Laravel Help Desk

A comprehensive help desk and ticket management system for Laravel applications with email integration.

Requirements

• PHP 8.1+
• Laravel 10, 11, or 12

Installation

composer require jeffersongoncalves/laravel-help-desk

The package uses Laravel's auto-discovery, so the service provider and facade are registered automatically.

Publish Configuration

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=help-desk-config

Publish Migrations

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=help-desk-migrations

Run Migrations

php artisan migrate

Publish Translations (optional)

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=help-desk-translations

Configuration

The configuration file is located at config/help-desk.php. Key options:

return [
    // Models used by the help desk
    'models' => [
        'user'     => \App\Models\User::class,  // Model that creates tickets
        'operator' => \App\Models\User::class,   // Model that manages tickets
    ],

    // Ticket settings
    'ticket' => [
        'reference_prefix'   => 'HD',           // Ticket reference format: HD-00001
        'default_status'     => 'open',
        'default_priority'   => 'medium',
        'attachment_disk'    => 'local',         // Storage disk for attachments
        'auto_close_days'    => null,            // Auto-close resolved tickets (null = disabled)
        'allow_reopen'       => true,
    ],

    // Email integration
    'email' => [
        'enabled' => true,
        'inbound' => [
            'driver' => null, // 'imap', 'mailgun', 'sendgrid', or 'resend'
        ],
    ],

    // Notification settings
    'notifications' => [
        'channels' => ['mail'],
        'queue'    => 'default',
    ],
];

Setup

1. Add Traits to Your User Model

For regular users (ticket creators):

use JeffersonGoncalves\HelpDesk\Concerns\HasTickets;

class User extends Authenticatable
{
    use HasTickets;
}

For operators/agents (ticket managers):

use JeffersonGoncalves\HelpDesk\Concerns\IsOperator;

class User extends Authenticatable
{
    use IsOperator; // Includes HasTickets
}

2. Create Departments

use JeffersonGoncalves\HelpDesk\Facades\HelpDesk;

$department = HelpDesk::createDepartment([
    'name' => 'Technical Support',
    'slug' => 'technical-support',
    'email' => 'support@example.com',
    'is_active' => true,
]);

3. Assign Operators to Departments

HelpDesk::addOperator($department, $user, 'operator'); // 'operator', 'manager', or 'admin'

Usage

Creating Tickets

use JeffersonGoncalves\HelpDesk\Facades\HelpDesk;

$ticket = HelpDesk::createTicket([
    'title' => 'Cannot access my account',
    'description' => 'I get an error when trying to log in...',
    'department_id' => $department->id,
    'priority' => 'high',
], $user);

// $ticket->reference_number => "HD-00001"
// $ticket->uuid => "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000"

Managing Tickets

// Find tickets
$ticket = HelpDesk::findTicketByReference('HD-00001');
$ticket = HelpDesk::findTicketByUuid('550e8400-...');

// Assign to operator
HelpDesk::assignTicket($ticket, $operator);
HelpDesk::unassignTicket($ticket);

// Change status
use JeffersonGoncalves\HelpDesk\Enums\TicketStatus;

HelpDesk::changeStatus($ticket, TicketStatus::InProgress);
HelpDesk::closeTicket($ticket);
HelpDesk::reopenTicket($ticket);

// Update ticket
HelpDesk::updateTicket($ticket, [
    'priority' => 'urgent',
    'category_id' => $category->id,
]);

// Delete ticket (soft delete)
HelpDesk::deleteTicket($ticket);

Comments

// Add a public reply
$comment = HelpDesk::addComment($ticket, $user, 'Thank you for contacting us.');

// Add an internal note (not visible to end user)
$note = HelpDesk::addNote($ticket, $operator, 'Escalating to senior engineer.');

// Add comment with attachments
$comment = HelpDesk::addComment($ticket, $user, 'See attached screenshot.', [
    'attachments' => [$uploadedFile],
]);

Watchers

HelpDesk::addWatcher($ticket, $anotherUser);
HelpDesk::removeWatcher($ticket, $anotherUser);

Querying Tickets

use JeffersonGoncalves\HelpDesk\Models\Ticket;
use JeffersonGoncalves\HelpDesk\Enums\TicketStatus;
use JeffersonGoncalves\HelpDesk\Enums\TicketPriority;

// Open tickets
$open = Ticket::open()->get();

// Closed tickets
$closed = Ticket::closed()->get();

// By status
$inProgress = Ticket::byStatus(TicketStatus::InProgress)->get();

// By priority
$urgent = Ticket::byPriority(TicketPriority::Urgent)->get();

// Overdue tickets
$overdue = Ticket::overdue()->get();

// Unassigned tickets
$unassigned = Ticket::unassigned()->get();

// User's tickets (via trait)
$user->helpDeskTickets;

// Operator's assigned tickets (via trait)
$operator->helpDeskAssignedTickets;

Canned Responses

use JeffersonGoncalves\HelpDesk\Models\CannedResponse;

CannedResponse::create([
    'title' => 'Greeting',
    'body' => 'Thank you for contacting our support team...',
    'department_id' => $department->id,
    'is_active' => true,
]);

// Get canned responses for a department
$responses = CannedResponse::active()
    ->forDepartment($department->id)
    ->ordered()
    ->get();

Categories

use JeffersonGoncalves\HelpDesk\Models\Category;

$category = Category::create([
    'department_id' => $department->id,
    'name' => 'Billing',
    'slug' => 'billing',
    'is_active' => true,
]);

// Subcategories
$sub = Category::create([
    'department_id' => $department->id,
    'parent_id' => $category->id,
    'name' => 'Refunds',
    'slug' => 'refunds',
]);

Ticket Statuses

Status	Description
open	New ticket, awaiting response
pending	Awaiting user response
in_progress	Being worked on by an operator
on_hold	Temporarily on hold
resolved	Issue has been resolved
closed	Ticket is closed

Status transitions are validated automatically. For example, a closed ticket can only transition to open (reopen).

Ticket Priorities

Priority	Numeric Value
low	1
medium	2
high	3
urgent	4

Events

The package dispatches events that you can listen to in your application:

Event	Description
TicketCreated	A new ticket was created
TicketUpdated	A ticket was updated
TicketStatusChanged	Ticket status changed
TicketPriorityChanged	Ticket priority changed
TicketAssigned	Ticket was assigned to an operator
TicketClosed	Ticket was closed
TicketReopened	Ticket was reopened
TicketDeleted	Ticket was deleted
CommentAdded	A comment was added to a ticket
AttachmentAdded	An attachment was added
AttachmentRemoved	An attachment was removed
InboundEmailReceived	An inbound email was received
InboundEmailProcessed	An inbound email was processed

Disabling Default Listeners

If you want to handle events yourself:

// config/help-desk.php
'register_default_listeners' => false,

Email Integration

Outbound Notifications

Notifications are sent automatically when events occur (configurable via notifications.notify_on). Email threading is supported via Message-ID, In-Reply-To, and References headers.

Inbound Email

The package supports receiving emails via 5 drivers:

IMAP

HELPDESK_INBOUND_DRIVER=imap
HELPDESK_IMAP_HOST=imap.example.com
HELPDESK_IMAP_PORT=993
HELPDESK_IMAP_ENCRYPTION=ssl
HELPDESK_IMAP_USERNAME=support@example.com
HELPDESK_IMAP_PASSWORD=your-password
HELPDESK_IMAP_FOLDER=INBOX

Requires the webklex/php-imap package:

composer require webklex/php-imap

Schedule the polling command in your app/Console/Kernel.php or routes/console.php:

$schedule->command('help-desk:poll-imap')->everyFiveMinutes();

Mailgun

HELPDESK_INBOUND_DRIVER=mailgun
HELPDESK_MAILGUN_SIGNING_KEY=your-signing-key

Configure your Mailgun route to forward to:

POST https://your-app.com/help-desk/webhooks/mailgun

SendGrid

HELPDESK_INBOUND_DRIVER=sendgrid
HELPDESK_SENDGRID_WEBHOOK_USERNAME=your-username
HELPDESK_SENDGRID_WEBHOOK_PASSWORD=your-password

Configure your SendGrid Inbound Parse to forward to:

POST https://your-app.com/help-desk/webhooks/sendgrid

Resend

HELPDESK_INBOUND_DRIVER=resend
HELPDESK_RESEND_API_KEY=re_your-api-key
HELPDESK_RESEND_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_your-webhook-secret

Configure your Resend receiving domain webhook to forward to:

POST https://your-app.com/help-desk/webhooks/resend

Select the email.received event type in your Resend webhook configuration.

Postmark

HELPDESK_INBOUND_DRIVER=postmark
HELPDESK_POSTMARK_WEBHOOK_USERNAME=your-username
HELPDESK_POSTMARK_WEBHOOK_PASSWORD=your-password

In your Postmark server, go to the Inbound Message Stream settings and set the webhook URL to:

POST https://your-username:your-password@your-app.com/help-desk/webhooks/postmark

Postmark sends the full email content (body, headers, attachments) directly in the webhook payload. The package also uses Postmark's StrippedTextReply field for cleaner reply parsing.

Email Channels

You can configure multiple email channels, each mapped to a department:

use JeffersonGoncalves\HelpDesk\Models\EmailChannel;

EmailChannel::create([
    'department_id' => $department->id,
    'name' => 'Support Inbox',
    'driver' => 'mailgun',
    'email_address' => 'support@example.com',
    'settings' => [], // Driver-specific settings (encrypted)
    'is_active' => true,
]);

Email Threading

When an inbound email is received, the package resolves it to an existing ticket using:

1. In-Reply-To header
2. References header
3. Subject line reference number (e.g., HD-00001)

If no match is found, a new ticket is created.

Artisan Commands

# Poll IMAP mailboxes for new emails
php artisan help-desk:poll-imap

# Clean old processed inbound emails
php artisan help-desk:clean-emails --days=30

# Auto-close stale tickets
php artisan help-desk:close-stale --days=14 --status=resolved

# Dry run (see what would be closed)
php artisan help-desk:close-stale --days=14 --dry-run

Using the Services Directly

For more control, you can inject the service classes directly:

use JeffersonGoncalves\HelpDesk\Services\TicketService;
use JeffersonGoncalves\HelpDesk\Services\CommentService;
use JeffersonGoncalves\HelpDesk\Services\DepartmentService;
use JeffersonGoncalves\HelpDesk\Services\AttachmentService;

class MyController
{
    public function __construct(
        private TicketService $tickets,
        private CommentService $comments,
    ) {}

    public function store(Request $request)
    {
        $ticket = $this->tickets->create([
            'title' => $request->title,
            'description' => $request->description,
            'department_id' => $request->department_id,
        ], $request->user());

        return $ticket;
    }
}

Translation

The package ships with English and Brazilian Portuguese translations. To customize:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag=help-desk-translations

This publishes translation files to lang/vendor/help-desk/. You can modify them or add new locales.

// Using translations in your code
__('help-desk::tickets.messages.created')  // "Ticket created successfully."
__('help-desk::statuses.open')             // "Open"
__('help-desk::priorities.urgent')         // "Urgent"

Testing

composer test

Static Analysis

composer analyse

Code Formatting

composer format

License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.