The InteractsWithData trait

Understand the design of Illuminate\Support\Traits\InteractsWithData and how to add Laravel-style data access APIs to your package classes.

What is the InteractsWithData trait?

Illuminate\Support\Traits\InteractsWithData is a trait that groups common APIs for array-like input data.

The trait itself requires only two abstract methods: all() and data(). Each class provides its own data retrieval logic. In return, the trait gives you many high-frequency methods:

• Presence checks: has(), hasAny(), exists(), missing()
• Emptiness checks: filled(), isNotFilled(), anyFilled()
• Conditional execution: whenHas(), whenFilled(), whenMissing()
• Extraction: only(), except()
• Type conversion: string(), boolean(), integer(), float(), date(), enum(), collect()

Relationship to Request methods

Illuminate\Http\Request from the request() helper uses InteractsWithData through Concerns\InteractsWithInput.

So everyday input access patterns are provided through this trait:

$search = request()->input('search');

if (request()->has('search')) {
    $filters = request()->only(['search', 'status']);
}

$payload = request()->except(['_token']);

Request::get() is a Symfony-compatible method defined in the Request class itself. In Laravel 13 source code, it is explicitly marked @deprecated use ->input() instead, so input() is the recommended method.

$legacy = request()->get('search');  // Compatibility method (prefer input())

Main implementations in Laravel core

Classes that directly use InteractsWithData

Class	Purpose
Illuminate\Http\Concerns\InteractsWithInput	Input access API for Request
Illuminate\Support\ValidatedInput	Wrapper for return values of validated() / safe()
Illuminate\Support\Fluent	Fluent access to settings and arbitrary attributes
Illuminate\Support\UriQueryString	Query string operations for Uri
Illuminate\View\ComponentAttributeBag	Operations on Blade component attributes

Related implementations with similar responsibilities

• Illuminate\Session\Store implements similar APIs such as has(), get(), only(), and except() independently
• Illuminate\Validation\Concerns\ValidatesAttributes provides validation judgment logic and is intentionally separate from input access APIs

Relationship between the trait and core classes

Add it to your package classes

InteractsWithData fits package classes that store input arrays and should expose Laravel-style access APIs.

1. Create a data container class

   namespace Vendor\Package\Support;
   
   use Illuminate\Support\Arr;
   use Illuminate\Support\Traits\InteractsWithData;
   
   class OptionBag
   {
       use InteractsWithData;
   
       /**
        * @param  array<string, mixed>  $items
        */
       public function __construct(
           protected array $items = [],
       ) {}
   
       public function all($keys = null): array
       {
           if (! $keys) {
               return $this->items;
           }
   
           $result = [];
   
           $keyList = is_array($keys) ? $keys : [$keys];
   
           foreach ($keyList as $key) {
               Arr::set($result, $key, Arr::get($this->items, $key));
           }
   
           return $result;
       }
   
       protected function data($key = null, $default = null): mixed
       {
           return data_get($this->items, $key, $default);
       }
   }
   
2. Read values safely with typed accessors

   $options = new OptionBag([
       'feature.enabled' => 'true',
       'retry.max' => '5',
       'channels' => ['mail', 'slack'],
   ]);
   
   $enabled = $options->boolean('feature.enabled'); // true
   $retryMax = $options->integer('retry.max');      // 5
   $channels = $options->collect('channels');       // Collection
   $public = $options->except(['secret']);          // Excludes "secret"
   

Practical use cases

• Option bags for external API clients
• Normalization layers for webhook payloads
• Configuration override resolver classes in packages

If you implement only all() and data(), you avoid rebuilding input access APIs repeatedly and lower maintenance cost.

Related pages

• The Macroable trait
• The Conditionable trait
• The tap() helper and Tappable trait