Defining flows

Name: Approval Flows
Price: 59 USD

A flow is the template; an approval is one run of that template against a record. This page is the field reference for flows and steps.

Flows

ApprovalFlow fields:

Field	Type	Notes
`name`	string	Human label, shown in the panel.
`model_type`	string	Fully-qualified model class the flow applies to, e.g. `App\Models\PurchaseOrder`.
`is_active`	bool	Only an active flow is picked up by `submitForApproval()`. Default `true`.

One active flow per model type

submitForApproval() with no explicit flow calls ApprovalFlow::activeFor($model::class), which returns the first active flow for that model type:

public static function activeFor(string $modelType): ?ApprovalFlow
{
    return static::query()
        ->where('model_type', $modelType)
        ->where('is_active', true)
        ->first();
}

Keep exactly one active flow per model type, or pass the flow explicitly:

$po->submitForApproval(flow: $specificFlow);

If no active flow is found, submitForApproval() throws ApprovalException::noActiveFlow(). If the flow has no steps, it throws ApprovalException::flowHasNoSteps().

Steps

ApprovalStep fields:

Field	Type	Notes
`sort_order`	int	Steps run ascending. Start at 0.
`name`	string	Human label for the step.
`mode`	`any` \| `all`	How the step passes. See below. Default `any`.
`approver_type`	`role` \| `users`	How approvers are resolved. Default `role`.
`approver_role`	string\|null	Role name when `approver_type` is `role`.
`approver_ids`	array\|null	User IDs when `approver_type` is `users`.
`allow_delegation`	bool	Whether approvers may delegate this step. Default `true`.
`escalate_after_hours`	int\|null	Per-step escalation window; falls back to the config default.

Step modes

any — the step passes as soon as one assigned approver approves. Use for "any manager can sign".
all — the step passes only when every resolved approver has approved (parallel sign-off). Use for "both finance officers must agree".

$flow->steps()->create([
    'sort_order' => 0,
    'name' => 'Any manager',
    'approver_type' => 'role',
    'approver_role' => 'manager',
    'mode' => 'any',
]);

$flow->steps()->create([
    'sort_order' => 1,
    'name' => 'Both signatories',
    'approver_type' => 'users',
    'approver_ids' => [$cfo->id, $ceo->id],
    'mode' => 'all',
]);

With mode all and a role approver, "everyone" means every user currently holding that role. Adding a user to the role mid-run adds them to the required set. For a fixed set of signatories, use approver_type = users.

Ordering and advancing

When a step passes, the plugin looks up the next step by sort_order (ApprovalStep::nextStep()). If there is none, the run is marked approved and ApprovalCompleted fires. Rejection at any step ends the run immediately with status rejected.

Editing flows at runtime

Because flows and steps are ordinary rows, you can manage them from the bundled Approval Flows resource (or your own UI) with no deploy. Changes affect new runs; approvals already in progress keep the step rows they were created against.

Next: Approver resolution.

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