Adding Reactions (Likes/Dislikes) to Laravel Models: A Hands-On Guide with qirolab/laravel-reactions

In today’s digital landscape, user engagement is everything. Whether you’re building a blog, forum, or social platform, allowing users to express themselves through reactions—like 👍, 👎, ❤️, or 😂—can dramatically boost interaction. In this guide, we’ll walk through how to add reaction functionality to any Laravel model using the brilliant qirolab/laravel-reactions package.

🧰 Why Use `qirolab/laravel-reactions`?

This package offers:

Plug-and-play reaction support for Eloquent models
Multiple reaction types (like, dislike, love, etc.)
Easy integration with existing user and content models
Clean API for adding, removing, and toggling reactions

Let’s dive in.

⚙️ Step 1: Install the Package

Run the following command in your Laravel project:

composer require qirolab/laravel-reactions

Laravel 5.5+ supports auto-discovery, so no need to manually register the service provider.

🗃️ Step 2: Publish and Run Migrations

To create the necessary tables:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Qirolab\Laravel\Reactions\ReactionsServiceProvider" --tag=migrations
php artisan migrate

Optionally, publish the config file:

php artisan vendor:publish --provider="Qirolab\Laravel\Reactions\ReactionsServiceProvider" --tag=config

👤 Step 3: Prepare the User Model

Your User model needs to implement the ReactsInterface and use the Reacts trait:

use Qirolab\Laravel\Reactions\Traits\Reacts;
use Qirolab\Laravel\Reactions\Contracts\ReactsInterface;

class User extends Authenticatable implements ReactsInterface
{
    use Reacts;
}

📄 Step 4: Make Your Model Reactable

Let’s say you want users to react to Post models. Update your Post model like this:

use Qirolab\Laravel\Reactions\Traits\Reactable;
use Qirolab\Laravel\Reactions\Contracts\ReactableInterface;

class Post extends Model implements ReactableInterface
{
    use Reactable;
}

💡 Step 5: Add Reactions in Action

Here’s how users can react to posts:

$user->reactTo($post, 'like'); // React with 'like'
$post->react('dislike', $user); // React with 'dislike'

To remove a reaction:

$user->removeReactionFrom($post);
$post->removeReaction($user);

To toggle reactions:

$user->toggleReactionOn($post, 'like');

If the user already reacted with ‘like’, this will remove it. If not, it will add it.

📊 Step 6: Querying Reactions

You can fetch reaction data like this:

$post->reactionCounter; // Total reactions
$post->reactions;       // All reactions
$post->reactedBy;       // Users who reacted

To check if a user reacted:

$post->isReacted($user); // true or false

🧪 Bonus: Testing with Laravel Dusk

Since you’re big on automated testing, here’s a quick Dusk snippet:

public function test_user_can_like_post()
{
    $user = User::factory()->create();
    $post = Post::factory()->create();

    $this->browse(function (Browser $browser) use ($user, $post) {
        $browser->loginAs($user)
                ->visit("/posts/{$post->id}")
                ->press('Like')
                ->assertSee('You liked this post');
    });
}

🎯 Final Thoughts

The qirolab/laravel-reactions package is a lightweight yet powerful way to add expressive features to your Laravel app. Whether you’re building a social feed or a comment system, reactions can make your platform feel more alive.

Fuel my creative spark with a virtual coffee! Your support keeps the ideas percolating—grab me a cup at Buy Me a Coffee and let’s keep the magic brewing!