Skip to main content

Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/0m1n3m/contacts-db/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

The Contacts module is the core of Contacts DB. It stores every person and organisation your team tracks — from partners and speakers to stakeholders and prospects. Users with any role can view contacts; the admin and editor roles can create and update them; only admins can delete them or run bulk operations. Every record is structured around a rich set of fields that covers identity, contact details, classification, and free-text notes.

​
Data Model

The contacts table is created by migration 2026_04_20_132419_create_contacts_table. The table below documents every column.
FieldTypeRequiredDescription
idbigint (auto-increment)—Primary key, assigned automatically.
contact_categorystring (varchar 255)✅ YesHigh-level classification of the contact (e.g. Partner, Donor, Media). Indexed.
relationship_statusstring (varchar 255)✅ YesCurrent status of the relationship (e.g. Active, Prospect, Lapsed). Indexed.
use_for_eventsbooleanNoFlag indicating this contact should be considered for event invitations. Defaults to false.
potential_speakerbooleanNoFlag indicating this contact is a potential event speaker. Defaults to false.
organisation_namestring (varchar 255)NoName of the contact’s organisation or employer. Indexed.
first_namestring (varchar 255)NoContact’s given name. Indexed.
last_namestring (varchar 255)NoContact’s family name. Indexed.
job_titlestring (varchar 255)NoContact’s role or job title.
emailsjson (array)NoOne or more email addresses stored as a JSON array.
phonesjson (array)NoOne or more phone numbers stored as a JSON array.
countrystring (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2)NoTwo-letter ISO country code (e.g. GB, US, DE). Indexed.
organisation_typesjson (array)NoCategories describing the type of organisation (e.g. NGO, University).
keywordsjson (array)NoThematic tags for the contact (e.g. climate, policy).
relevant_project_programmestring (varchar 255)NoName of the project or programme this contact is linked to.
expertise_speaking_topicstext (json array)NoAreas of expertise or speaking topics, stored as a JSON array.
stakeholder_typestring (varchar 255)NoStakeholder classification (e.g. Funder, Government, Civil Society). Indexed.
commenttextNoFree-text notes about the contact.
created_attimestamp—Set automatically by Laravel when the record is created.
updated_attimestamp—Updated automatically by Laravel on every save.

​
JSON Array Fields

Five columns store multiple values as JSON arrays in the database. Laravel’s Eloquent model casts these columns automatically so they are always PHP arrays in application code:
ColumnCast
emailsarray
phonesarray
organisation_typesarray
keywordsarray
expertise_speaking_topicsarray
An example JSON representation of a single contact’s multi-value fields: 
{
  "emails": ["alice@example.com", "alice@work.org"],
  "phones": ["+44 20 7946 0958"],
  "organisation_types": ["NGO", "Think Tank"],
  "keywords": ["climate", "policy", "NGO"],
  "expertise_speaking_topics": ["Climate Finance", "Carbon Markets"]
}
In the create and edit forms, each JSON array field is presented as a textarea where you type one value per line. Each non-blank line becomes a separate element in the stored array. When exported to CSV, these columns are serialised back to a JSON string.

​
Filtering

The contact list at /contacts supports both a global search parameter and per-column filters, all passed as URL query parameters.

​
Global search — q

The q parameter performs a broad LIKE search across all text columns simultaneously, including the JSON array columns. It also resolves country names — typing “Germany” matches contacts whose country field is DE.

​
Column filters

The following columns accept a text LIKE (partial match) filter via their query parameter:
ParameterColumnMatch type
contact_categorycontact_categoryContains (case-insensitive)
relationship_statusrelationship_statusContains
first_namefirst_nameContains
last_namelast_nameContains
organisation_nameorganisation_nameContains
job_titlejob_titleContains
countrycountryExact ISO code or partial country name
relevant_project_programmerelevant_project_programmeContains
stakeholder_typestakeholder_typeContains
commentcommentContains

​
Boolean filters

ParameterAccepted values
use_for_events1 / true / yes or 0 / false / no
potential_speaker1 / true / yes or 0 / false / no

​
JSON array filters

The emails, phones, keywords, organisation_types, and expertise_speaking_topics parameters search inside the stored JSON string, matching contacts whose array contains an element equal to the supplied value.

​
Sorting

The sort parameter accepts any column from the allowed list, and dir accepts asc or desc. String columns are sorted case-insensitively with leading spaces trimmed. The default sort is updated_at descending. Sortable columns: contact_category, relationship_status, use_for_events, potential_speaker, organisation_name, first_name, last_name, job_title, country, relevant_project_programme, stakeholder_type, created_at, updated_at.

​
Access Control

Contacts DB enforces role-based access on every contact route. The three roles and their permissions are:
ActionAdminEditorViewer
View contact list (GET /contacts)✅✅✅
View contact detail (GET /contacts/{id})✅✅✅
Create contact (GET/POST /contacts/create)✅✅❌
Edit contact (GET /contacts/{id}/edit, PATCH /contacts/{id})✅✅❌
Delete single contact (DELETE /contacts/{id})✅❌❌
Bulk delete (POST /contacts/bulk-destroy)✅❌❌
Export selected contacts (POST /contacts/export)✅✅✅
Import contacts (GET /contacts/import, POST /contacts/import/preview, POST /contacts/import/run)✅✅❌
The viewer role is any authenticated user who is not assigned the admin or editor role. Export is available to all authenticated users — no special role is required.

Managing Contacts

Learn how to create, edit, search, and delete contacts from the UI and via direct HTTP routes.

Import & Export

Bulk-import contacts from CSV or Excel files and export selected records to CSV.

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us