Automatically broadcast WebSocket events to private user channels whenever a database notification is saved using an observer on Laravel's DatabaseNotification model.
Laravel's notification system supports both database persistence (via: ['database']) and real-time broadcasting (via: ['broadcast']). However, configuring notifications to broadcast simultaneously often duplicates payload formatting and requires configuring separate broadcast channels for each notification class.
By attaching an observer to Laravel's underlying DatabaseNotification model, you can automatically broadcast every database notification in real time over private channels with zero per-notification boilerplate.
1. Register the Observer in AppServiceProvider
namespace AppProviders;
use IlluminateBroadcastingPrivateChannel;
use IlluminateNotificationsDatabaseNotification;
use IlluminateSupportServiceProvider;
class AppServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
{
public function boot(): void
{
DatabaseNotification::observe(new class {
public function created(DatabaseNotification $notification): void
{
broadcast(new class($notification) {
public function __construct(
public DatabaseNotification $notification
) {}
public function broadcastOn(): PrivateChannel
{
// Derives channel from notifiable type (e.g. 'users.42')
$type = strtolower(class_basename(str($this->notification->notifiable_type)->plural()));
return new PrivateChannel("{$type}.{$this->notification->notifiable_id}");
}
public function broadcastAs(): string
{
return 'DatabaseNotificationCreated';
}
});
}
});
}
}2. Listening with Laravel Echo (Frontend)
In your client-side JavaScript or Alpine.js component, subscribe to the user's private channel:
Echo.private(`users.${userId}`)
.listen('.DatabaseNotificationCreated', (e) => {
console.log('New notification received:', e.notification);
});3. Listening in Livewire Components
In Livewire 3 components, use the #[On] attribute:
namespace AppLivewire;
use LivewireAttributesOn;
use LivewireComponent;
class NotificationBell extends Component
{
#[On('echo-private:users.{userId},.DatabaseNotificationCreated')]
public function onNotificationReceived(array $payload): void
{
$this->dispatch('refreshNotifications');
}
}Summary
- Observe
DatabaseNotification::createdto automatically broadcast real-time events for every stored database notification. - Eliminates the need to duplicate broadcast payload definitions in individual notification classes.
- Seamlessly integrates with Laravel Echo, Livewire, and Vue/React frontend architectures.
Tags:
Laravel Notifications WebSockets Events Real-Time