default) - `null` — always in stock, no DB writes (digital goods, pre-orders) But if you already have stock in your own table or an external ERP, implement one interface and plug it in: ``` class ErpInventoryProvider implements InventoryProviderInterface { public function getQuantity(ProductVariant $variant): int { return Http::get("https://erp.internal/stock/{$variant->sku}") ->json('quantity', 0); } public function adjust(ProductVariant $variant, int $delta, string $reason = '', ?Model $reference = null): void { Http::post("https://erp.internal/stock/{$variant->sku}/adjust", [ 'delta' => $delta, 'reason' => $reason, ]); } // reserve(), release(), commit() ... } // Register ProductCatalog::extend('erp', fn () => new ErpInventoryProvider); ``` ``` PRODUCT_CATALOG_INVENTORY_DRIVER=erp ``` Your application code never changes. The driver handles the difference. ## Race-Condition Safe by Default This is where most DIY implementations break under load. Two concurrent requests both check stock, both see 5 units available, and both proceed — now you've oversold. The `DatabaseInventoryProvider` uses **pessimistic locking** to prevent this: ``` // Inside every write operation (adjust, reserve, commit, etc.) DB::transaction(function () use ($variant, $callback) { $item = InventoryItem::where('variant_id', $variant->getKey()) ->lockForUpdate() // SELECT ... FOR UPDATE ->first(); return $callback($item); }); ``` The `getOrCreateItem()` call happens _outside_ the transaction intentionally — running `firstOrCreate` inside a transaction on a potentially non-existent row can escalate to a gap lock and deadlock under concurrent inserts. ## Full Reservation Lifecycle The package supports the reserve → commit/release pattern that every real e-commerce flow needs: ``` Customer places order → reserve() // hold stock, quantity unchanged Payment confirmed → commit() // deduct permanently (both quantity and reserved) Order cancelled → release() // return the hold ``` ``` $inventory = ProductCatalog::inventory(); // Order created — soft-hold stock $inventory->reserve($variant, 3, InventoryReason::ORDER_PLACED, $order); // Payment confirmed — permanent deduction $inventory->commit($variant, 3, InventoryReason::ORDER_FULFILLED, $order); // Or: order cancelled — release the hold $inventory->release($variant, 3, InventoryReason::ORDER_CANCELLED, $order); ``` Every operation writes an append-only `InventoryMovement` record — a complete audit trail for every stock change. ## Events for the Moments That Matter ``` // Fires when adjust(), set(), or commit() changes total quantity InventoryAdjusted::class // Fires when reserve() or release() changes reserved_quantity InventoryReserved::class // Fires when available quantity crosses low_stock_threshold (from above) InventoryLowStock::class // $event->availableQuantity, $event->threshold // Fires when available quantity drops to zero InventoryOutOfStock::class ``` `InventoryLowStock` and `InventoryOutOfStock` only fire on **threshold crossing** — not on every operation below the threshold. When stock hits zero, only `InventoryOutOfStock` fires (not both). ## What the Package Intentionally Leaves Out **No image gallery.** Use spatie/laravel-medialibrary or whatever your project already uses. The package has `featured_image_path` for a single URL and `meta` JSON for anything else. **No product attributes table.** Filterable attributes (material, wattage, color family) are domain-specific — a fashion store's schema looks nothing like an electronics store's. The `meta` JSON column handles display-only specs. If you need filterable attributes, add the table yourself at the application level. **No order, cart, or payment.** You own the transaction flow. The package gives you `reserve()`, `release()`, and `commit()` — wire them into your own order actions. ## Quick Start ``` composer require aliziodev/laravel-product-catalog php artisan catalog:install ``` ``` use Aliziodev\ProductCatalog\Models\Product; use Aliziodev\ProductCatalog\Enums\ProductType; use Aliziodev\ProductCatalog\Enums\InventoryPolicy; $product = Product::create(['name' => 'T-Shirt', 'type' => ProductType::Simple]); $variant = $product->variants()->create(['sku' => 'TS-WHT-M', 'price' => 150000]); $variant->inventoryItem()->create(['quantity' => 50, 'policy' => InventoryPolicy::Track]); $product->publish(); Product::published()->inStock()->with('variants')->get(); ``` ## Who This Is For - You need a product catalog layer without a full commerce framework - Your order flow is custom or lives in a separate service - Your stock is managed externally (ERP, WMS, your own table) - You've written the same inventory logic across multiple projects and want to stop GitHub: [aliziodev/laravel-product-catalog](https://github.com/aliziodev/laravel-product-catalog) ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Don’t just attend KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon, Merge Forward your experience\!](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-just-attend-kubecon-cloudnativecon-merge-forward-your-experience--l0rpp73x8) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Announcing H2 2026 KCDs](https://daily.dev/posts/announcing-h2-2026-kcds-m96goajm1) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Two months of Open Community Groups](https://daily.dev/posts/two-months-of-open-community-groups-asf52zhbs) · CNCF · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Unveils Schedule for KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Europe 2026](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-unveils-schedule-for-kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe-2026-ikhcoa5cb) · CNCF · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Debuts KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Japan 2026 Schedule](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-debuts-kubecon-cloudnativecon-japan-2026-schedule-xp5pyudub) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/stop-reinventing-product-inventory-in-every-laravel-project-4cte18yd7) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https://daily.dev/posts/stop-reinventing-product-inventory-in-every-laravel-project-4cte18yd7","headline":"Stop Reinventing Product Inventory in Every Laravel Project","text":"Discussion about \"Stop Reinventing Product Inventory in Every Laravel Project\" on daily.dev - join the developer community","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/stop-reinventing-product-inventory-in-every-laravel-project-4cte18yd7","datePublished":"2026-04-27T05:30:49.462Z","dateModified":"2026-04-27T05:30:49.462Z","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Muhamad Hanafi","url":"https://daily.dev/muhanz","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocLSWpyFoPdnjldR4k8pT3D9nrqi7E79BhMOj5AO12TqFFLHO6lp=s96-c","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":80}},"image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--B7IVLpwf--/f_auto/v1777221057/posts/N92T6wVu4?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://daily.dev/squads/laraveldev","name":"Laravel Dev"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Laravel Dev","item":"https://daily.dev/squads/laraveldev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Stop Reinventing Product Inventory in Every Laravel Project"}]} ```