Last Updated: 3/17/2026

Data Models and Database Schema

LinkAce is built on Laravel and uses Eloquent ORM for database interactions. This document describes the core data models and their relationships.

Core Models Overview

LinkAce has five primary models:

Link - A bookmarked URL with metadata
LinkList - A collection/category for organizing links
Tag - A label for categorizing links
Note - A text note attached to a link
User - A user account

Link Model

The Link model represents a bookmarked URL and is the central entity in LinkAce.

Fields

Field	Type	Description
`id`	integer	Primary key
`user_id`	integer	Foreign key to User
`url`	string	The bookmarked URL
`title`	string	Title of the link
`description`	string (nullable)	Description text (supports Markdown)
`icon`	string (nullable)	Icon identifier
`visibility`	integer	Visibility level (1=private, 2=internal, 3=public)
`status`	integer	Health check status (1=OK, 2=moved, 3=broken)
`check_disabled`	boolean	Whether automated checks are disabled
`last_checked_at`	datetime (nullable)	Last health check timestamp
`thumbnail`	string (nullable)	Thumbnail URL
`created_at`	datetime	Creation timestamp
`updated_at`	datetime	Last update timestamp
`deleted_at`	datetime (nullable)	Soft delete timestamp

Relationships

belongsTo: User - The link owner
belongsToMany: LinkList - Lists containing this link (via link_lists pivot table)
belongsToMany: Tag - Tags applied to this link (via link_tags pivot table)
hasMany: Note - Notes attached to this link

Status Constants


const STATUS_OK = 1;      // Link is accessible
const STATUS_MOVED = 2;   // Link redirected
const STATUS_BROKEN = 3;  // Link is broken

Key Methods

shortUrl(): Returns URL without http(s):// prefix
shortTitle($maxLength): Returns truncated title
domainOfURL(): Extracts domain from URL
getFormattedDescriptionAttribute(): Returns Markdown-formatted description
searchDuplicateUrls(): Finds potential duplicate links
initiateInternetArchiveBackup(): Queues Wayback Machine backup

Scopes

byUser($user_id): Filter links by user
privateOnly(): Only private links
internalOnly(): Only internal links
publicOnly(): Only public links

LinkList Model

The LinkList model represents a collection or category of links.

Fields

Field	Type	Description
`id`	integer	Primary key
`user_id`	integer	Foreign key to User
`name`	string	List name
`description`	string (nullable)	Description (supports Markdown)
`visibility`	integer	Visibility level (1=private, 2=internal, 3=public)
`created_at`	datetime	Creation timestamp
`updated_at`	datetime	Last update timestamp
`deleted_at`	datetime (nullable)	Soft delete timestamp

Relationships

belongsTo: User - The list owner
belongsToMany: Link - Links in this list (via link_lists pivot table)

Key Methods

getFormattedDescriptionAttribute(): Returns Markdown-formatted description

Ordering

Lists are automatically ordered by name (via OrderNameScope global scope).

Tag Model

The Tag model represents a label for categorizing links.

Fields

Field	Type	Description
`id`	integer	Primary key
`user_id`	integer	Foreign key to User
`name`	string	Tag name
`visibility`	integer	Visibility level (1=private, 2=internal, 3=public)
`created_at`	datetime	Creation timestamp
`updated_at`	datetime	Last update timestamp
`deleted_at`	datetime (nullable)	Soft delete timestamp

Relationships

belongsTo: User - The tag owner
belongsToMany: Link - Links with this tag (via link_tags pivot table)

Ordering

Tags are automatically ordered by name (via OrderNameScope global scope).

Note Model

The Note model represents a text note attached to a link.

Fields

Field	Type	Description
`id`	integer	Primary key
`link_id`	integer	Foreign key to Link
`user_id`	integer	Foreign key to User
`note`	text	Note content (supports Markdown)
`created_at`	datetime	Creation timestamp
`updated_at`	datetime	Last update timestamp
`deleted_at`	datetime (nullable)	Soft delete timestamp

Relationships

belongsTo: Link - The associated link
belongsTo: User - The note author

User Model

The User model represents a user account in LinkAce.

Fields

Field	Type	Description
`id`	integer	Primary key
`name`	string	User’s display name
`email`	string	Email address (unique)
`password`	string	Hashed password
`email_verified_at`	datetime (nullable)	Email verification timestamp
`is_admin`	boolean	Admin flag
`created_at`	datetime	Creation timestamp
`updated_at`	datetime	Last update timestamp
`deleted_at`	datetime (nullable)	Soft delete timestamp

Relationships

hasMany: Link - Links owned by this user
hasMany: LinkList - Lists owned by this user
hasMany: Tag - Tags owned by this user
hasMany: Note - Notes created by this user

Pivot Tables

link_lists

Links the links and lists tables in a many-to-many relationship.

Field	Type	Description
`link_id`	integer	Foreign key to links
`list_id`	integer	Foreign key to lists

link_tags

Links the links and tags tables in a many-to-many relationship.

Field	Type	Description
`link_id`	integer	Foreign key to links
`tag_id`	integer	Foreign key to tags

Visibility System

All primary models (Link, LinkList, Tag) support a three-level visibility system:

Level	Constant	Description
1	VISIBILITY_PRIVATE	Only visible to the owner
2	VISIBILITY_INTERNAL	Visible to all authenticated users
3	VISIBILITY_PUBLIC	Visible to everyone, including guests

The visibility system is implemented via the ScopesVisibility trait, which provides query scopes for filtering resources by visibility level.

Soft Deletes

All core models use Laravel’s soft delete feature. When a record is deleted, it’s marked with a deleted_at timestamp rather than being permanently removed from the database. This allows for:

Trash/restore functionality
Audit trail preservation
Relationship integrity maintenance

Audit Trail

LinkAce uses the owen-it/laravel-auditing package to track changes to models. All core models implement the Auditable interface and maintain a complete audit log of:

Create, update, and delete operations
Field-level changes with old and new values
Relationship modifications
User attribution

Custom audit modifiers format certain fields for better readability:

VisibilityModifier: Formats visibility levels
BooleanModifier: Formats boolean values
LinkStatusModifier: Formats link status codes
TagRelationModifier / ListRelationModifier: Formats relationship changes

Repository Pattern

LinkAce uses the Repository pattern for complex business logic. Key repositories include:

LinkRepository: Handles link creation, updates, and deletion with associated relationships
Creates/updates lists and tags inline
Manages Internet Archive backups
Handles duplicate detection

Model Traits

ScopesForUser

Provides the byUser() query scope for filtering resources by user ownership.

ScopesVisibility

Provides query scopes for visibility filtering:

privateOnly()
internalOnly()
publicOnly()
visibleForUser($userId, $privateSystemAccess)

ProvidesTaxonomyOutput

Used by Link model to provide formatted output for taxonomy relationships (lists and tags).

Database Migrations

LinkAce uses Laravel migrations for schema management. All migrations are version-controlled and can be found in the database/migrations directory. Key migrations include:

User and authentication tables
Core model tables (links, lists, tags, notes)
Pivot tables for many-to-many relationships
Audit and session tables
OAuth/SSO tables

For collation settings and database-specific configuration, see Adjusting the Database Collation.