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Introduction ​

What is Velm? ​

Velm is a runtime composition framework for Laravel that lets you build logical models and services whose behavior is assembled dynamically from multiple classes across packages and modules.

Instead of inheritance, traits, or “hope this override works,” Velm uses pipelines to decide how behavior runs at runtime.

If you’ve ever wished Laravel had something like Odoo’s models or Rails concerns, Velm is that idea — but tuned properly for PHP.

The Problem Velm Solves ​

Traditional Laravel apps eventually run into:

  • Inheritance chains that turn into spaghetti
  • Traits that collide silently
  • Service classes glued too tightly to models
  • Packages that can’t safely extend app behavior
  • “Base models” that grow like unstoppable monsters

Velm replaces all that with logical names and pipelines — cleaner, safer, and way more predictable.

Core Ideas ​

Logical Names ​

A logical name represents a conceptual thing (like Product or InvoiceService) that may be implemented by multiple physical classes.

php
velm_model('Product');
velm_service('InvoiceService');

Logical names separate what something is from where it lives.

Pipelines ​

A pipeline is an ordered chain of implementations sharing the same logical name.

When you call a method, Velm runs it through the pipeline so each implementation can extend, tweak, or override behavior.

php
class ProductBase
{
    public function price($self)
    {
        return 100;
    }
}

class ProductTax
{
    public function price($self)
    {
        return super()->price() * 1.2;
    }
}

Execution order is explicit, deterministic, and debuggable — no surprises.

Models and Services (Separated on Purpose) ​

Velm keeps models and services in different lanes:

  • Logical Models
    • Extend Eloquent
    • Handle data and persistence
    • Support attributes, casts, scopes, serialization
  • Logical Services
    • Stateless
    • Persistence‑agnostic
    • Represent domain behavior

This keeps systems modular and prevents accidental coupling.

What Velm Is Not ​

Velm is not:

  • A Laravel replacement
  • A DI container
  • A code generator
  • A trait system
  • A macro hack

It runs fully at runtime, plugs into Laravel cleanly, and doesn’t force you to restructure your app.

Why Runtime Composition? ​

Because it lets you:

  • Extend behavior safely from packages
  • Keep apps modular
  • Override behavior without inheritance wars
  • Control execution order via super()
  • Keep architecture explicit and understandable

Basically: power without chaos.

Next Steps ​

Velm is for developers who like clean architecture, long‑term sanity, and modular systems that don’t fight back.