Helpers

Helper files are PHP files containing global functions. The package discovers them and loads them via require_once in the service provider's register() phase, before Laravel's boot phase runs. That makes the helper functions available everywhere in your application from the earliest possible point.

'helpers' => [
    'active' => true,
    'patterns' => [
        '*/Helpers/*.php',
    ],
],

Modules/Blog/
└── Helpers/
    ├── formatting.php
    └── strings.php

Modules/Shop/
└── Helpers/
    └── pricing.php

Helper files are plain PHP files that define functions. Always wrap each function in a function_exists() check to prevent redeclaration errors if multiple modules define the same helper name:

// Modules/Blog/Helpers/formatting.php

if (! function_exists('format_reading_time')) {
    function format_reading_time(string $text): string
    {
        $words = str_word_count(strip_tags($text));
        $minutes = max(1, (int) ceil($words / 200));

        return "{$minutes} min read";
    }
}

if (! function_exists('excerpt')) {
    function excerpt(string $text, int $limit = 150): string
    {
        return Str::limit(strip_tags($text), $limit);
    }
}

After discovery, call them anywhere in your application:

$readTime = format_reading_time($post->body);
$summary = excerpt($post->body, 200);

Helpers load in module order, and within each module, files load in the order the glob pattern returns them (typically alphabetical). If two modules define the same function name, the function_exists() guard means the first one loaded wins.

If you need a specific module's helpers to load first (for example, a Shared module with common utilities), set that module's order to a low number in the modules config.

Helper files work well for small, stateless utility functions that don't need dependency injection. For anything that depends on services, config values, or application state, a service class or a facade is a better fit. Helpers are global and can't be mocked in tests without extra effort.

Set 'helpers.active' => false to stop loading helper files. Adjust 'helpers.patterns' to change which files are discovered.