Remember the Visitor Referrer Across Requests

This package allows you to detect and store visitor referrers so that you can access them later. A typical use case would be saving the referrer in a database when a visitor registers in your app.

Out of the box, it captures:

• Google Click ID (gclid)
• Meta Click ID (fbclid)
• TikTok Click ID (ttclid)
• Header referrer value
• All URL UTM values
• Or add your own source

The package is designed to be highly flexible regarding:

• How you want to detect the referrer
• How you want to store the referrer value

Out of the box, it can store referrer values in:

• Laravel Context
• Laravel Session
• A Cookie
• Or add your own driver

Installation

You can install the package via Composer:

composer require elegantly/laravel-referrer

Usage

First, publish the config file with:

php artisan vendor:publish --tag="referrer-config"

Configuration

Then configure your sources and drivers:

use Elegantly\Referrer\Enums\Strategy;

return [
    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Referrer Sources
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | These classes contain the logic to detect the visitor's referrer.
    | You can disable specific sources or add as many as needed.
    | Regardless of the number of sources defined, all values will be stored.
    |
    */
    'sources' => [
        \Elegantly\Referrer\Sources\UtmReferrerSource::class,
        \Elegantly\Referrer\Sources\RequestHeaderSource::class,
        \Elegantly\Referrer\Sources\GoogleClickIdSource::class,
        \Elegantly\Referrer\Sources\MetaClickIdSource::class,
        \Elegantly\Referrer\Sources\TikTokClickIdSource::class,
    ],

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Referrer Strategy
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | Define the strategy for storing referrer values. You can also customize
    | the strategy for each source.
    |
    | 'last'  : Stores only the last captured value, ignoring previous ones.
    | 'first' : Stores only the first captured value, ignoring subsequent ones.
    | 'all'   : Stores all captured values.
    |
    */
    'strategy' => Strategy::All,

    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Referrer Drivers
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | These classes contain the logic to store the visitor's referrer.
    | By default, all drivers are disabled. To enable a driver, uncomment it
    | or add a custom driver.
    |
    | Regardless of the number of drivers defined, they will all store
    | referrer sources. When accessing referrer data, drivers may be merged,
    | with the last driver overwriting the others.
    |
    | It is recommended to enable at least the Cookie driver for long-term
    | storage and the Session driver for immediate storage.
    |
    */
    'drivers' => [
        // \Elegantly\Referrer\Drivers\CookieDriver::class => [
        //     'name' => Str::slug(env('APP_NAME', 'laravel'), '_') . '_referrer',
        //     /**
        //      * Lifetime in seconds.
        //      */
        //     'lifetime' => 60 * 60 * 24 * 365,
        // ],
        // \Elegantly\Referrer\Drivers\SessionDriver::class => [
        //     'key' => 'referrer',
        // ],
        // \Elegantly\Referrer\Drivers\ContextDriver::class => [
        //     'key' => 'referrer',
        // ],
    ],
];

In the configuration file, enable one or more drivers by uncommenting them.

Middleware Configuration

Next, add the CaptureReferrerMiddleware to your route:

Using Laravel v11:

use Elegantly\Referrer\CaptureReferrerMiddleware;

->withMiddleware(function (Middleware $middleware) {
     $middleware->append(CaptureReferrerMiddleware::class);
})

Using Laravel v10:

use Elegantly\Referrer\CaptureReferrerMiddleware;

namespace App\Http;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Kernel as HttpKernel;

class Kernel extends HttpKernel
{
    protected $middlewareGroups = [
        'web' => [
            // ...
            \Elegantly\Referrer\CaptureReferrerMiddleware::class,
        ],
    ];
}

Once configured, your referrer sources will be automatically captured.

Choosing a Strategy

What happens when a user encounters multiple referrers during their navigation? For example, a user might click on multiple Google Ads campaigns or links with different UTM parameters.

This package supports 3 capture strategies:

• First: Only capture the first referrer of each source
• Last: Only capture the last referrer of each source
• All: Capture all referrers

From the config, you can define a strategy globally using:

use Elegantly\Referrer\Enums\Strategy;

return [
    //...
    'strategy' => Strategy::Last,
    //...
]

You can also define the strategy per source like this:

use Elegantly\Referrer\Enums\Strategy;

return [
    //...
    'strategy' => Strategy::Last, // Global strategy

    'sources' => [
        \Elegantly\Referrer\Sources\UtmReferrerSource::class => [
            'strategy' => Strategy::First, // Custom strategy for UTM referrers
        ],
        \Elegantly\Referrer\Sources\RequestHeaderSource::class,
        \Elegantly\Referrer\Sources\GoogleClickIdSource::class,
        \Elegantly\Referrer\Sources\MetaClickIdSource::class,
        \Elegantly\Referrer\Sources\TikTokClickIdSource::class,
    ],
    //...
]

Retrieving the Visitor Referrer

You can retrieve the referrer sources using the facade:

use \Elegantly\Referrer\Facades\Referrer;

Referrer::getSources(); // Merges all drivers together, with the last one having priority
Referrer::getSourcesByDriver(); // Retrieves all driver values

Retrieve the first or last referrer value:

use \Elegantly\Referrer\Sources\UtmReferrerSource;
use \Elegantly\Referrer\Sources\GoogleClickIdSource;
use \Elegantly\Referrer\Facades\Referrer;

Referrer::getSources()->getFirst(UtmReferrerSource::class);
// Returns an instance of UtmReferrerSource

Referrer::getSources()->getLast(GoogleClickIdSource::class);
// Returns an instance of GoogleClickIdSource

Retrieve the oldest or latest referrer value from any source:

use \Elegantly\Referrer\Facades\Referrer;

Referrer::getSources()->getOldest();
// Returns an instance of ReferrerSource

Referrer::getSources()->getLatest();
// Returns an instance of ReferrerSource

Here is a complete example inside a controller:

namespace App\Http\Controllers\Auth;

use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use App\Http\Requests\Auth\RegisterRequest;
use App\Models\User;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
use Elegantly\Referrer\Facades\Referrer;
use \Elegantly\Referrer\Sources\UtmReferrerSource;

class RegisteredUserController extends Controller
{
    public function store(RegisterRequest $request)
    {
        $validated = $request->validated();

        $user = new User($validated);

        /**
         * The value returned will be the latest referrer value captured among all sources
         */
        $user->referrer = (string) Referrer::getSources()->getLatest();

        /**
         * The value returned will be the first UTM captured
         */
        $user->utm = (string) Referrer::getSources()->getFirst(UtmReferrerSource::class);

        $user->save();

        Auth::login($user);

        return redirect("/");
    }
}

Testing

composer test

Changelog

Please see CHANGELOG for more information on what has changed recently.

Contributing

Please see CONTRIBUTING for details.

Security Vulnerabilities

Please review our security policy for information on how to report security vulnerabilities.

Credits

• Quentin Gabriele
• All Contributors

License

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