Demo Mode by Russel Cruz

• Installation
• Custom Role Systems
• Configuration
• Persistence
• Isolation Boundaries
• Development

A Laravel 12 / Filament 4 and 5 plugin for persistent SQLite demo sandboxes and a separate role switcher. Select starting data, present workflows, exit, and restore the same sandbox later without expiry.

#Installation

Requires PHP 8.2+, PDO SQLite, Laravel 12, Filament 4 or 5, an Eloquent authenticatable user and application migrations compatible with SQLite.

Filament 4 uses Livewire 3; Filament 5 uses Livewire 4. The same plugin registration and configuration work with both versions.

composer require russelcruz28/filament-demo-mode:^0.1
php artisan demo-mode:install --migrate

The provider is auto-discovered. Installation publishes configuration without overwriting an existing file. --migrate runs only the package settings migration; omit it to manage migrations through your normal deployment process.

Register on your management panel:

use DemoMode\DemoModePlugin;

->plugins([DemoModePlugin::make()])

With Spatie Laravel Permission, the default adapter authorizes super_admin, discovers roles and permission tables, and applies one selected role at a time to the copied presenter. Production assignments are unchanged. Adjust authorized_roles and role_guard in config/demo-mode.php as needed.

Without Spatie, provide your own authorization policy:

DemoModePlugin::make()->authorizeUsing(fn ($user) => $user->is_admin)

Authorization denies access by default. Without a role integration the switcher offers Dashboard. Run php artisan demo-mode:doctor, open Demo Mode, save your model selection and start. The plugin owns /demo-mode/roles; your existing role chooser needs no changes.

#Custom Role Systems

Callbacks run against the sandbox user, except authorization, which checks the production user:

DemoModePlugin::make()
    ->authorizeUsing(fn ($user) => $user->is_admin)
    ->prepareUsing(function ($user): void {
        // Create sandbox-only memberships required by your application.
    })
    ->rolesUsing(fn ($user) => [
        ['id' => 'sales-manager', 'label' => 'Sales Manager',
            'group' => 'Sales', 'selected' => session('demo_role') === 'sales-manager'],
    ])
    ->switchRoleUsing(function ($user, string $id): string {
        session(['demo_role' => $id]);
        // Apply the selected role through your sandbox role service.
        return '/admin';
    })
    ->synchronizeRoleUsing(function ($user): void {
        // Reapply the selected role on subsequent demo requests.
    })
    ->exitUsing(fn () => '/admin');

Submitted roles must exist in rolesUsing() before the switch callback runs. Callbacks must enforce application-specific team/tenant rules. Include custom context keys in session_keys and supporting tables in required_tables. Tenant panels require an explicit integration; their policies cannot be inferred.

Complex applications can implement ApplicationAdapter and RoleSwitcher in DemoMode\Contracts, then use ->adapter(YourAdapter::class) or configure adapter. Optionally implement RequiredTables to discover dependency tables. Application-specific models and policies remain in your adapter, not in this package.

Use exactly one management panel. Register DemoModePlugin::make()->management(false) on other panels to retain middleware without adding another resource or replacing management configuration.

#Configuration

• models: explicit Eloquent class list; otherwise recursive discovery under model_path / model_namespace. Explicit-connection models are omitted.
• required_tables: always-copy tables; user/auth tables and foreign-key parents are discovered automatically. Unselected tables start empty but stay writable.
• session_keys: prefixes of context keys saved/restored across mode transitions. Include application carts, role selections and team context where needed.
• sandbox_config / sandbox_cache: application-specific overrides and private cache markers, such as disabling an external event publisher.
• root: private writable storage, optionally set using DEMO_MODE_ROOT.
• enabled: disable starting/restoring without deleting the saved database.

#Persistence

One current sandbox is retained per installation. Exit preserves its database, uploads and context. Restore requires the same authorized owner and works after logout or browser-session loss. There is no expiry or scheduled cleanup. Successful Start/Reset replaces the saved sandbox, including copies used by other browsers. Failed provisioning preserves the previous copy.

Data lives in <root>/<uuid>/database.sqlite. Private current.json metadata identifies the owner and saved context. Never expose this directory publicly. Multi-server deployments need shared storage or sticky routing. SQLite demos are not intended for high-concurrency workloads.

#Isolation Boundaries

Laravel database operations switch to SQLite; other Laravel connections are blocked during active runtime. Disks, cache and supported Redis operations are redirected. Mail, queued jobs and external notification channels are suppressed. Laravel HTTP requests reject stray calls. Production login and session persistence still use the source database outside active demo runtime. Livewire mode tokens reject stale submissions.

This is application-level isolation, not a security boundary. Raw PDO, external SDKs, direct file calls, SQL dialect-specific queries, cached service instances, non-web APIs and application policies need explicit review. Long-lived workers such as Octane have not been validated. See Security. Copied data is not anonymized. Production attachments are not copied. Workflows requiring external services or queued jobs need sandbox replacements. Startup is synchronous, so select limited datasets for large applications.

#Development

Run inside this directory:

composer install
composer test
composer lint
composer validate --strict

Standalone Orchestra Testbench tests do not depend on a host application. CI targets PHP 8.2, 8.3 and 8.4 with Laravel 12 and both Filament 4 and 5.

To test a specific Filament major locally:

composer update --with 'filament/filament:^4.0' --prefer-dist
composer test
composer update --with 'filament/filament:^5.0' --prefer-dist
composer test