Build plugins. Not workarounds.

A single plugin can mix any of these surfaces — acelle/ai uses 7 of 14 in one package.

1. 1

   Scaffold the plugin

   Creates the standard folder layout + an inactive DB row.

   bash

   $ php artisan plugin:init myvendor/loyalty
     ✓ Created storage/app/plugins/myvendor/loyalty/
     ✓ DB row inserted  (status: inactive)
     ✓ index.json + ServiceProvider autoloaded

2. 2

   Edit composer.json

   Tell Composer about your namespace and the ServiceProvider.

   json

   {
     "name": "myvendor/loyalty",
     "description": "Award points on signup",
     "version": "1.0.0",
     "autoload":  { "psr-4": { "MyVendor\\Loyalty\\": "src/" } },
     "extra":     { "laravel": { "providers": [
       "MyVendor\\Loyalty\\ServiceProvider"
     ] } }
   }

3. 3

   Write a migration

   Plugin-isolated table, vendor-prefixed name. Runs on activate, rolls back on delete.

   php

   Schema::create('myvendor_loyalty_accounts', function (Blueprint $t) {
       $t->id();
       $t->foreignId('customer_id')->constrained()->cascadeOnDelete();
       $t->integer('points')->default(0);
       $t->timestamps();
   });

4. 4

   Define a model

   Standard Eloquent model in your own namespace.

   php

   namespace MyVendor\Loyalty\Models;
   
   use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
   
   class Account extends Model
   {
       protected $table    = 'myvendor_loyalty_accounts';
       protected $fillable = ['customer_id', 'points'];
   }

5. 5

   Add a controller and view

   Plain Laravel controller — view namespace is your plugin name.

   php

   namespace MyVendor\Loyalty\Controllers;
   
   use Acelle\Http\Controllers\Controller;
   
   class DashboardController extends Controller
   {
       public function index()
       {
           return view('loyalty::dashboard', [
               'accounts' => \MyVendor\Loyalty\Models\Account::orderByDesc('points')->take(10)->get(),
           ]);
       }
   }

6. 6

   Declare routes

   Same Route::group you already use. Loaded by ServiceProvider::boot().

   php

   Route::group([
       'middleware' => ['web', 'auth'],
       'namespace'  => '\MyVendor\Loyalty\Controllers',
       'prefix'     => 'plugins/myvendor/loyalty',
   ], function () {
       Route::get('/',          'DashboardController@index')->name('lp.dashboard');
       Route::get('/{account}', 'DashboardController@show');
   });

7. 7

   Wire it all up in ServiceProvider::boot()

   Load views + routes; hook into activate_plugin_… to migrate on activate.

   php

   public function boot(): void
   {
       $this->loadViewsFrom (__DIR__.'/../resources/views', 'loyalty');
       $this->loadRoutesFrom(__DIR__.'/../routes.php');
   
       Hook::on('activate_plugin_myvendor/loyalty', fn () =>
           \Artisan::call('migrate', [
               '--path'  => 'storage/app/plugins/myvendor/loyalty/database/migrations',
               '--force' => true,
           ])
       );
   
       Hook::on('customer_added', fn ($customer) =>
           Models\Account::create(['customer_id' => $customer->id, 'points' => 100])
       );
   }

8. 8

   Activate from admin

   Go to /rui/admin/plugins. Migrations run automatically. Plugin lives at its prefix.

   bash

   ✓ activated  myvendor/loyalty  v1.0.0
     → migrations: 1 ran (myvendor_loyalty_accounts)
     → routes:     2 registered under /plugins/myvendor/loyalty
     → hooks:      2 listening (activate, customer_added)
     → status:     active
   
   → visit /plugins/myvendor/loyalty/  ← live

You now have a working plugin. Add as many models, controllers, hooks as your feature demands. Tests live in tests/; run them with php artisan test --testsuite='Plugin: myvendor/loyalty'. Source the canonical contract at knowledge.acellemail.com.