Build a Laravel Chat App with Laravel Chatify: A Step-by-Step Guide

In today’s digital landscape, real-time communication is essential. Whether you’re building a social platform, e-commerce site, or internal team tool, adding a chat feature boosts user engagement and retention.

If you're using Laravel, Laravel Chatify—a free, open-source package—lets you integrate a beautiful, real-time chat system in minutes. In this guide, you’ll learn how to install, configure, and customize Chatify in your Laravel application.

Why Use Laravel Chatify?

• Real-Time Messaging via Pusher
• Beautiful, responsive UI that works on mobile and desktop
• Easy integration with existing Laravel auth systems
• Fully customizable views and styling
• Open-source & community-maintained (GitHub: munafio/chatify)

Prerequisites

• PHP ≥ 8.0 (Laravel 10+ recommended)
• A working Laravel application (Laravel 7–10)
• Composer installed
• Basic Laravel knowledge (routes, auth, migrations)
• A free Pusher account

Step 1: Install Laravel Chatify

Run this command in your Laravel project root:

composer require munafio/chatify

Step 2: Publish Chatify Assets

This command publishes views, controllers, routes, and config files:

php artisan chatify:install

Views will appear in resources/views/vendor/chatify/—ready for customization.

Step 3: Set Up Pusher for Real-Time Messaging

1. Go to pusher.com and create a free app.
2. Copy your App ID, Key, Secret, and Cluster.
3. Update your .env file:

BROADCAST_DRIVER=pusher

PUSHER_APP_ID=your-app-id
PUSHER_APP_KEY=your-app-key
PUSHER_APP_SECRET=your-app-secret
PUSHER_APP_CLUSTER=your-app-cluster

Then, reload your config:

php artisan config:clear

Step 4: Run Migrations

Chatify creates tables for messages and metadata:

php artisan migrate

Step 5: Configure Routes

Add this to your routes/web.php:

use ChatifyFacadesChatify;

// Optional: Register Chatify routes (usually auto-registered)
Chatify::routes();

✅ Note: The chatify:install command usually auto-registers routes via a service provider.

Step 6: Add Chat to Your Application

Link to the chat interface in your Blade layout (e.g., navbar):

@auth
  <a href="/chatify" class="btn">Messages</a>
@endauth

Only authenticated users can access the chat—Chatify uses Laravel’s built-in auth.

Step 7: Customize the Chat Interface

All views are editable in:

resources/views/vendor/chatify/

You can:

• Modify colors, layout, and icons
• Add emojis, file uploads, or typing indicators
• Override CSS by including your own stylesheet after Chatify’s

Step 8: Test Your Chat App

1. Start your dev server: php artisan serve
2. Log in as two different users (use incognito mode)
3. Visit /chatify and start a conversation
4. Messages should appear in real time!

Step 9: Deploy to Production

• Update Pusher credentials in your production .env
• Run php artisan migrate --force
• Ensure BROADCAST_DRIVER=pusher is set
• Compile assets: npm run build

Tips for Optimizing Your Laravel Chat App

• Use caching for user avatars and frequent queries
• Index database columns like from_id, to_id
• Monitor with Laravel Telescope to track broadcast events
• Consider Laravel WebSockets if you want to avoid Pusher

Conclusion

Laravel Chatify makes adding real-time chat to your Laravel application fast, easy, and scalable. With minimal setup, you get a production-ready messaging system that integrates seamlessly with your existing auth and UI.

Whether you're building a customer support portal or a social network, Chatify gives you the foundation to deliver a modern, engaging user experience.

Ready to chat? Install Chatify today and bring your Laravel app to life!

Frequently Asked Questions